ola connect · one that was started by electrical faults and one that was lit by a pyromaniac. ......

OLA Connect Our Lady of the Assumption School Newsletter 89a Sparks Road, Hoon Hay, Christchurch 8025 Phone: 338-9503 Fax: 338-9502 Email: [email protected]

OLA Website: www.ola.school.nz

6th April 2017

Dear Parents and Caregivers

Haere Mai, Talofa Lava, Maligayang pagdating, Malo e leilei, Hwan Yeong hamnida, Bienvenido, Fakaalofa lahi atu and Welcome.

First Reconciliation

37 children from our Parish are making their First Reconciliation tonight at St Peter and Paul’s Church in Halswell. You are in our thoughts and prayers as you receive this sacrament for the

very first time.

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.ola.school.nz/


Information Reports from the Hillary Team Over the past month Christchurch has been burnt by fire and the Port Hills region. Today we will be looking at how it moved, the affected, where and how did it start and the time frame, so let's get started. Where and how did it start? This devastating fire started on Monday 13th of February, the day before Valentine's Day. There were two fires, one that was started by electrical faults and one that was lit by a pyromaniac. The one that was started by an electrical fault started in Early Valley Road on the western edge of the Port Hills. The one that was purposely lit started in the Marleys Hill area near Summit Road in the Port Hills. How it moved By mid-afternoon on Monday the fire was going strong and crossed Summit Rd and headed towards Governors Bay on the western end of Lyttelton Harbour. Wednesday afternoon a significant wind change made changes to the fire’s path. One of the fires spread into the Christchurch Adventure Park. On Wednesday night the fire crossed into Victoria Park. This devastating fire spread 1800 hectares, which affected hundreds The affected This fire affected hundreds as it raged out of control. There were 11 homes destroyed and 2 sheds. 1000 people were evacuated from 450 homes and these people were told to go to these places: The Nga Hau e Wha Marae [Pages Rd], Halswell Centre, [Halswell Rd] and Lincoln event centre. Helping to fight this blaze was more than 390 firefighters, including 26 rural fire crews with more than 200 personnel between them. The Fire Service has 62 crews with 190 pumps and tankers and more than 160 firefighters on the ground. Time frame On Monday afternoon at 5.44pm a small electrical fire started near Early Valley Road then a different a fire was lit in the Marleys Hill area. This fire lasted 4 days and left devastating scars. On the Monday afternoon there were only two helicopters for fighting the fire. On Tuesday February 14th at 2.45pm a terrific tragedy struck Steve Askin, who was flying one of the helicopters, crashed into the side of a steep slope below the Summit Road on the Lyttelton side. After this tragic event occurred all helicopters were grounded for at least an hour. By nightfall the fire had spread 548 Hectares. Wednesday was the worst day. The helicopter’s effort raised to 14. On Wednesday morning the pilots thought they had a handle on it, but by then it had spread 1,000 Hectares. At 1pm the fire fretted houses at the top of Worsleys Road. At 2pm more than 86,000 people lost power. At 4pm pilots saw a fire tornado 20m wide and 100m high.

By Todd

The Port Hills fire was a terrible disaster for many. The start of this devastation is still unknown. One of the possible causes includes an electrical fault or the other one was a pyromaniac. This fire was started on 13th of February, the before Valentine's day. There were two fires that started. One of them started at 7pm on the Summit Road and the other fire started at Early Valley Road on the western edge of the Port Hills. Many services were used to combat the Port Hills fire. There were the firefighters, police, fire helicopters, volunteer firefighters, the Army and the media keeping us updated. A lot of people have helped in this terrible accident as more than 390 firefighters, 26 rural fire crews with 200 personnel between them. Fire services had more than 62 crews fighting in the blaze. 14 helicopters and three fixed-wing aircrafts battling the flames. Many lives were affected by the Port Hills fire in February. 1,000 people were affected and evacuated. Many shelters opened up for the evacuated such as the Nga Hau e Wha Marae (Pages Rd), Halswell Centre, (Halswell Rd) and Lincoln Event centre. The fire spread fast, as it travelled 2,075 Hectares.

