2 August

Dear Parents

Like me, a lot of you will have been watching the Olympics over the past week. For once at our house the argument with the remote is over what sport to watch rather than reality TV shows – which the rest of my family like and I don’t.

There have already been some extraordinary sporting feats and I expect there will be more to come.

A funny story is in relation to my non-sporting youngest brother who lives in London and has said he is going on holiday to Morocco because London has come to a standstill and nothing works. Already he is a wingeing pom. My children have been emailing him asking him what events he is going to and can he get them some souvenirs. We are still waiting for his response.

A big thank you to the parents who were able to attend the Maths information evening last night.

Thanks to Mrs Lieshout for running the evening. There will be another one based on Year 1 – 3 Maths

later this term.

The Life Education Van will be at our school next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Good luck to the Year 5 & 6 children: Kayla Boniface, Aimee Brookland, Jacob Downing, Isabella Wild, Caelan O’Connor, Emma Harrington, Nellie Boyle, Thamsyn Hibbs- Fern, Briana Henson and Ella Richardson who will be representing Sacred Heart at the Zone Netball Tournaments on Tuesday & Wednesday next week.

Also good luck to the children taking part in Polyfest next Friday.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Murray family.

*REFLECTION ON TODAY’S GOSPEL READING (From Lectio Divina)

BREAD OF LIFE

John tends to use more conversation rather than just narratives in his Gospel. He brings people together and then reports what they say.

Here the crowd is curious to know how Jesus arrived – is it another miracle? Jesus refuses to be drawn, knowing they are seeking extraordinary events rather than him alone. Instead he starts to discuss their attitude to him; they do not really believe in him, merely enjoy the spectacle of miracles, especially their free lunch!

Jesus asks them to seek spiritual not material treasures. Believe in me he asks. But they are not satisfied with the miracles they have already seen and ask for another one. Probably hoping for another free meal, they recall how their ancestors received manna from heaven (Exodus 16:13-36). Jesus explains that his Father was the true source of their manna then and has far better bread to offer them now.

Eager to have whatever is going, the crowd asks for this bread and Jesus reveals the mystery: he is the bread from heaven. He is able to satisfy all human needs including spiritual needs.

Jesus fed people with physical bread as a token of the bread of heaven; Jesus himself. This promised ‘bread’ will not just stave off hunger, it provides eternal life.

MEDITATION: Bread would have always been part of the meal in Jesus’ day. Consider how important Jesus is in your daily diet today. Given the choice most people don’t usually eat or drink just once a day. Why should it be different spiritually? The people were happy with physical bread but Jesus had so much more to give them. Consider whether you have settled for less than Jesus might want you to experience in your relationship with him.

PRAYER: Use Psalm 78, which is a beautiful meditation on God’s relationship with us, as a prayer throughout the week. Think about what God has done in your own life and add your own words of thanks. They don’t have to be fancy words, just from the heart. Every time you eat a piece of bread this week, say a short prayer thanking God for sending us Jesus – the bread of life.

Changes to Lunch/Play Time

From Monday 13^th August we intend to trial a new lunch/play eating system.

When the bell goes at 10.30am and 12.30pm the children will go to play first.

Then when the bell rings at 10.45am & 1.00pm respectfully, all children will have lunch in their rooms as at present, before commencing class. Some of the reasons for the trial include:

· More settled children eating more of their lunch: at present we have large number of children hiding or leaving their lunch in an attempt to get outside.

· Less litter outside: with so much plastic wrapping this is a never ending battle, especially at morning interval. This should eliminate the problem.

· More class time in class: the same children who are the fastest out of class are also the slowest back in. The incentive of food will speed them up. Also our senior children can spend up to an extra 10 – 15 minutes on some days waiting for children to return sports equipment etc. This would not be an issue now.

One argument against it is that the children may be hungry, but in reality it would only be an extra 15 minutes wait. If this becomes a problem we would look at something like a food break at 10am to tide them over.

If you wish to make a comment on this, please contact me at: principal@shsinv.school.nz

Self Defence Course

The Year 3 & 4 girls attended a Self Defence Course last week and learnt worthwhile skills in the case of an emergency.

Year 5 & 6 Girls Evening ~ Wednesday 8^th August

Mrs Lieshout will be talking to the Year 5 & 6 children about puberty in Room 9 from 3.30 - 4.30pm. While this programme is being offered outside school time, we would encourage you to take this opportunity to support your child. We will be covering changes to our bodies and emotions during puberty.

