Dear Parents/Caregivers,

The term is most certainly flying. 

Last week, I attended a Professional Development Day centred around "Overcoming Adversity."

Mike King was one of the speakers. His message was very simple. We need to make sure that our children feel loved and cared for and that this love doesn't come with conditions. Teachers and Parents are significant adults in the lives of of our children. We cannot underestimate the importance of time we give our children, listening agreeing and disagreeing - having rich conversations and sharing opinions. I have spent alot of time reflecting about what I heard and pondering different ideas. As a staff we are all committed to giving all of our children hope - and lifting them up so they always feel they can cope and be confident young people.

I was delighted with the announcement the government made last week about teaching New Zealand history in schools. The inclusion of a New Zealand history component will ensure we deliver our own country's history to our children. 

We look forward to hosting a Catholic Character Review team from 5^th - 7^th November 2019. Zita Smith Catholic Character Reviewer and Veronica Sawers, Principal at St Brendan’s School, Heretaunga will be the two reviewers reviewing our school. We are looking forward to sharing how we promote Catholic Character at our school. 

It was wonderful to hear our Choir sing and view the amazing WearableArts creations at ArtSplash on Monday evening. Thank you to all families who supported us.

Please ensure your child is in correct footwear (black shoes) for school. Term 4 is summer uniform. Please order your summer uniform requirements through Robyn. Term 4 is the last term that the school will be selling our school uniform. From 2020, all uniform will be purchased through NZ Uniforms, Thorndon Quay. If you are wanting a summer uniform or the winter tunic or skirt we can organise that for you this year .

Next Tuesday, the student council have organised a book character day. Come dressed as your favourite book character.

Next Wednesday between 1.30 and 2.30pm, all classrooms will be open for you to view

"Art work" created by all the children - you are most welcome to go into all of our classrooms and view art displays.

Thank you all so much for the support you give our school. I am so appreciative of your generosity particularly with the Rugby World Cup Sponsored Quiz.

Arohanui

Bernadette Murfitt

Principal, Sacred Heart Cathedral School

A first century Roman philosopher, Seneca, wrote: The greatest remedy for anger is delay!  Knee-jerk reactions often say more about the person reacting than about the cause of the reaction.  It’s so easy to “fly off the handle” when you feel offended or misjudged or meet outright stupidity, only to find you make matters even worse!

Anger tends to inflame anger, pushing aside the possibility or hope of reconciliation.  The ability to listen disappears and unrelated issues, or earlier unresolved conflicts, are likely to quickly surface.  The likely end result is a big mess.

Try reacting to any perceived hurt by relaxing.  This way you stay in control of the situation.  You give yourself time to reflect and to consider your part in the confrontation; to discover what might have blocked or skewed the communication between you.  However, don’t take too long, lest “the sun goes down” and your anger sets hard and becomes immovable.

Seneca also wrote: Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.

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.

Last Thursday, a group of children from our school participated in the InterZone Swimming competition.  Congratulations to the following children:

James W, Year 4: 50m Freestyle 10th.

Amokura, Year 7:  50m Freestyle 4th, 25m Backstroke 6th, 25m Breaststroke 6th, 25m Butterfly 8th, 25m Freestyle 6th.

William B, Year 8:  50m Freestyle 9th, 25m Butterfly 8th.

Bianca, Year 6:  25m Butterfly 10th, 25m Freestyle 10th.

Bella T, Year 7:  25m Backstroke 4th.

Noah A-K, Year 8:  25m Backstroke 8th, 25m Freestyle 8th.

Dominic, Year 7:  25m Breaststroke 3rd.

Lily W, Year 7:  NC 25m Backstroke 2nd.

Year 7 Girls' Relay team:  Lonasei, Alice W, Bella T and Amokura, 3rd.

Artsplash is a young people’s arts festival that brings together primary and intermediate schools throughout Wellington to celebrate dance, music, visual art and wearable art.

Monday night at the Michael Fowler Centre was simply superb. Our staff were so proud of all of our students. It was truely a wonderful way to start a week.

Special thanks to Ms. Scarlett and Miss Regan who spent Friday afterschool for the past term working with students on their Wearable Arts Costumes. The final results were stunning and took creativity to a whole new level. Behind each costume there is a wonderful narrative. We look forward to sharing these with you all.

We are also grateful to Mrs. Maresca and Mrs. Walker who prepared the choir to participate in the Mass Art Splash Choir. The singing was outstanding.

Back in June, Jack trialled for the Wellington Hockey U13 Curtis Cup rep squad.  It was a tough trail and Jack initially missed out, with only a handful of Year 7 making the squad.  Last month, Wellington Hockey was invited to send a second team, and Jack was selected!  Congratulations Jack, well done!

Jack played in a warm up tournament on the weekend, with 1 win and 1 loss. Jack will now travel to Napier in the second week of the school holidays to represent Wellington at the Curtis Cup championship, competing against teams from Hawkes Bay, Wairarapa, Horowhenua, Poverty Bay, Taranaki, Whanganui, Rangitikei, and Horowhenua. 

Here are a few highlights from Te Wiki o te reo Māori. Room 3 and Room 10 did a Tuakana teina activity where an older and younger person work together to learn.

We also had a sausage sizzle last Friday and here are some photos of activities from Room 5.

We are so impressed with the huge amount of rugby knowledge our students now have as we go into the Rugby World Cup in Japan. Thank you for all your generosity in supporting our school as we finish off our Playground Project. Our student leaders were simply amazing in how they helped prepare students for testing day.

Special thanks to all families who have deposited sponsorship money into our Parents and Friends account.

Parents and Friends bank account is 12-3140-0397242-00.

So far our Quiz has raised $1692.50 - INCREDIBLE Thank you 

Congratulations to Ethan and Matthew in Room 3 for their Mathletics Gold Certificate. Well done!