By Tristan



Record number of Swimmers

Today we sent a record number of students to Canterbury Central Zone Swimming Sports. Congratulations to all of the 16 students who qualified: Xavier, Cameron B, Hazel, Claudia, Liliana, Caitlin, Alison, Keeley, Dillon, Erikka, Tristan, Cameron J, Alex, Isabella, Liam and Lili-Fox.

A big congratulations to the following students who placed: 25m Freestyle Lili-Fox (1st) 25m Backstroke Lili-Fox (2nd) 50m Backstroke Keeley (2nd)

Lawn Bowls

This week the whole school have been learning how to play lawn bowls. It has been a fun way to learn about a new sport and to gain new physical skills. Thanks so much to Emily Robbins who has led these sessions

throughout the school.

DVD for new 5 year olds It was exciting to see our junior students being filmed on Monday for a DVD. This DVD will showcase our school and be given to new entrants before they start their schooling so that they can become familiar with our school and how we do things here. Many thanks to our narrators Tandia and Lily.



Inspire to Shine

Our Year 7 & 8 students all had the opportunity to attend an ‘Inspire to Shine” Catholic Leaders Day at Catholic Cathedral College. The day was an opportunity to work alongside and get to know Year 7 & 8 leaders from other Catholic Schools. During the day the mixed schooling groups discussed roles and responsibilities of being a leader in the school, took part in shared activities and completed the day with a combined Schools’ Mass.

Quotes from Year 7/8 Students Who “Inspire to Shine”

These are some reflections from students who attended the Leadership Day:

“It was inspiring and it showed us how to be watchful and mindgful of the younger students at this school”. Maggie

“At the leadership day I learnt that confidence is always the answer for being yourself.” Georgia

"The leadership day was great fun, I liked all the games they taught us and I really liked the small group talks because we had really good discussions about what makes a good leader ". Benedict

"They leaders had a lot of energy. The activities were very good and my group leader gave me a lot of ideas which will help me be a good leader at OLA". Grace

“It was fun doing the small group talks and discussing with others their thoughts on leadership. I enjoyed learning about what makes a good leader.” Maddie



Writing from Rm 6

The Mountain Pass

The snow white staircase

Hidden by a secret base

The stairs that go quite high

Climbing are the passers by

The walls are definitely made of stone

Make me shiver in my bones

Freezing like a snowy day

I’m cold and that is what I have to pay

For not wearing my woolly warm coat That had the hair off a goat climbing, climbing up I go

The wind really starts to blow

Holding on only to the rail I feel my body going frail I know it won't be long

Until everything goes wrong

I start to fall But roll into a ball

Tumbling down the only way

What a really horrible day

Maddie

PALS workshop Recently our PALS attended a training workshop along with students from many other schools. PALS are “Physical Activity Leaders” who work to keep all students active. They help out with school sports events and run workshops at lunchtime to help children improve their sporting skills. We currently have six trained PALS.



Lost property

A reminder to all students, parents and caregivers – at the end of each term we go through all the lost property to check for named items. We return all named items to their owners and any unnamed uniform items are given to the PTA. We will have lost property on display outside the hall after assembly this week. If it is wet the lost property will be displayed in the library.

Principal’s Awards

Second Hand Uniform

A list of the second hand uniform items available to purchase through the PTA can be found by clicking on this link or via the school website (on the PTA page). This list is a “live” list and is regularly updated.

Inhalers If your child requires an asthma inhaler at school, please ensure they are brought to the office. Any form of medication is required to be kept in the office rather than in your child’s desk or school bag.

Parish Driveway Just a reminder, please do not drive up the Parish driveway when dropping off or collecting your children.

Congratulations to these outstanding children who have

received Principal’s Awards over the past two weeks.


https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lfwZgWmq3xrTV9M5NK-zXhITpYCav2jx_DRYlpVEDbM/pubhtml


Marian College Open Night Due to the unfortunate weather today the Marian College open night has been postponed. It will now be held on Tuesday 9th May 3.00 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. An open afternoon will also be held on Monday 15 May 1.20 to 3.00 p.m.

School Accounts

School accounts have been sent home with your child. If you have not received an account please contact the office. Payment by internet banking is preferred.

