St Patrick's School Kaiapoi - School Newsletter

Dear Parents & Caregivers,

We have had a busy but enjoyable couple of weeks with a most successful St Patrick's day, the new playground being a very popular addition, preparing for our Science Showcase and a number of new enrolments. We welcomed Ben Yearbury Year 6 and his family to our St Patrick's family from Ashburton Christian School. We also welcome Luke, Leah, Eddie and Archer and their families, to our Little Paddy's Transition to School Programme. We will welcome our new families to our school formally with a Mihi Whakatau at the beginning of Term 2.

We received a special Certificate of Appreciation from Caritas New Zealand last week, for our large donation to the Tongan appeal.  A special thank you to Ruby and Joshua for organising this timely and appropriate fundraiser, after their devastating volcanic eruption. Joshua, Ruby and Patrick are now brainstorming ideas for ways they can help and support families in need in the Ukraine.   

We have planned 3-Way Learning Conferences for next Tuesday 29th March, 3.15pm -7pm and Wednesday 30th March, 3.15-7pm. Each Learning Conference will be for 15 minutes. Please respect the duration of these, when the bell is rung there will often be another family booked to start their Learning Conference. You may need to send the class teacher an email if you have other things to discuss. There will be a Learning Conference Preparation sheet sent home (in paper form and emailed) on Friday 25th March, to enable Parents & Caregivers to plan for what they want to share at the Conference. 

Please note that masks will need to be worn during the face to face Learning Conferences and physical distancing protocols will apply. If you are feeling unwell please contact us and we can re-schedule the face to face booking to another time. 

There are 3 options to choose from this year to enable every family to have a Learning Conference, regardless of their personal circumstances.

We are offering 3 different modes for Learning Conferences this year:1) In person - at school in your child's classroom2) Via Phone - the teacher will phone you at the booking time3) Via Video Conference - the teacher will email a zoom link at the booking time***

***Please note that if you choose a 3-Way Learning Conference Via Video Conference you will receive a separate email from your child's teacher with the Zoom Link attached.

The purpose of our 3 -Way Learning Conferences (Student, Parent & Teacher ) is that the student is actively involved in the learning and reporting process. 

Three-way conferences are designed to:  

• to help students demonstrate evidence of learning
• to teach students the process of reflection and self-evaluation
• to facilitate the development of students' organisational and oral communication skills and to increase their self-confidence
• to encourage students, parents, and teachers to engage in open and honest dialogue
• to encourage students to accept personal responsibility for their learning
• to increase parent understanding of their child’s learning through improving attendance at and satisfaction with, the reporting process.

Most schools using this approach report a significant rise in both parent satisfaction and attendance, at conference times.

To book a 15 minute Learning Conference on 29th or 30th March with your child's teacher, please click on the link below and choose a preferred date and time for each child you have at St Patrick's School.

The link for booking a 3 Way Learning Conference is:

 https://www.schoolinterviews.co.nz/code/q4p4j 

Please email  (office@stpatkai.school.nz) or call our Office 03 327 7700 if you need any assistance booking your 3-Way Learning Conference.

You are invited to visit our Science Showcase which will be held in our Library while Learning Conferences are on, next Tuesday and Wednesday. Before or after your Learning Conference please visit our Library to view some of the Science learning that has occurred this term. There will be a postbox in the Library for you to leave your feedback for our budding Scientists! 

With the easing of COVID restrictions we are now able to return to whole School Assemblies and Masses, next week.  We currently have 3 positive student COVID cases in our school and 1 staff member. 

We have really appreciated those generous and caring people who have provided care baskets, meals, baking and assistance to those families who are isolating and unwell. Thank you so much to all of the people who have reached out to help and provided assistance! May God bless you.

Thank you to all of our families who have sold their PTA Easter Raffle tickets so quickly! If you would like more to sell please see Wendy in our Office.

Please keep all of our families affected by the Omicron virus  in your thoughts and prayers.

Kia tau nga manaakitanga a te Atua ki runga i a koutou

Kind regards,

Trish McKendry

Congratulations to the following students who received Principals Awards during the last 2 weeks:

Norah Pesefea,Mea , Cojay Manera, Seamus McCollum, Jamie Wirth, Zoe McDonnell, Everest Rawson, Paige Godinet-Howard, Axel Rawson, Lucy Hilton, Athena Blake, Beau McLaren, George Venis, Joshua Pickering, Ana White, Kayla Siengenthaler, Violet Morgan, Sid Setter, Odin Stakenburg.