This will be done through a DVD and a power-point. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Lieshout at school 215 -7317 or via e-mail at klieshout@shsinv.school.nz.

Attention Year 5 Parents

Next year we will be going to Stewart Island for the 2013 Camp. We have been approached with a fundraising proposal from ‘The Cadbury House of Fundraising’ to help parents with this cost. This is up to parents to organise themselves or if they want to as a group. If you are interested in doing this for your child’s camp fund, please contact either Mr Forde or myself for information about it. My e-mail address is klieshout@shsinv.school

Newsletter Cover ~ It is time again to renew our newsletter cover. If you have a business and are interested in sponsoring our weekly newsletter, please contact the office for more information.

Altar Servers

Saturday 4^th August 7.00 pm Ben Henderson & Jacob Sullivan

Sunday 5^th August 10.30 am Bronte Adams & Caitlin Smith

Children’s Liturgy Liza Adams

Achievements

Well done to Jack Smith who got ‘Player of the Day’ last weekend for the Waikiwi Under 7 Rippa Rugby Team.

Netball Results

Shooters won 4-1. ‘Players of the Day’ were Caitlin Smith & Emma Livingstone.

St Patrick’s Parish Pre-School Group

Meet Cnr Rimu & View Streets, Parish Centre, Tuesdays @ 10am (not in school Holidays). Come along for friendship & support. All parishes welcome.

Contact: Robyn 216-3189

Out of School Music Classes

We are now taking enrolments for our final music awareness class of the year. This class is for children 5-6 yrs interested in music. It is a 6 week class that gives children a basic introduction to music, rhythm, beat, etc.Cost $30. Contact Deborah 216-7450 (leave message)

email: admin@osmc.co.nz

Room 5 Class Happenings

This week we have finally completed our beautiful Holy Spirit Doves which you can go and check out in the office area.

We have been looking at what culture looks like – here is what we have come up with what our school culture looks like.

We were all very excited to have the Stags visit yesterday

.

PTA ~ Quiz Night

When: Saturday 11^th August 7.30 pm

Where: Sacred Heart School Hall

Cost: $10 per team of 4 (don’t have to be all Sacred Heart parents).

Bring: BYO and a plate for supper

RSVP: Please return the slip below & return to the school office by Friday 3^rd Aug

This will be a fun night and a great way to meet and socialise with the Sacred Heart community.

PTA Quiz Night

Team Name: ……………………………………..

Contact: ……………………………………..

Phone Number: ……………………………………..

26 July

Dear Parents

A big thank you to Mrs Lieshout and all the teachers for the Olympic Day we had at the stadium on Tuesday. It was a marvellous day and all the children really enjoyed themselves. Thanks also to all the parents who were able to join us.

We farewell Macy Richardson tomorrow and wish her and her family all the best in their shift to Wellington.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Johnson, Rabbit & Morgan Families.

Submarine Catholics

In recent years I have witnessed a new branch of religious practice.

One that stays in the deep canyons of the .sea - intact, but generally submerged. It comes out of the depths at certain occasions and then goes back into the depths! Welcome to the submarine Catholic, who comes up for breath at Christmas, Easter, family anniversaries, and especially Catholic school enrolments of their children! And I am truly amazed at the number of .Catholic connections that surface at enrolment time; the aunties who are nuns, the great-uncle who was a priest, the parents educated at a Catholic school in India, Fiji, Gibraltar or Australia, etc. It is as if parents see the real value of a religious-based institution; for example, schools, but are unwilling to invest time or energy into the 2000-year-old tradition to which a Catholic school belongs. They want their children to .belong to this 2000 year Catholic tradition, even if they themselves find it difficult.

.But all is not lost. . '.' '.

I suspect there is a shift from the faith of a modem parent to the faith at the grandparent level.

· Grandparents know from history and experience what really matters and what works.

· They know how forgiveness and reconciliation trump the petty gains of ego status and power,

· They know. how loyalty and' ritual make families and institutions work.

· They .know how a, personal .and communal faith allows, encourages and enables risk taking; ,

· They know the difference between justice and law.

The Faith of our fathers is no longer practised in spite of "dungeon, fire and sword".' Our faith is practiced in a secular, nano-second commodity-driven world. As' such it needs to be repackaged and made into a tradition worthy of investment of time, energy and money. That is the value of a Catholic school that submarine Catholics sense. We try to package a tradition that makes sense intellectually and makes sense on a heart level. Not a task for the timid. But it must be remembered that the "spirit who blows at will" does not have an accountancy degree. The spirit does not measure, judge or tick boxes.