Lunch On Line From next term you will be able to order Subway from the Lunch on Line Menu.



Board Update Term 1

I take this opportunity to communicate a change on the Board of Trustees for 2017. Our Chairperson, Mr Peter Hooker, has decided to step down after an enormous contribution to the governance of Our Lady of the Assumption School. We are very thankful to Peter who has governed and led the strategic direction of the school for over 8 years. He has guided us through an enormous amount of change as well as making a considerable contribution of his time expertise and knowledge. Peter has been a fabulous mentor to us all and his skill level has been such an asset that we are delighted that he has agreed to stay on as Vice Chairperson, offering his continued support and experience to the current Board. As a result of the outgoing Chair, I now introduce myself, Siobhan Bergin having been elected as the new Chairperson, for the Board of Trustees. I have been on the Board for the past 4 years as a Proprietors Representative and I am privileged to be working alongside such a quality group of people that care about educating the students of OLA. I now advise of who the current BOT members are:

Chairperson Siobhan Bergin

Vice Chairperson Peter Hooker

Principal Janet Cummings

Staff Rep Amanda Campbell

Parent Rep Mike Evans

Parent Rep Brian O’Connell

Parent Rep Chris O’Connell

Parent Rep James Swinburn

Proprietors Rep Kathryn Fallon

Proprietors Rep Clodagh Ward

Proprietors Rep Father Kevin Wei

Strategic Plan: At the end of last year we engaged an external specialist consultant to guide us in our development of our Charter and Strategic Plan. This covers a three year period, but is reviewed annually so that at the beginning of each year we are able to amend these documents to reflect our achievement targets and any other matters that arise. We also prepare an Annual Plan, which at a higher level sets out the areas that we will be addressing during the year. Our Key strategic aims are:

Seeking Knowledge “OLA students are collaborative, self-directed learners”

Living our Faith

“OLA students are engaged in a connected Catholic Community with a social conscience”

Our 2017 goals are set around these key aims and as a Board we continue to support the development of our teaching and learning programme to best support our students to be 21st Century Learners. (21st Century Learners will need to be: self-directed, empathetic and inclusive, innovative, collaborative and authentic problem solvers.) These initiatives are a key focus and teachers, collaboratively in their practice, meet the needs of our students by both teachers delivering workshops in a variety of curriculum areas, teaching a whole class or supporting individual or small groups regardless of which home class they belong to. In the senior area of the school students are moving back and forth via the cloakrooms to attend workshops/classes to progress their learning. After visiting a number of other schools we have seen that we need to improve the environment of our students so they have a flexible learning environment that will better meet their learning needs. So what is possible in the near future is putting a door in between Rooms 6 and 7. If you would like some further information on this or have any questions please contact Amanda Campbell (DP & Yr 7/ 8 Team Leader) or Janet Cummings (Principal.)



Community of Learning: Two years ago the government announced a $359 million education initiative designed to improve schooling across the country. The initiative encourages schools to cluster together to work on common goals. After much consideration the OLA Board of Trustees has made the decision to join the Christchurch Catholic Community of Learning. The Community of Learning includes ten other Catholic Primary Schools as well as all five Catholic secondary schools (Marian College, Villa Maria College, St Bedes College, St Thomas of Canterbury College & Catholic Cathedral College). Joining the Catholic Community of Learning will not only enable us to work with schools with a similar philosophy, it will also ensure that we can provide students with strong educational pathways between our primary and secondary schools as we will work closely with the other Catholic Schools within the Community of Learning to make a real difference for our children. If you would like to know more about the Christchurch Catholic Community of Learning, please visit the following website - http://www.catholiccol.org.nz/ IT Safety Specialist/Speaker: John Parsons: This Term, as part of our commitment to keeping our students safe, we invited John Parsons to work with our children and talk to teachers and parents alike regarding Internet Safety. For those many parents who attended the evening session I am sure you would agree that John was a passionate and enthusiastic speaker who emphasised the need to engage with our children on the internet; know what sites they are using and what information they are putting up there; teach them to respect others on the virtual world as they would in the real world and that our digital footprint is our real CV. Wishing you all a safe and happy Easter and holiday break. Siobhan Bergin Chairperson Our Lady of the Assumption School Board of Trustees

