Key Dates September 13 Open Day 14 Board of Trustees Meeting 21 & 22 Parent Interviews 23 Mufti for a bottle day - HOK 23 Term 3 ends October 10 Term 4 begins 13 Netball prize giving – Library 6pm 16 SPRING FAIR – 11am – 2pm Newsletter No. 29 19 & 20 School Production 20 School begins – 10am Khandallah 21 School begins – 10am Absence Phone No: 939-3878 November 07 Northern Zone Athletics (TBC) Answer Phone: 479-6878 25 School Disco December Fax: 479-3879 14 ‘Big Day Out’ – Whole school 16 Term 4 ends Email: [email protected] January 2017 Website: www.st-benedicts.school.nz 31 Term 1 begins 13 September 2016 Dear Parents In this “Year of Mercy” we are called to focus on the Corporal Works of Mercy The Corporal Works of Mercy are found in the teachings of Jesus and give us a model for how we should treat all others, as if they were Christ in disguise. They "are charitable actions by which we help our neighbors in their bodily needs". They respond to the basic needs of humanity as we journey together through this life. The seven Corporal Works of Mercy are feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, shelter the homeless, visit the sick, visit the prisoners, bury the dead, give alms to the poor. Next term there will be information about each of these and ideas of what you can do as we lead up to Christmas. Thank you to the West family who have connected to natural gas with the Gas Hub. The Gas Hub have forwarded $150 to St Benedict’s School. For more details on how you can help please check the sponsor page at the back of our newsletters. Parent Interviews will take place next Wednesday 21st and Thursday 22nd of September. If your child is in Year 1-3 and is due for an interview you will be contacted by email about this. All children in Years 4-8 will have an interview. Please go to www.schoolinterviews.co.nz and enter the event code czeqj - to book your interview with your child’s / children’s teacher. The booking site will be closed off at midday on Tuesday prior to interviews. This week our EPIC Award “EPIC Eddie” was awarded to Room 7 as they have been working very hard at being positive. At prayers every morning they hand out name cards of class students. Each child has to pray aloud and think about something positive about the person and thank the Lord for this. The children have done so well and have started to really think about each other's good points and focus on these. They are very inclusive at prayers and always and invite the parents who join us to share their own prayers with us. It was great to see so many people take the opportunity to have a look around our school during the open day today. I would like to say a huge thank you to our Year 8 students and House Captains Henry, Francesca, Caoimhe, Harry, Catherine, Isabella, Haveesha and Maeghan for showing our visitors around and talking to them about our wonderful school. If you know of families considering St Benedict’s School for their children for 2017 and couldn’t make the open day please make a time to come and talk with us. Check out the latest update about the Spring Fair and news from HOK in this newsletter. The fundraising work they do makes a huge difference to the education of all students at St Benedict’s school and we are grateful for their ongoing work and support. Tickets are now on sale at the school office for our production Robin and the Sherwood Hoodies. The production will take place at the Memorial Theatre, Victoria University Kelburn Campus on Wednesday 19th October at 7pm and Thursday 20th October at 7pm. Tickets are $16:00 each. There will be a Matinee (Dress Rehearsal) session on Wednesday 19th at approx. 12:30pm. This is ideal for younger siblings to attend. The charge for the matinee is a koha (donation). We will be able to give a clearer starting time closer to the time. Tickets are not required for the dress rehearsal. Last week (Monday-Sunday), our solar panels generated 84 kWh of solar energy. Sunday was a great energy generation day with 25 kWh being generated on this day. Our school page can be viewed by clicking on the St Benedict’s School Schoolgen link: http://schoolgen.co.nz/schoolgen-schools/st-benedicts-school. From the Archdiocese of Wellington Thank you to those of you who have completed the survey for the New Zealand Bishops Conference. A great number of surveys and comments were submitted and they have a wealth of information to work with. They are still accepting comments from people if they have them. Please email any surveys or comments to [email protected] ATTENDANCE DUES Attendance dues statements were sent out to families on Friday, so you should be receiving them over the next few days. Please note the new bank account 03-0518-0000400-00. If you have not changed over to the new bank account and made a payment your payment has not been lost – it will be transferred and will show on the next statement. If you have any questions or require any support with making attendance dues payments please contact Father Doug Shepherd at St Benedict’s presbytery on 479 7777 or Dave Lamont at St Benedict’s School 479 6878. Kind regards, Dave Lamont, Principal ST TERESA’S SCHOOL SPRING FAIR Rides, Side Shows, Food Stalls, Craft, Sweets & Cakes, Deli, Raffles, Silent Auction, Clothing Stall, Toy Stall, Book Stall, White Elephant, Music and SO MUCH MORE! St Teresa's Karori, 299 Karori Road. Saturday 17th September, 11am to 2pm. WEEKLY REFLECTION "Spiritual identity means we are not what we do or what people say about us. And we are not what we have. We are the beloved daughters and sons of God." Henri Nouwen - Catholic priest, professor, writer and theologian Found in the library - copy of The 39-storey treehouse LIBRARY FUN Last Thursday we had a butterfly colouring in competition in the library. We had a lot of children enter and some beautiful butterflies were created. These are now on the library wall for all to see. A big thank you to Catherine McKenzie, Olive Young and Grace Wellik for designing the book, judging the competition, and putting up the display. My Dad Who’s the man of the house? MY DAD! Who’s the man of the world? MY DAD! My dad, Daniel Gilhooly, has straight brown hair like straw. He has the biggest, cheesiest smile that stays around 24 hours each day. His sea blue eyes are so blue, they camouflage in water. He is so tall, I’m sure he could be a professional basketball player if he tried. My dad is hilarious! To make us laugh, he pronounces words like we did when we were babies. For example, everybody is ebabody. As well as that, my dad would be a great spy. He takes us on outings without mum knowing, and still has a smile on his face. My dad travels a lot. He went to the Rio Olympics, and brought back chocolate, T-shirts, and loads of cool stories. He went to Rio because of his terrific job as a sports journalist. He loves his job because he is a very sporty person, and loves everything to do with sports. As funny as my dad is, he is still really loving. He always helps us when we are hurt, emotionally, or physically. He always gives up his time to come watch our sports. My dad is extremely generous. In Rio, he used to give some of his food and supplies to the homeless. He always helps me to understand things when I’m struggling. My dad is the best dad ever. He will give up his time to help not only me, but the whole family. I love my sporty, funny, loving and generous dad. By Tessa, Room 9 My dad My dad has beautiful blue eyes like the sea. My dad is 41 years but I think he looks younger because of how he looks. My dad has short, brown, spiky hair. He is medium sized and loves wearing t-shirts and shorts. His name is Cormac. My dad is the biggest football fan and his favourite team is Manchester United. His favourite thing to do on his iPad is play a game called clash of clans. Our garden is so beautiful because of all the hard work and pain he has put into it. The painting is probably even better because when you look at it, it looks good!!!! His favourite thing to do in the whole world is to look after me, my brother and my sister. My dad is really generous, everyday I see him doing something for others. My dad is really funny, he makes and says the best jokes ever. He is kind and loving every single day, especially to as. I love dad he is beautiful in his own way and I love it. By Caleb Room 9 th Sunday 16 October 2016 11am - 2pm HOW YOU CAN HELP! The Spring fair is not far away and for it to be a success we need our school community to become involved. The fair benefits our children. All families are asked to donate at least one hour of their time helping out at a stall.