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- Greetings
- Weekly Update from Bernadette Murfitt
- Our Liturgy to support our staff and students over the events that occurred on 15 March in Christchurch
- Support from the Ministry of Education and other agencies
- Our visit to St Catherine's
- Letter from NZCBC Interfaith Committee on Christchurch Shootings
- Fr Doug
- Easter Hamper Raffle
- Mind Body and Soul Tuesday 9 April 1.30-2.15
- Paid Union Meeting has been postponed
- Buddy Training for Senior Students
- Fantastic Dr Seuss artwork from Room 1
- Movin' March Colouring competition
- Measles information from the Regional Public Health
- Asthma Information
- Sacred Heart Care Baking group
- Netball
- Entertainment book fundraiser
- ASB Supporting Schools
Hello, Kia Ora, Talofa lava, Malo e lelei, Namaste, Mabuhay, Ciao, Kia Orana, Ahalan, Kon-nichiwa, Ni hao, Selam, Xin chao, Bonjour, Bula, Dzien/dobry, Nee how, Shalom, Dia duit, Mauri, Cead Mile Failte, Halo, Privet/Zdravstvuite, Привіт.
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
Special thanks for all your ongoing support this week, it is truly appreciated.
May God bless the Muslim communities throughout our nation. May he hold the people of Christchurch in the palm of his hand. May our prayers bring comfort to those who are mourning or are in distress. May our God help us to treasure our values of aroha, compassion and respect of all people.
Just to reassure you all htat our emergency procedures are regularly reviewed and are ready to go at all times. After a beautiful liturgy on Monday morning where several parents joined us, we went back into the school and I talked the children through waht we would do in a lock down situation over our intercom system. We did another lock down run through again today during morning tea. Once again our systems and processes went very smoothly. OUr students are aware and responsive to what they need to do if the situation was required.
I spent some time in the weekend with Adrienne and her daughter Courtney. The Harland family are very appreciative of the very special way we are supporting the family by making contributions to the pantry. We want to provide this level of support over the next few terms. You are welcome to leave any donations at the school office. Juliet Smith our ex-Reading Recovery teacher has very generously picked up the specialist work that Adrienne carries out. My sincere thanks to Juliet for joining the team again here at Sacred Heart Cathedral School.
Special thanks to the staff here at Sacred Heart Cathedral School who have really supported students during this difficult time.
Many thanks to you all for making Sacred Heart Cathedral School a great place for our staff and students.
Arohanui
Bernadette Murfitt
Principal
Sacred Heart Cathedral School
We had a beautiful liturgy for our students and staff on Monday morning. Special thanks to Miss Regan, our student Liturgy Leaders and Father Doug who all showed tremendous leadership during this time of sorrow. We are also grateful to those families who were able to join us. As a staff we will continue to keep a close eye on our students and will deal with any questions raised in an age appropriate way.
After the liturgy we had a lock down drill - this all went very well. Our students were all very attentive and calm. We are very fortunate to have an intercom system where students can hear instructions inside the school and outside in the playground. We will be reviewing the drills and processes at our Board of Trustees meeting this evening.
The Ministry of Education have highlighted the following websites as support to schools and families.
Helping children deal with trauma – Ministry of Health website
Oranga Tamariki’s website
Children’s Commissioner NZ Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/childrenscommnz/posts/2099610073454960?__tn__=-R
Other useful resources:
Resources in Response to the New Zealand Terror Attack
In response to the terror attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, the National Child Traumatic Stress Network has developed resources to help families and communities. Check in with our own communities and those we work with who may be feeling vulnerable due to this incident, especially Muslim and refugee families. These resources include:
· Parent Guidelines for Helping Youth after the Recent Shooting
· Talking to Children about the Shooting
· Helping Young Children with Traumatic Grief: Tips for Caregivers
· Helping School-Age Children with Traumatic Grief: Tips for Caregivers
· Helping Teens with Traumatic Grief: Tips for Caregivers
· Helping Youth after Community Trauma: Tips for Educators
· After a Crisis: Helping Young Children Heal
Resources on Refugee Trauma
Psychological First Aid
The NCTSN also has resources for responders on Psychological First Aid (PFA). PFA is an early intervention to support children, adolescents, adults, and families impacted by these types of events. PFA Mobile is an app that can be accessed for free on Apple and Android mobile devices. The NCTSN Learning Center offers a PFA online training course.
Refugee Trauma: https://www.nctsn.org/
· Grief Leadership: Leadership in the Wake of Tragedy
· Leadership Communication: Anticipating and Responding to Stressful Events
We were invited to attend at morning tea at St Catherine’s, Kilbirnie and these were some of our first impressions:
"It was a very friendly place and we could tell that it would be easy to get to know everyone. It was small, but the teachers all seemed very good, everyone knew all of the teachers and loved all of the teachers. It felt really homely and it was great to see people we knew – ex Sacred Heart students. I think it’s a very good school and all the teachers and students seemed very nice. They offered a whole bunch of sporting activities and extra curriuculm activities like debating, badminton, netball, and volleyball. The blazer is really cool and we liked their school uniform."