So welcome, submarine Catholics. Come out of the dark depths. Invest your time, money and energy into the institutions of the Church now. And .enjoy the journey on the surface. Reclaim the faith of our fathers.

- Kieran F. Fouhy is headmaster of 1200 boys at St Peter's College, Grafton, Auckland.

ALiM & ALL Contracts

Mrs Buxton and Mrs Lieshout have started on their specialist teaching in Writing and Maths to small groups of children. As I have mentioned previously, there are 2 outcomes to our participation in these contracts.

One is to provide feedback to the Ministry on National Standards, the other is to provide funding to allow schools to try different/innovative ways to teaching targeted children that otherwise could not occur. The idea being that we then incorporate the successful practices into our school delivery plans. Please remember the Maths meeting on 1^st Aug @ 7.00 pm. Numbers please to the office.

Newsletter Cover ~ It is time again to renew our newsletter cover. If you have a business and are interested in sponsoring our weekly newsletter, please contact the office for more information.

Gymnastics Yr 4-6 Boys and Girls ~ The Gymsports Festival is coming up on the 26th August. If your child is interested they will need to be available and willing to participate in 2-3 lunch practices and at least one after school and one weekend practice for the next four weeks. The cost for this is $5 per person. Please see Mrs T-K or Miss Harding by Monday 30th July.

Outstanding Sports Fees ~ We still have children owing for Netball, Cricket and Flipperball. We would appreciate your attention to get these settled. Thank you.

PTA

Monday 30^th July at school

PTA Meeting 7.00pm (short meeting prior to Fair Meeting)

FAIR Meeting 7.30pm – all welcome

Social Night ~ The PTA have organised a Quiz Night for a bit of fun & for new families to get the chance to meet others in the school. This is on Saturday 11 August and will be held in the school hall. Teams of 4 (& they don’t necessarily all have to be Sacred Heart people if you want to bring a friend) - $10 per team and BYO. To gauge numbers please advise the office next week if you have a team so we can confirm all details in next week’s newsletter. This is meant to be a very casual and fun night for all to enjoy. Hope you can come.

Entertainment Books ~ We have 4 books left if you are still wanting to purchase one.

Altar Servers

Saturday 28^th July 7.00 pm Reuben & Caleb Brown

Sunday 29^th July 10.30 am Abby Humm & Lucy Nind

Children’s Liturgy Amanda Smith

Netball Results

Shooters won 9-4 ‘Players of the Day’ – Tanesha Tagomoa-Kaa & Paris Johnson

Congratulations to:

The Ridd family on the arrival of a baby girl.

Our Olympic Teams

Class Happenings – Room 3

On Tuesday Sacred Heart had their own mini Olympic Games at the Velodrome. Each of our houses were allocated a country that will be competing at the Olympic Games at the end of this week. The countries were chosen based on the colours of our school houses. Once we had our opening ceremony, complete with torch bearers, the Olympic oath and a march around the outside of the events stage with our flags, the games were declared open by Mr Forde.

There were lots of games at the Olympics.

I enjoyed all of the games. I even enjoyed the hockey game. Well, I wasn’t very good at it. There was a javelin game that was my favourite game because I love throwing things. There was a parachute and that was my second favourite game because we got to go under it. Greta

The Olympics were funny because we got to go under the tent and make a mushroom. We had to sit on it. The koosh balls couldn’t go off the tent. Thomas

Canteen Prices ~ Friday’s Only

Hot Food

Chicken Burger $3.00

(with lettuce, cheese & mayo) $3.30

Chicken Nuggets $2.50

Pizza $1.60

Cheese Rolls $1.00

American Hotdog $2.50

(comes with BBQ, tomato or mustard sauce)

Budget 2 minute noodles $1.50

Maggi 2 minute noodles $3.00

Sandwiches

Chicken Wrap $3.00

Bacon Sandwich $2.50

(comes with the choice of 2 fillings – carrot, cheese, lettuce, egg &

BBQ sauce or mayonnaise)

Snacks

Chocolate Muffin $1.10

Cookie Time (small) $ .90

Cookie Time (large) $1.30

Fruit & marshmallow stick $1.00

Popcorn $ .60

Popcorn with icing sugar $ .70

Drinks

Can flavoured water – orange or peach $2.00

Box juice – tropical or orange $1.10

LOL fruit juice $2.50