Summer Netball for years 1-4

SHCS Junior Netball Registration for years 1-4 (26 Oct - 14 Dec 2019) is now open.  For more information and to register your player, please visit https://forms.gle/zcBWsudH1TMnNmPX8.  Registrations will close this Thursday 19 September. 

Winter netball 2019

Well done to all of our teams, coaches, managers and families for completing another season of winter netball.  A few reminders for our families:

Return netball uniform and player of the day trophies

Please return cleaned uniform and player of the day trophies in a clearly labelled bag to the school office by Tuesday 24 September. 

Saturday 21 September - Motu Kairangi prize giving sessions:

Held at SWIS Hall - access from 147(ish) Rintoul Street, Newtown.

All families, coaches, managers and our special kiwi whistler umpires are encouraged to attend!

• Year 5/6 Prizegiving will be from 2:00pm to 3:30pm 
• Year 7/8 will be from 4:00pm to 5:30pm.  

Friday 27 September, lunchtime - SHCS Netball Prize giving:

We warmly welcome all of our netball players and families to our school's netball prizegiving, 12.15pm next Friday 27 September in room 4.  All players please bring a plate, it can be dropped off to room 4 from 11am next Friday.  Pizza and drinks will be provided.

SHCS Netball for 2020

Communication for the 2020 winter season will start in February next year.  Please let Trudy know if you know anyone who would be keen to help with SHCS - there are many roles that help make our school netball work i.e. school delegate to MK, school coordinator, umpire coordinator, uniform, payments etc.  It's a great way to meet our wonderful families at Sacred Heart!  For more details, please email netball@sacred-heart.school.nz

Please note in your diary, our annual Quiz Evening will be taking place on Thursday, 24 October at the Shepherd's Arms, Tinakori Road, Thorndon at 7:00pm start.  Get together with your friends and make up a team or turn up on the night and join a team!  For details, check out the flyer below!

Sacred Heart Cathedral School is committed to providing a safe, respectful and disciplined learning environment for students and staff, where students have opportunities to engage in quality learning experiences and acquire values supportive of their lifelong wellbeing.

Our Responsible Behaviour Plan for Students is designed to maintain the  high standards of behaviour so that the learning and teaching in our school can be effective and students can participate positively within our school community.  

• LEARNING AND BEHAVIOUR STATEMENT

Our Responsible Behaviour Plan outlines our system for facilitating positive behaviours, preventing problem behaviour and responding to unacceptable behaviours. 

Our Behaviour Management system is based on respect. 

• We respect the rights of everyone to learn in a safe, supportive and attractive environment.
• Every student at our school  has the right to enjoy our wonderful school and feel safe and secure.
• Every student has the right to learn in a class without disruption.
• Every teacher has the right to enjoy their teaching without disruption or disobedience.

Our school community has identified the following school rules to teach and promote our high standards of responsible behaviour:

• Be safe.
• Be responsible.
• Be respectful.

Please find attached a letter from Regional Public Health.

If you havn't already done so please send your child's immunisation record to cathy@sacred-heart.school.nz

For regular users, cost is $55.00 per child per week.  Early pick ups for regular users (collected by 3.30pm), cost is $30.00 per child per week.  Please note that Robyn, our After School Care supervisor, does run a discount system for families with more than one children who regularly attend.  Casual attendance $15.00 per child per session.  For casual attendance, please email Robyn:  robynjones1952@gmail.com and please cc cathy@sacred-heart.school.nz in on your email.  Also, please include in your email, if this is due to a change in your after school plan on the day and if your child/children needs to be informed that he/she/they need to go to ASC.  This ensures that the school is aware of after school care arrangements on a casual basis.

After School care closes each day at 5.30 pm 

The phone number for After School Care is  04 4736361

Thank you.

Evolve Tennis Coaching is running a tennis-specific holiday programme during the October school holidays at the Thorndon Tennis & Squash Club. The Tennis Hot Shots Camp for 5-12 years runs from 9am-12pm, and the interclub team training from 1-3pm. For further information or to book please contact Evolve Tennis Coaching on 479 1386 or info@evolvetenniscoaching.co.nz

School Holiday Computer Classes

Grand Training runs fun computer classes in the school holidays in all aspects of computer skills.  From Minecraft and learning to code with Scratch, Python or Java to building your own PC and if young the Discovery Computer Class.  These classes run at Wellington Girls College.  Tell us what you want to learn about, and we’ll make it happen. Go to www.grandtraining.co.nz or ring 499-2211 for more details.

Did your child / children get a great start with school swimming lessons?

Do you want to your child to be a strong swimmer & safe in the water?

Looking for a cost effective fun way to develop your childs swimming?

JOIN NOW

We provide swimming and coaching in a non competitive and fun environment for kids aged 4 – 18

Cost only $85 per year + pool entry

Club Nights Every Friday of the school term 7 – 8pm

Freyberg Pool Oriental Bay

What better way to get an hour of peaceful “me” time at the end of the week  - not to mention the added benefit of a worn out child ready for a big sleep!

https://www.maranuiswimming.co.nz/Home

One of our parents, Sue Tuia is the club captain for Maranui Swim Club and is happy to be contacted if you would like more information, please call her on 021387980.

Want to encourage your budding young writer? Brain Bunny Creative Writing Classes are coming to the Wellington CBD in term four.

For ages 8-12:

Creative Writing Holiday Programme – Thursday, 3rd October at 1-4pm. $35 per child.

Afterschool Classes - Mondays at 4-5pm, 14th October – 16th December. $120 per child at the Toi Poneke Community Centre.

Please see www.brainbunny.co.nz to enrol or contact Helen at brainbunny@hotmail.co.nz for more information. Places are limited and bookings are essential.