03 448 8339 w w w. s t g e r a r d s . s c h o o l . n z [email protected]

W e e k 1 Te r m 2 : W e d n e s d a y 3 r d M a y 2 0 1 7 P R I N C I PA L’ S M E S S A G E

Welcome back to a jammed packed and exciting Term 2. I hope that everyone had a super holiday and has heaps of energy for learning and winter sports. Mrs Eastwood is away this term on her sabbatical and we wish her all the best for her time away. WELCOME We welcome Billy Cockburn and Marina Shelford to Room 1 and St Gerard’s School. Billy joins big sister Jade and Marina joins big brother Mark-Allan and sister Kayla. UNIFORM Children are able to wear summer or winter uniform until Queens’s Birthday. After this, winter uniform must be worn. Please ensure that your child does not have halfwinter, half –summer, uniform on. No tights with summer uniforms and no poly props under uniforms. All children must go home with shoes on. PIE WARMERS This term children can have a heat- up in the pie warmer. This does not have to be a pie. Please make sure this is clearly labelled with your child’s name and class. Baskets are outside classrooms and will be collected at 9am.

SPORT Please take note of all the sporting information in the newsletter; swimming and netball. For Hockey information and draws go to the school website. Click on school events under the Sport tab. Invoices for winter sports will go out this week. If you would like to use your school credit balance please let Chrissy know. There are still several outstanding invoices for Term 1 so we would appreciate if these could be paid. Any concerns please see Mrs Flannery.

URGENT - ROOM 1 and 2 PARENTS PMP (the Perceptual Motor Programme) will be on Friday mornings at 9.15. This is a programme St Gerards has run for several years, which aims to develop the child's perceptions and understandings of himself or herself in relation to her/his world, through movement/motor experiences. If you are free to give up an hour of your time on Friday, this would be really appreciated as we need 2 parents each week to make this feasible. It involves setting up and taking down the equipment, (there are instructions to follow) and taking a small group on an activity, (there is a card for each activity with pictures and instructions). There will be a roster put up on the Room 1 door so please add your name to it if you are able to help or email me with your preferred Term 2 Friday - [email protected]

RESTORATIVE PRACTICE

Every week I will share a link that relates to our Restorative Practice. This week I would like to share a message about judgement of others. This is a very powerful, yet simple message about the importance of assuming good intent of others. Hopefully if you click on it will take you to the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkIBqS4eqKw

If you wish to contact me, feel free to ring me at school or come and see me. I can also be contacted via the following emails: [email protected] [email protected] Ma te Atua e manaaki God Bless Julie & Staff

HAPPY BIRTHDAY A big happy birthday to Alysha O’Connor Rafe Davidson Jade Cockburn Zaria Battrick Bella Breen Jay-T McFadyen Charlotte Kereseka who all had birthdays in April. We hope you had a great day.

SPECIAL CHARACTER Sacramental Programme 2017 Next week we begin the Sacramental Programme for 2017. If you would like your child to undertake this programme, please register their name and details with Father Pat McGettigan. Term 2: Sacrament of Reconciliation Term 3: Sacrament of Confirmation Term 4: Sacrament of First Holy Communion These sacramental celebrations are an important part of our children’s faith journey, and can be undertaken from Year 4 onwards. Next Thursday, 11th May, there will be a Parent Meeting at Father Pat’s place at 7pm. Your child is required to attend this meeting with you. This will be followed by four liturgy sessions which take place within the 9 am Mass each Sunday. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is scheduled for Tuesday 27th June at 6 pm. Please do not hesitate to ask Father Pat or Markelle Ward any questions if you need more information. ALTAR SERVERS Altar servers for the coming weeks: If you are unavailable for the dates below, please arrange your own substitute and let Mrs Ward know. Sunday 7th May: Mika Tait, Ethan Constable Sunday 14th May: Shannon Kelliher, Libby Handford Sunday 21st May: Jacob Fonseca, Hannah Tait Sunday 28th May: Shannon Kelliher, Mia Flannery Sunday 4th June: Gabrielle Stratford, Libby Handford Sunday 11th June: Liam Ballantyne, Jacob Fonseca SCHOOL MASS School Mass will be held on Sunday 28th May at 9 am (end of Week 4 of Term 2). Please set this date aside on your calendar.

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MEETING Tonight at 7.30 in the staffroom. See you all there. WORKING BEE SATURDAY 27TH MAY - 1-4pm Mark it in your diary - more info next week.

Opening Hours: Monday - 2.45pm to 3.15pm Friday – 8.45am to 9.15am (Located Beside Room 3 – open other Emes by request) Contact Details: [email protected] or Kate Donaldson 027 6229226 WINTER UNIFORM We have all your winter uniform needs and are stocked ready to roll. In a few weeks all children must wear their winter uniform so it’s Eme to check what you need to get! If you can’t make it to the uniform shop contact Kate and she will organise what you need.

PTA Sausage Sizzle - Thursday lunch Thank you to all parents who currently help with the cooking of sausages on a Thursday. Your help is much appreciated. So the same parents are not doing it too often we would love some other parents who would be available to help even if it is once a term - Many hands make light work! If you could make yourself available for this roster please contact Loretta 0211667022

SPORT

Swimming This started yesterday for Rooms 2, 3, 4, and 7. There is a new swimming programme this year, which is seamless from Year 1 to Year 8.All students were assessed and grouped yesterday into groups, which best suit their stage of swimming skills. In order to help cover the cost of the buses it would be appreciated if parents could send to the office $10 per child. Travelling by bus best meets the new legal requirements for transporting children. This cost is also subsidised from our Kiwisports funds.

Netball All teams practise today. Year 3 & 4 at lunch time at school and Year 5 & 6 at 3:30 on the Molyneux Courts.

Miniball Two year 4-8 teams have been entered in the competition, with year 7 & 8 looking at options to play – Mr Dyson has this in hand. Practice for all at school lunch times Wednesday.

Hockey This week we have the following games: Please be at games 20min before the start time below ready to go. Mini Sticks (year 3 and 4) SUNDAY Gold play at 11am Cromwell Green play at 11am in Cromwell Kiwi Sticks (year 5 and 6)THURSDAY Gold play at 4pm in Omakau Green play at 6pm in Cromwell No Funsticks (year 1 &2) this Sunday All information, teams and draws etc are on the school website under Sport- School event tab. Practice for years 3-6 every Friday from 3.30pm-4pm.

Otago Country Cricket Congratulations to the following who were award recipients for Otago Country Cricket 2017 Yr 7 & 8 Batsmen of the year - Seb Waldron Yr 5 & 6 spirit of Cricket - Mika Tait Under 17 Bowler of the Year - Beau Meehan (former pupil of St Gerards)

Congratulations to Kimberley Dacosta, Hannah O’Connor, Mayce Williams who were 3rd in the Otago Triathlon Championships

ANZ futureFERNS Year 1& 2 Netball Programme The Alexandra Year 1&2 Programme will start on Saturday May 13th (time to be confirmed). This will run for 6-8 weeks, depending on the weather, and will end with a Festival Day on July 8th. The cost for this programme is $24.00 per player. More information can be found on the website at www.sporty.co.nz/centralotagonetball or go to http://www.sporty.co.nz/centralotagonetball/Forms-1/Registration-Form-1 to register. Registrations close on Friday 12th May.

GENERAL NEWSBOARD HEAD LICE Please be vigilant and check your children’s hair as there have been some cases of head lice in the school. Those with long hair need to have it tied up.