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Reminder
School will be closed this Wednesday, 29th May, for the PPTA Strike; and again, this coming Friday 31st May for our calendared Teacher Only Day. (There will be no newsletter next week)
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 Kia ora tatou
This week I came across an article about the strong link between volunteering and wellbeing. While this information and research is not new, it again reinforced the importance of recognising that we are a part of something much bigger than ourselves. Our junior health curriculum at St Peter’s teaches the value of looking at the four cornerstones of health through Te Whare Tapa Whā model, where wairua (spiritual), tinana (physical), whanau (family and community) and hinengaro (mental) wellbeing are equally important. Service to our community fits well into this model and certainly adds to the holistic learning we want for our children in their development. Last night, at our kapa haka evening which served as a ‘wrap up’ of the wonderful North Island hikoi that was held in April, I spoke of this group finding their tūrangawaewae – their place to stand - and their sense of belonging by being part of this group and, of course, the pleasure they give to others through their performances. Our Gore Youth Council members, who celebrate the young people of Gore tomorrow night at the Youth Awards, are another example of belonging to something bigger than themselves and giving service to their peers and community. As part of a faith community, we all belong to something much bigger than ourselves. Faith and belonging can help put pressures and worries into perspective and remind us that our every day is only a very small part of the path that God has planned for us. Ensuring that our faith and beliefs are at the foundation of our choices and direction should certainly contribute to a strong spiritual wellbeing. Next Wednesday, as you will have heard, the NZEI and PPTA have called for a strike due to the slow progress of negotiation talks (the NZEI collective agreement ran out last June and the PPTA CA ran out last October). I know there are frustrations for all that trying to negotiate employment contracts and teaching and learning conditions that affect our young people has come to this, and we certainly recognise the disruption to student learning that this causes, especially in the same week we have already calendared a Teacher Only Day on the 31st. We will be closed on Wednesday due to a lack of staff to provide safe supervision for your children. Please refer to the Board email that was sent home earlier this week to inform you of this decision. This coming week is set down as a week of prayer for Christian community. Let’s think about this reflection as we head into the weekend - Every year Christians across the world gather in prayer for growth in unity. We do this in a world where corruption, greed and injustice bring about inequality and division. Ours is a united prayer in a fractured world: this is powerful. However, as individual Christians and communities, we are often complicit with injustice, and yet we are called together to form a united witness for justice and to be a means of Christ’s healing grace for the brokenness of the world. We are generally really proud of how our students represent St Peter’s in the way they wear their uniform around town and in the school, however this needs some attention at present for some students. Further in this newsletter is our policy on uniform. Please ensure your child is following these. We have many nominees in the Gore Youth Awards being held tomorrow night and we wish you all the very best for a great evening of celebration. We have many nominees in the Gore Youth Awards being held tomorrow night and we wish you all the very best for a great evening of celebration. Warm regards, Kate Nicholson Principal Dr Ava Ruth Baker is an anthroposophic GP specialising in autism spectrum and related conditions. Dr Baker has previously come to Invercargill to do assessments for children and adults. She has forty years of general practice with specific training in anthroposophical and other holistic approaches to medicine, mental health and the autism spectrum. She has worked as school doctor at Steiner Schools in Bay of Plenty and Christchurch, and as medical officer for Hohepa Canterbury. Dr Baker is coming to Invercargill July or August and she can do assessments for ASD, ADHD, Gifted, PDA. Apppointment charges will apply. For more information, please contact her directly at avaruth.baker@xtra.co.nz
The Noel Leeming Friends and Family offer is available from 20-26 May 2019 and is open to anyone associated with Catholic schools. Cost plus 10% store-wide (excludes IT accessories, PC Software, AV Accessories and PC Consumables) Print and present this flyer or show it on your device in store.  We would like to take this opportunity to thank the PTFA for purchasing a new Pie Warmer for the School. Also a huge thanks to Justine Abernethy who spent quite some time putting it together for us in the Home Economics room saving staff a lot of time. Once again thank you so much.
Lets get behind this event and purchase a ticket to support David Barton the Director of Rosmini House and wonderful Annie Nelson the St Mary’s Principal. Get your tickets today from www.iticket.co.nz before they sell out.  The Fuel for Schools sponsorship programme has helped put over $900,000 of resources into more than 350 rural school as in the last ten years. Just a reminder of how our school can receive a donation… Our school has to be nominated by a local business/farm that receives bulk fuel deliveries from Northfuels, meaning that for every 2 litres of bulk fuel they purchase 1 cent is donated to their nominated school - which is us! Help us out by nominating our School. Visit our Fuel for Schools page on our website www.southfuels.co.nz to view these packages today!  Congratulations to the following students who have been selected as Junior House Leaders.  Tena koutou
It was great seeing so many of you at the whanau conferencing yesterday and I hope that you and your child were able to have very constructive conversations that will provide the direction for positive academic results. While you were meeting with teachers, our deputy principal of teaching and learning, Bridget Ryan, and I spent a couple of hours with 21 volunteer students from years 8-10 to get their feedback on our project-based learning programme which begins in Term 3. It was a very fruitful discussion and I was impressed by their thinking and understanding of education today and the learning that they recognise they need, to prepare for life after school. When comments from students of this age begin with “Studies about this say that …” I wonder who should really be running the school! We often underestimate the knowledgeable opinions of our young people when making decisions about their education. They are also very aware of how learning has shifted in the last couple of generations with the advent of Google, and knowledge and content at their fingertips compared with the educational experiences of older generations. Recently, we were excited to hear that our application to the national Teacher Led Innovation Fund was successful. This fund is a Ministry of Education initiative designed to support innovative and quality practice that improves student achievement. My thanks go to Bridget Ryan and her team who put this application together. It is certainly affirming to know that we are moving in the right direction. Our plans for introducing Project Based Learning for all year 8 – 10 students are well underway. Allowing our students to have control over their learning, engage in a context of their choosing, and develop skills in academic risk-taking, resilience, tenacity, creativity, time-management, planning and collaboration, is very exciting for us as a school. Of course, service and impact on community will also be part of what we will be asking students to consider as we will be ensuring that our special character is not lost in new contexts. Our volunteer students from today have offered to spend time in school on Teacher Only Day learning more about project learning, giving us feedback, and working through a process of directing one’s own learning, with one of our educational partners from Otago Polytech. Later in the term, we will let you know how your child’s week may look a little different from term three. Unfortunately, the same week as our calendared Teachers Only Day (31st May), students will miss another day of school because the PPTA and NZEI have called a strike on the Wednesday (29th May). The Board of Trustees has decided to shut the school that day because there will not be enough staff on site to ensure the safety and supervision of our students. A separate email will be sent home from the Board about the strike day. Let us remember this weekend to be grateful for what we have been given and the rich environment in which we live. Have a peace-filled weekend, Kate Nicholson Principal |
