Bishop Edward Gaines Catholic School

Newsletter

Term 1 Week 2

2015

Kia ora, Kia Orana, Maloilelai, Talofalava,Kumusta, Greetings to you all.

Special Character focus: The Role of the Bishop

The Catholic Church is worldwide in its membership, and united under the leadership of the Pope and bishops, but each individual bishop leads the Catholic people in a particular region, called a diocese. Our Hamilton Diocese consists of the Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Poverty Bay & King Country regions. This is a very exciting week for Catholics in the Hamilton Diocese because we are having a new Bishop ordained.

An important part of the role of the bishop is to be the visible head of the Catholic Community of his diocese. He is a sign of Jesus present with his people, through the gift of the Holy Spirit. When the bishop preaches and teaches, he does so “in the name of Jesus Christ”. The bishop also leads the people in worship, especially in the celebration of the sacraments. He is responsible for governing the Church in his diocese, making sure that its property is properly administered and most importantly that services are in place to carry out the Church’s mission to the poor and those in need. It is also the responsibility for the bishop to guide and care for all the people in his diocese, especially the priests, who share in his work in the parishes.

I ask you all to keep our new Bishop, Steve Lowe, in your prayers as he takes on this huge responsibility as our new diocesan leader. May our gracious God bless him, keep him safe and guide him in his role as Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Hamilton.

Principal’s Message:

I hope you all had a fantastic Waitangi weekend, the last long weekend of summer. Miss Craig and I were fortunate enough to go camping at Mangakino with some teaching colleagues. We thoroughly enjoyed using the lake and beautiful surroundings we have in the South Waikato. It gave us the idea that “Mango” could be a great venue for a future school camp.

We celebrated our opening Mass for the 2015 school year on Wednesday. During this Mass Father Matt blessed and commissioned our Year 7 & 8 student leaders. We look forward to seeing Angel, Shelby, Sharneica, Indica & Maddison step up and lead as positive role models, encouragers and servant leaders in our school 

On Thursday I will be taking some of the older students to Hamilton to aPowhiri to welcome Bishop Steve to our Diocese and then on Friday night some of the staff and Board members will be attending Bishop Steve’s ordination. It is a shame that we can’t all go but we will represent our school and the Parish of St. Pius X with great pride.

Ash Wednesday

Next Wednesday (18th February) we will celebrate our own school liturgy for Ash Wednesday – the first day of Lent. You are all very welcome to join us for our school based liturgy or the alternative option would be attending the Mass at 9:30 am in the Church. Our Ash Wednesday prayer service will be at a more childlike level than the Parish Mass.

Goal Setting Interviews – Tuesday 24thFebruary 2:00pm – 7:00pm

We have scheduled a date for our students and parents to come and meet and have a chat about your child’s progress and to set some learning goals that we can work on together. A booking sheet will accompany this newsletter. If Tuesday 24th February between 2:00 pm and 7:00pm doesn’t suit your work or family time schedule you can make another time before or after school with your child’s teacher.

Golden Rules and Golden Time – Our School’s Behaviour Management Programme

The Golden Rules and Golden Time are a formidable duo! Together they provide an awesome positive behaviour and sanctions system that couple with behaviour guidelines that are based on moral values. Golden Time is a whole school (or class) activity session to celebrate keeping the Golden Rules. Golden Time activities are special activities that the children have chosen to do. With a consequence for their actions, children learn about the difference between positive behaviour and keeping to the golden rules, and disruptive or unhelpful behaviour that stops everyone moving forward. Our Golden Rules are moral values that fall within the categories of being kind and helpful, honest, gentle, listen well, working hard and looking after property. You might find these rules useful at home too 

Golden Time This week – Friday @ 1: 15 pm

Pacelli Class:Slippery slide and water fun - Togs and towels needed

McAuley Class: Onesies pyjama party – Onesies needed

Friday Sausage Sizzle – Order at the school office

Sausages $1.50

Ice Block$0.50

God Bless

Helen McGuigan

Tumuaki / Principal