August 15 is a special day in the Catholic calendar.  It honours the Assumption of Mary, the Mother of Jesus.  In Aotearoa-New Zealand, it unites the Church in a common celebration.  The Assumption is our patronal feast day.  What’s so important about this?

Mary, as the Mother of Jesus, the Word of God, is “blessed among women” and unique in all humanity.  She is not divine; she is totally human, yet privileged to be the one who gave God a human personality.  The Word became flesh in the womb of Mary, transforming her into a sacred vessel.

Because of this intimacy and dignity, we believe that Mary’s body could not have known the corruption that normally follows death.  She was “assumed”, taken in her entirety, to the presence of God.  In honouring this belief, we celebrate the dignity of all humanity.  Not only are we made in the image of God, but God has further dignified us by becoming one of us.

How can this not give us great hope and trust, and gratefulness.

Dear Parents/Caregivers,

Special thanks to Father Doug who celebrated Mass three times for the Holy Day of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Much appreciated Father Doug. You really are bringing the church to our children. 

Thank you to Ann Stephen and John Grevatt who organised the Central Zone Swimming Sports for all schools in the Central Zone. We are grateful to all the time Ann and John put into this event for not only our swimmers but all swimmers across our cluster.

There has been magnificent learning happening at our school over the week. I have captured a few events throughout this newsletter.

Coding staff meeting: Our staff have had intensive professional development throughout the year on how to implement the new digital curriculum. On Monday, we were coding and reading each other's codes.

I read a great article the other day as to how prayer can improve health.

• relaxation - prayer can lower blood pressure and other factors heightened by stress.
• secondary control - prayer releases control to somthing way greater than oneself by reducing the need to be in charge.
• placebo response - prayer can embrace a persons hope and expectations that can positively impact on health.
• healing presence - prayer can bring aspiritual or loving presence.
• positive feelings - prayer can elicit feelings of gratitude, compassion, forgiveness and hope which can all be associated with healing and wellness.
• mind, body, spirit connection - this is when prayer uplifts or calms.

Please encourage your child to build their knowledge on the upcoming Rugby World Cup in Japan so they are well prepared for testing day on Friday, 6th September.

Netball:

A special welcome to Allegra, Jackson and Riva who have joined our school community and are enjoying learning experiences in Room 1. We hope you enjoy your time at Sacred Heart Cathedral School.

We are looking forward to celebrating and honouring Dads, and Grandads on Monday at 1.30pm at St. Mary's Hall followed by refreshements in the staffroom.

Arohanui,

Bernadette Murfitt

Principal

Sacred Heart Cathedral School

Dear God,

You come to us in Jesus who teaches us that the way to happiness is through our love for one another.

Watch over the teachers, students and families of Sacred Heart Cathedral School as we try to be faithful to this teaching.

Help us to be a welcoming and joyful community, so that others may come to know your love and peace.

We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord,

Amen.

We have a good amount of emergency supplies of food and water to last quite a few days at school. We would appreciate contributions of the following:

• crackers
• sweet biscuits 
• muesli or snack bars
• sweet biscuits 
• lollipops

If your contact details have changed please email frances@sacred-heart.school.nz

Congratulations to Annie and Lynda who have been selected for the Wellington Centurions Junior Girls' Rugby Team. A great achievement - well done!

Congratulations to all of our Room 1 students who presented a wide range of plays relating to the Gospel. Our multi-talented five year olds were so confident speaking and performing in front of a very appreciative audience. Special mention must go to Sue Cranney, their teacher who presented this learning as live performance and as a digital presentation. A big thank you to parents, grandparents, Father Doug and supporters of our school.

Congratulations to all students who participated in our Speech Competition this year. The standard just keeps getting better and better every year. We were so proud of all students who challenged our thinking and added to our kete of knowledge. The students who will represent our school at the Central Zone Competition tonight at Mt. Cook School are:

Year 5 - Alessandra Villavicencio: Why Teacher's Jobs Are Becoming More Difficult

Year 6 - Irene Jiss: The Importance Of Education

Year 7 - Tyler Duncan: Maybe

Year 8 - Annabelle Stirling: Spending Money 

We would appreciate your feedback on delivery of the curriculum.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfShhOiYnjLD09wlLxr9i830IIi0gAN93QRpvlrdw_10im_gw/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1

The following document will give you an overview of the Act that was passed in 2015 to protect us all online.

https://www.netsafe.org.nz/advice/harmfuldigitalcommunications/

https://www.netsafe.org.nz/anonymous-apps/

Congratulations to the following children who have qualified to represent the Central Zone at the next level of the competition, the InterZone competition.  The first and second placegetters in each event qualify for the Interzone competition with some of the children below qualifying in several events:

Year 4:  James W.

Year 6:  Victoria, Bianca.

Year 7:  Amokura, Bella T, Lily W and the Year 7 Girls' Relay team.

Year 8:  Annabelle, William B, Noah A-K.

We are fundraising for the final stage of our Playground redevelopment. Our student House Captains have launched our Rugby World Cup Fundraiser and we are pretty excited that we can combine knowledge and fundraising with an end goal of more play equipment and turf. 

All students have paper copies of the following attachments.

Thanking you in advance for supporting our school.

All parents/caregivers are welcome to join us for the John Burland Concert on Monday, 26 August, 9.00-10.00am at St. Mary's Hall.

John Burland is an Educator and Composer. We use his CDs for our school liturgies.

• Includes song, movement, meditative prayer and story.
• Highly interactive with a strong Religious Education focus.
• Suitable for all children, teachers, parents and parishioners.

Look forward to seeing you at the concert.

Kelly Sports Summer Series Football & Netball Competition – REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW OPEN!

Get your friends together and enter a team in our popular 5-a-side Football or our Netball Summer Series Leagues.

Played on Friday afternoons at Ian Galloway Park (Football) and Netball at Samuel Marsden (Karori) & Karori Normal School beginning 25 October 2019.

There is a break over Christmas then we start up again in term 1 2020.

It’s a great way to maintain and improve your skills over the summer months.

For full details and to enrol your team visit www.getyourgameon.co.nz/kellysports email summerseries@kellysports.co.nz or call 04 972 7201. 

The Couples for Christ (CFC) is an international Catholic lay ecclesial movement whose goal is to renew and strengthen Christian values. 
CFC is made up of ministries for married couples, kids, youth and adults, socio-economic development, church relations and pro-life advocacy. 
It nurtures Christian couples through pastoral formation programs and equips them to be committed to evangelisation and missionary work. 
CFC grows mainly through the establishment of localised groups in different parishes in as many areas as possible, 
winning the world for Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. 
It is now present in over 100 countries worldwide. 
In New Zealand, there is already CFC presence in majority of regions with total of around 2,400 members. 
CFC is one of 123 International Associations of the Faithful and is affiliated with the Vatican recognition from the Pontifical Council for the Laity.