Student of the Week: Indie Stevens

Happy Birthday to:

Whaea Emma, Max Venis, Lauren Boyd, 

                                                     PTA News

Kia Ora St Patrick’s Community, we hope you are having a great week.

Please read below to keep up to date with what we are doing.

Face Book Page

Do you follow us on Face Book? This is the best way to make sure you have the most up to date information for all that we are doing. You can find us by searching St Patrick’s Kaiapoi PTA.

Donut Fundraiser

Just a reminder that the new collection date for this will be Friday the 8th of April outside the school hall from 3-5pm.  Thank you so much if you have already made an order,  Orders will remain open until Monday the 4th April. Please contact Sam at pta@stpatkai.school.nz or 0274696007 if there are any issues.

Mainpower Community Fund

Thank you to those who jumped over and voted for us for the Mainpower Fund. We are very lucky to be receiving $750 that will go towards all new Line marking around the school.

Breakfast Club

This is back for 2022 with our senior students in charge while we are in the Red Level. We are happy that this way we can still provide breakfast and lunches to all that are in need or just need a little extra.

We are still receiving food donations from food satisfy which is absolutely amazing. If you are in a position to do so we would also be very grateful for donations or Yoghurts, Muesli Bars, fruit or spreads. Please feel free to hand these into the office If you have any questions please contact us at pta@stpatkai.school.nz

 Easter Raffle

Thank you to those who generously donated to the Easter Raffle last Friday. We have some awesome hampers up for grabs!

Hopefully your child has brought home some raffle tickets, if not you can get these from the office. These need to be returned to the RED PTA box in the office no later than Friday 1st April. The class average who sells the most tickets will receive HOT CHIPS. The raffle will be drawn at assembly on Monday 4th April.

We will be selling raffles outside Kaiapoi New World on Sunday 27th March from 10am – 5pm and Thursday 31st March from 9am to 2pm.

We are needing helpers and would appreciate an hour of your time on either of these two days. There will be a roster going up outside the office or you can contact Kaylene 0274 878063 and I will add you.

Thank you

Pastoral Care

If you receive a phone call, email or text from myself or a class rep asking if you can help with Pastoral Care can you please respond. It can be frustrating when we are trying to get help to our families in need. We understand that you may not be able to help when called upon and that is perfectly OK, we will ask an alternative family. We try and spread the love, so the same families aren’t always being asked. I know this is very challenging times and we appreciate those who have helped to date. Thank you - Kaylene

Ice Block Fridays

The perfect Friday treat without going to the shops! Lemonade Ice Blocks will be sold for $1 each outside the Library after school every Friday for Term 1. 

Uniform

Thank you to those who placed an order for term one. The next order will be going through in week 5 of term 2. As always we will endeavour to help those who are in need of items in between orders. The new uniform is not essential until 2024 so you can definitely let your tamariki grow out of their current uniform before you purchase from the new range.

There is now a wee FAQ sheet in the office for you to check through should you have any questions. If your question remains unanswered or you do not come into school please reach out to us via our email address or if urgent call or message Sam on 0274696007. We will get back to you asap with any information that you may need.

Our next meeting is on Wednesday 30th March at 6.30pm in the staffroom.

All welcome.

Looking to learn an instrument?

There are still spaces available for students, both adults and children.

Learn piano, clarinet, saxophone, guitar, voice or flute.

Contact :Erin Grigson - NZ Modern School of Music

erin@grigson.org

(please note change of email address

The aim is to develop fundamental movement and ball skills. The game that follows the preceding skill session is played on one third of a full sized court, by teams of four, with the emphasis on equal participation. Players register as individuals and are placed into groups.

Thursday 5th May - Thursday 7th July 2022 (10 weeks over term 2) Mainpower Stadium, Coldstream Road, Rangiora Starts at 4.00pm-5.00pm all players to meet on Court 1 (closest to the main entrance doors) $85.00 registration fee Please pay by Direct Credit - ANZ Acc.no: 01 0877 0123728 00 (use player name as reference) STAR HELPERS: For this programme to be successful we do require some Star Helpers - this can be weekly or on a rotation basis, this could be parents, grandparents, older siblings or anyone interested in starting out in coaching. There will be a Workshop run for Star Helpers free of charge. If there are any cancellations these will be on the Cancellation page of the NCNC website, on our Facebook page or you can ring the office answer phone on 03 313 1445 and listen to the recorded message. If you have any further queries, please contact Raewyn at NCNC: admin@ncnc.org.nz or call 03 313 1445