Talikha Rm 9, Aine Rm 9, Fatimai, Rm 10, and Amanda Rm 10.
This raffle closes on Friday 29 March - so there is still plenty of time to sell tickets! A big thank you to all the parents who have already sold and returned the raffle tickets and money to the school. Tickets are $2 each. Payment for the raffles can be made in cash or by internet banking. The account details for internet banking are: Account name: Sacred Heart Parent and Friends, account number: 12-3140-0397242-00, please put as reference for the school, your child's name and 'raffle'. If you are wanting more tickets, these are available from Cathy in the office. Winners will be drawn on Tuesday 2 April and winners will be announced in the school newsletter on Wednesday 3 April.
You are all invited to our school wide celebration of learning on Tuesday 9 April outside on the court. Students will be sharing their learning through physical activity. Students will be sharing how they look after their mind, body and soul.
There will be some car parking available on the court and afterwards you are welcome to come back up into the school and look through classrooms.
This meeting has been postponed.
Please be advised that the NZEI have postponed the upcoming paid union meeting for the teachers this Thursday 21 March.
Art Challenge - Students can participate in the Movin’March Art Challenge! A street scene template of Jack the Kākā’s journey to school has been designed for tamariki to colour in – there’s also space to get extra creative by adding in your own journey to school. Vouchers & Prezzy cards are up for grabs. Full details are here.
- Zealandia has kindly donated Family pass daily prizes and this week Staglands is our fun Wellington Destination. Thanks Staglands for your generosity!
- There are also three adult Micro scooters to give away each Friday as part of our Jack’s Favourite Friday Photo part of this competition.
- All you need to do is snap a photo of your family’s journey to school during Movin’March, post your photo publicly on Facebook or Instagramwith #movinmarch. T&C’s are here
- Have a short story to tell? How or why did you walk or wheel for the first time (or let your children do this for themselves)? Were there barriers or benefits you’d like to share?
- Entrants go in the draw to win a $100 Prezzy card.
As you are likely aware, there is a large and ongoing outbreak of measles in Christchurch, with 26 cases as at 14 March. Auckland and Dunedin now also have measles cases.
While there are currently no reported cases in the greater Wellington region, people will move around NZ during the school holiday period of 13 - 28 April, which includes Easter (19 April –22 April), and ANZAC Day (25 April), and it is likely measles will spread.
Accordingly, attached is an information sheet and FAQs regarding measles for primary, intermediate and secondary schools.
Prepared by RPH Medical Office of Health Dr Annette Nesdale, this information is intended for circulation to staff, students and parents.
Regional Public Health also asks:
• All schools check staff are protected from measles. Some schools in prior years have had to close during measles outbreaks when staff haven’t been able to quickly confirm their immunisation status.
• All schools ensure staff and pupils have measles protection before any planned school or sporting trips to Christchurch or areas overseas where measles is occurring.
• Primary schools ensure that their immunisation registers are up to date (a legal requirement).
• Intermediate and secondary schools may also want to note if pupils have been immunised for measles. This will reduce confusion and delays if a case occurs at their schools.
More information is available on:
• Regional Public Health - www.rph.org.nz
• Ministry of Health - www.health.govt.nz
• Immunisation Advisory Centre - www.immune.org.nz
A link to this information will be available on our Facebook page (RPHWellington) and twitter (@RPHWellington) for you to share.
Helen Corrigan | Regional Public Health communications
M: (027) 583 3240
DDI: (04) 570 9144.
helen.corrigan2@huttvalleydhb.
@RPHWellington
rph@huttvalleydhb.org.nz
www.rph.org.nz
A message from your school public health nurse
For children who have asthma diagnosed by a doctor, it is important that your child has an Asthma Action Plan completed by your doctor and this is shown to the school office. The school staff will take a copy and refer to this should your child suffer an asthma attack at school. It is also very important that the school have your child’s prescribed inhalers and that these have not expired. The expiry date can be checked by pulling out the canister from the inhaler and checking on the canister the date noted next to “Exp:”.
For a copy of the Asthma Action Plan please contact Cathy in the office, either by phone: 04 4724047 or email: cathy@sacred-heart.school.nz
In response to Adrienne's situation with Courtney, the Sacred Heart Care group are setting up a baking roster for Adrienne's family. It will be an ongoing effort so if anyone wants to join in, it will be really appreciated so we can boost our numbers. Please contact Windee if you can help here - email: windee_06@yahoo.com
We will once again be selling the Entertainment book as a fundraiser, the book or digital membership costs $65.00 and for each book sold the school receives $13.00. Money raised from this will go towards purchasing new PE equipment for the children. Pre-orders will receive 'Early Bird Offers' valued at over $180.00 and can be used straight away. To qualify for the 'Early bird offer', orders need to be made before Wednesday 27 March. To pre-order please
Books will be sent home on Tuesday 30 April. If you do not want a book sent home, please reply to the email that Cathy has sent out about this.
