Tēnā koutou katoa St Michael’s Catholic School Community, 

I hope all of our Mothers, Grandmothers and Godmother figures, had a lovely Mother’s Day. The students love having dance lessons each day. A number of students are practising their dance as they move around the school. There is a real excitement in the school. 

This Sunday we celebrate Pentecost. This is an important event as it commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, Our Lady and other followers of Jesus Christ. 

We look forward to seeing all students and families at this term’s School Parish Mass, now to be held on Sunday 9 June at 10am. This is a compulsory Mass for students and school uniform is to be worn please. 

We have had a number of staff and students testing positive for Covid. We are doing our best to keep our classrooms safe by having hepa filters on and windows open for air flow. If your child is unwell it might be a good idea to test them so that we can stop the spread of this virus throughout the school. 

We are looking forward to hosting our grandparents at school on Friday 24th May. If your child does not have a grandparent that is able to attend then another person of your choice may come.

Once in the Church, you are welcome to sit where you like alongside your grandchildren. Pews will be reserved at the front for any students reading and their grandparents. 

Below is the timetable for the day: 

We would love to share our Dance Curriculum learning with you prior to Grandparents’ Day! You are welcome to join us for our dress rehearsal in the Hall on Thursday 23 May at 2.00pm.

SMCS Policies – all our policies are on SchoolDocs , please follow the next four steps. 

This term we are reviewing: Appointment Procedure (Board); Equal Employment Opportunities; Teacher Relief Cover; 

Safety Checking (Board); Police Vetting and Classroom Release Time

Please click on “Current Review” and then click on and read the policies.  Next you click on “Under Review” and complete the survey. Your feedback would be appreciated.

We would like to welcome the following family and student to our school: the Kirit family (Allen) and the Helsby family (Harvey), with two older siblings attending SMCS.

Saturday 18 May to Thursday 24 May - Ann McKeown is attending an overseas Conference “State of Grace” 

Monday 20 May - PTA Meeting (7.00pm)

Thursday 23 May - Dance Curriculum Performance (for parents - 2pm) in the Hall

Friday 24 May - Grandparents’ Day

Tuesday 28 May - Year 6 Puberty lessons begin

Wednesday 5 June - Room 1, Room 3 and Room 8 Assembly (2.00pm)

Sunday 9 June - Whole School/Parish Mass at 10am

Wednesday 12 June - Talent Extravaganza (4.00pm)

Wednesday 19 June - Room 6 and Room 9 Assembly (2.00pm)

Thursday 27 June - Matariki Breakfast

Friday 28 June - Public Holiday (Matariki)

Wednesday 3 July - Room 5 and Room 10 Assembly (2.00pm)

Friday 5 July - YCC (Young Catholics Care) fundraiser, end of Term 2

The Catholic Education of School-Age Children This document of the NZ Catholic Bishops Conference is to guide those involved in the work of Catholic Education. Each week we will place Excerpts of this book. 

“Parents have the primary right and a serious obligation to educate their children. As well as providing education in the faith in the home, parents have the right to choose how their children are educated outside the home. In assisting parents with their obligations to their children the Catholic school makes the Church as “mother and teacher” a practical reality” (P. 4).

Week 3: Liturgical Year - Pentecost

Weeks 4-8: Strand - Holy Spirit

Weeks 9-10: Strand - Church

The themes in our Religious Education Programme are broad categories of knowledge and learning that overlap, weave together and build upon each other. 

Over the last 4 years, a new Religious Education Curriculum,  To Tātou Whakapono Our Faith, has been developed. Level 1 (Year 1 & 2) students will be learning through the new Curriculum from this year. The Term 2 Theme is Te Rongopai - Good News. This theme focuses on Sacred Scripture. Children will learn that the Bible is filled with good news for us all. Learners are given opportunities to explore, grow in understanding, wonder about, reflect on and connect with stories from the Old and New Testaments. 

St Michael’s Parish Website – Mass times - Sunday 8am, 10am & 5pm; Monday - Friday 7am & 12noon; Saturday 8am.

The Community Committee is again organising a Potluck Lunch to be held in the Mary MacKillop Hall from 11am on Sunday 16 June. It will be a lovely opportunity to join with other Parishioners to celebrate unity, enjoy a variety of different culture’s food, songs, and traditional dance. You can volunteer to help make this a fun day for all by filling in a sign-up sheet from the foyer table and putting it in the foyer Drop Box or scanning and emailing it to the parish office. Your help is much appreciated.