Coming up section

Week 10 Friday 7th April

Mass 9a.m. (Room 1 & 6) Assembly 2:20p.m. – Hall (Room 8)

Week 11 Monday 10th April Thursday 13th April

Values Assembly 11am Stations of the Cross 2p.m. – 3p.m. Last Day of Term 1

TERM TWO Week 1 Monday 1st May

First Day of Term 2

Week 2 Tuesday 9th May Friday 12th May

Cross Country (Cross Country postponement day)

We wish you a holy Easter and a great relaxing holiday Janet and the Team at Our Lady of the Assumption School



Parish News

Community Notices

Winter Clothes Appeal

If you have any winter clothes or blankets that you no longer have a need for and are you are happy to donate, the St Vincent de Paul would love to receive these donations in preparation for those in need for

the cold months ahead. Please contact Clodagh Ward on 021 1000974 to arrange pick up, either at school or from your home.

Dental Care over the School Holidays The Community Dental Service will operate an emergency service over the school holidays. This service is to provide relief of pain only and will not undertake ‘routine’ treatment. The service will be available each working day from 8:45am until 12:30pm from the Hillmorton Community Clinic, Sylvan Street, Christchurch for the following times: Tuesday, 18th April to 21st April 2017 (excluding weekends) And Monday, 24th April And Wednesday, 26th April to Friday, 28th April 2017 (excluding weekends) This service will operate by appointment only and if we are unable to see your child, alternative options will be given. If your child has dental pain as a result of an accident please contact your dentist in the first instance. You can phone and make an appointment for the emergency clinic by ringing 0800 846 983.



Public Health Nurses Public Health Nurses (PHN) are Registered Nurses who specialise in child and family health. They are employed by the Canterbury District Health Board and provide a free and confidential health service for children aged 5 – 18 years. All schools in Canterbury have a PHN assigned to their school to assist children, parents/caregivers and teachers with health concerns, resources or information. Your designated Public Health Nurse is Hazel Fernandez. If you are worried about your child’s health you can contact the PHN Service yourself or a referral can be made (with your permission) by school staff or your GP. Common referrals to the PHN service may include - allergies and anaphylaxis, wetting, soiling, head lice, uncontrolled medical conditions (e.g. epilepsy, diabetes, medication, asthma), eating/nutrition, hygiene, skin conditions (e.g. eczema, scabies), puberty/sexuality/sexual health, and emotional issues (e.g. significant changes in behaviour at home, grief and loss, friendships/relationships). Public Health Nurses are able to meet with parents/caregivers at home, school or work to provide health support, assessment, advice and to coordinate family health, school or support services if required. You can contact the Public Health Nursing Service through your school or phone Hazel on (03) 3836877 or email [email protected]. If you’d like to refer direct to the Public Health Nursing Service you can find the referral form online: http://www.cdhb.health.nz/Hospitals-Services/Community-Rural-Health-Services/phns/Pages/Referrals-PHNS-Service.aspx


mailto:[email protected]

http://www.cdhb.health.nz/Hospitals-Services/Community-Rural-Health-Services/phns/Pages/Referrals-PHNS-Service.aspx

http://www.cdhb.health.nz/Hospitals-Services/Community-Rural-Health-Services/phns/Pages/Referrals-PHNS-Service.aspx


International Wheelchair Rugby in Christchurch.

Starting on Friday at 2.30pm, our New Zealand team - called the Wheel Blacks - will take on Australia in a 5-test series at Pioneer Stadium - 75 Lyttelton Street, Somerfield.

Game times for the rest of the weekend are:

Friday, April 7 - 2.30pm and 7pm

Saturday, April 8 - 11am and 3.30pm

Sunday, April 9 - 10.30am

For more information visit: https://www.facebook.com/events/182253705610588/

It'd be great to have you along to the stadium to support the New Zealand team.


https://www.facebook.com/events/182253705610588/

ola connect · one that was started by electrical faults and one that was lit by a pyromaniac. ......

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