“As they left the boar, people recognised Jesus at once. So they ran throughout the whole region; and wherever they heard he was, they brought to him sick people lying on their mats. And everywhere Jesus went, to villages, towns, or farms, people would take those who were sick to the marketplaces and beg him to let them at least touch the edge of his cloak. And all who touched it were made will.”

SPECIAL CHARACTER:
We had another lovely mass, with the theme, Light, celebrated in Room 2 this week. Thank you to Fr Vijay for celebrating mass for us and to all of those that came along to share this special time with the children in Room 2. Our next class mass is next week , Wednesday 23rd May, in Room 1 at 9am.

Thank you to those who completed and returned the Special Character consultations. It was great to have so many people offer feedback. The children appreciated you taking the time also, when they received their five house points! I will analyse the responses and report the results back to you.

As mentioned in last week’s newsletter, we have our Special Character Review on 28th-30th May. Lorraine Gordon from the Review team is keen to meet with parents on the Tuesday at 2.30pm in the Staffroom. If you are able to make this meeting please let me know. Thanks.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING:
We have our next Board of Trustees meeting this coming Tuesday night, 22nd May at 7pm, in the School Staffroom.

MUSIC FESTIVAL CLUSTER PRACTICE:
Year 5 & 6 students have their first cluster practice for Term 3’s New Plymouth Music Festival this Thursday 24th May from 12.30-2.30pm. They will be leaving school at 12.15pm and walking to Highlands. Please ensure the children have coats or jackets in case of wet weather. Jade will need three parents to accompany her to the practice. Just let Jade know if you are able to help in this way. Thank you.

THREE WAY CONFERENCES:
You will notice an insert in this week’s newsletter for our three way conferences which are scheduled for 13th and 14th June. All children come along with parents/caregivers to these conferences. Interim Reports will also be given out at the Conferences. Please select suitable times and Mary in the office will endeavour to find a time that will suit you. It’s not an easy job, so please remember Mary will do her very best to give you the time you have indicated, but this is not always possible. A reminder that school will finish on both these days at 2pm. I will be available to supervise children who are unable to be picked up early.

TEACHER’S ONLY DAY:
A further reminder that school will be closed on Friday 1st June, as staff from all our Taranaki Catholic Schools will be joining together for Professional Development on this day.

SANDPIT:
Our new sandpit is to be built in the July holidays which is very exciting. Along with the sandpit, the playground edging will also be done which will stop us from losing bark in the rain, which will be great! Both projects are being completed by Clelands. We do need someone to build a large lockable wooden storage box, which is part of our sandpit project, so that toys and equipment for the sandpit can be locked away safely. If you have the expertise to be able to offer some help with this, we would love to hear from you.

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING:
Ane Dent and myself attended two days training run by the Ministry of Education at the beginning of this week. We are fortunate to be involved in a new initiative introduced by the Ministry called Accelerated Literacy Learning. We attended the course with a number of other principals and lead teachers from Taranaki and around the country. The initiative aims to give support for schools to tailor programmes for students not meeting the New Zealand Curriculum standards in Reading and/or Writing, using high levels of literacy expertise already in schools. We are now in the process of planning our intervention which will be targeting boys in the Year 4-6 level. This will be a 15 week intense learning intervention which will not only offer assistance to these students, but will also build on systems and processes within our school to respond to all student learning needs.

BRENDA BALLINGER MEMORIAL CUP:
Thank you to Sharyn Van Dillen for organising students from St Pius X to compete in the Brenda Ballinger Challenge last Saturday. It was great that the children had a chance to participate in this annual event.

OTAGO PROBLEM SOLVING:
Students involved in the Otago Problem Solving competition will have their second set of questions on 24th May. Just a reminder that I have questions from previous years if you would like some practice questions for your child.

UKULELES:
A HUGE BIG THANK YOU to Nicky and Peter Harrison (Jade’s parents) for their very kind donation of ten new ukuleles for our school. We are really grateful for this donation as both the teachers and children at St Pius X think the opportunity for all students to learn the ukulele is a valuable one, .it is so much fun! Now we have a class set of ukuleles.

INTERSCHOOL:
We have our first home interschool competition this Thursday 25th May at 1pm. Norfolk School will be coming to our school and we will be competing in Rugby, Netball and Soccer. We supply afternoon tea after the games and ask that all students participating bring along $1 towards the cost please. We will be having a sausage sizzle and drinks for the children.

HELP!
If anyone has a Rebounder/mini trampoline that they no longer need would you please contact Pat Swanson. (No, he doesn’t want to keep fit, he needs it for school).

Thank you.

HOME & SCHOOL NEWS:
WORKING BEE:
Just a reminder that there is a working bee this Sunday 20 May at 1.00pm to sort out the firewood from the felled trees. Please meet down at the bottom courts at 1.00pm. Thank you, Grant Gibson.

DISCO:
Thanks so much to the Home and School for organising last weeks Dicso. It was great to see families enjoying themselves. Congratulations on some great costumes. We even had a Super Teacher in attendance!