Adoration: Monday - Friday 7.30am-8.30am

Rosary: Monday – Friday 8.30am & 12.30pm; Saturday 8.30am

School  Masses - Every Thursday at 9:15am (except Feast days) 

23/05/24 - No Mass; 30/05/24 - Rooms 4 & 7; 06/06/24 - Rooms 6 & 9; 13/06/24 - Senior School (Rooms 7, 8, 9 & 10); 20/06/24 - Rooms 5 & 10; 27/06/24 - No Mass; 04/07/24 - Rooms 1, 3 & 8

Te Ara Huarau is the evaluation approach that the Education Review Office (ERO) is using in our school. This is a developmental approach to evaluation where ERO and our school work together over time rather than one off review that happened previously. Te Ara Huarau is used in most English-medium state and state-integrated schools.

ERO maintains a regular review programme to evaluate and report on the education and care of young people in the schools. Our school worked alongside ERO to write our Profile Report. This type of report will only happen once as part of our initial engagement with Te Ara Huarau. The profile report reflects our strategic goals and a shared evaluation focus on one or more areas that are important to us as we work together to improve outcomes for all our learners. ERO, like us, has a strong focus on equity and excellence. Future reporting will show our progress and achievement towards meeting the goals we have set. Public reports like the Profile Report are published on ERO’s website.

Please click on the link below to view SMCS Profile Report:
https://ero.govt.nz/institution/1506/st-michaels-catholic-school-remuera 

Out term 2 PTA meeting is next Monday 20 May at 7pm in the staff room. 

We will also host it online for those unable to come in person: https://meet.google.com/qog-tseu-ixd

Join us and help us continue to build the wonderful community we have at St Michael’s. 

Last day to order is Monday 20 May. Books are delivered to the school the week after orders close and will be handed out to your children in their classrooms once they have been sorted. 

 

Did you know that our school benefits hugely from the Scholastic book club? We get points that get turned into more books and educational resources for the school. 

 

Any questions please feel free to contact our Book Club Team on ptasmcs@gmail.com.  

We still need 10 volunteers to help us make Grandparents’ Day a success!

View what help is needed and sign up to help here: http://www.volunteersignup.org/R8HEA (no google account needed). 

All Grandparents or significant people in your child’s life are welcome to attend our annual Grandparent’s Day. We have 9 amazing prizes to raffle on the day, so advise grandparents to bring cash – raffle tickets are $5 and lots of prizes to be won! 

We still have space available for our quiz night, so put your teams together (teams of 6-8 people are ideal!) and email us at ptasmcs@gmail.com by Saturday 25 May. Family members and friends are also welcome!

 

Want to come to the quiz but don’t have a table? No problem! Email us at ptasmcs@gmail.com to be put on a table and make new friends!

 

For those already signed up, payment can be made to SMCS PTA 12-3075-0199134-000 using 'Quiz Night’ as reference or via MyKindo. 

Thank you to Room 4 for helping with Pizza this week. We really appreciate your help.

Pizza Fridays are run with the support of parents from specific rooms each week and it is a great fundraising for our school – not to say the kids LOVE it.

If we don’t have volunteers we can’t provide this service. Please help us keep this service alive by replying to your class reps and volunteering your time whenever possible. It only takes 40 min, once or twice a term.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Gio and Sam

This year we are excited to announce the return of the St Michael’s Talent Extravaganza. This is an opportunity for the SMCS children to show the community their amazing talents. It will be held in the school hall at 4.00pm on Wednesday the 12th of June (Week 7, Term 2).

Some examples of talents: singing, dancing, magic, comedy routines, dramatic skits, juggling, yo‐yo tricks, mime, gymnastics, reciting poetry, playing an instrument… the list goes on!

Auditions will be held at lunchtime on Thursday the 30th and Friday the 31st of May (Week 5, Term 2). The sign up sheet will be available in Room 5.

We are currently on the hunt for a couple of guest judges who would be willing to donate their time to judge the competition, so if you know someone who is ‘NZ famous’ please contact Mrs Carleton.

If you have any further questions, please contact Mrs Lauren Carleton l.carleton@smcs.toschool.nz