News

Hello everyone. Please see attached information regarding September Attendance Dues from the Diocese of P.Nth. Blessings for your day.

Wed Sep 15 03:23pm

 

View PDF

Ministry of Education update

Tue Sep 07 04:55pm

Ministry of Education Bulletin – Alert Level 2
 Good afternoon, Malo e lelei, kia ora to you all

We have just received this latest update from the Ministry of Education. You’ll be aware that all of New Zealand (with the exception of Auckland) is moving to Alert Level 2 from midnight tonight. Our thoughts and positive wishes are with everyone in Tāmaki Makaurau|Auckland.

Extensive wastewater testing and the numbers of people getting tested across the country has given the Government confidence that it is safe to allow a shift down to Alert Level 2 across most of New Zealand.

We are really looking forward to welcoming everyone back onsite on Thursday morning, 9th September. Tomorrow (Wednesday) we will be continuing to support the children who have been onsite at Alert Level 3 while we prepare for re-opening to all on Thursday. 

 At Alert Level 2 there is low risk of community transmission and it provides us with a lot more opportunities to engage and connect with others. However, there are still a number of public health requirements we all need to follow. Please do continue to monitor your health and do not send your children to school if they are not well (and please seek advice about getting a COVID test).

 For us, all the required safety precautions for Alert Level 2 will be in place which include following all the recommendations from the public health experts. This means we will regularly clean and disinfect high-touch surfaces, encourage everyone to frequently wash their hands and cough and sneeze into their elbow. We ask that only children enter school grounds at this stage. Please drop them off at the front gate and we will bring them out at the end of the day. Please park on the road and not in the school grounds. Before school and After school vans will drive in as usual and we will bring the children to them

 While physical distancing is not a requirement in schools, we will be doing our best to keep children from congregating in very large numbers and keeping spaces well-ventilated. We will hold off on our school wide Monday liturgies and kapa haka and will hold these in our classrooms for now.

 Face coverings are not required to be worn in school. The Director General of Health has recommended that children 12 years+ wear a face covering at school.  The decision to wear a face covering is up to you and your whānau, whatever your decision it will be respected.

 

Please don’t hesitate to contact your child’s teacher/kaiako or me if there is something you need assistance with. See you Thursday!

Abundant blessings

Caroline Gilligan (Principal) Maria Amey (Presiding Member)

Just checking in with our families

Tue Sep 07 09:13am

Good morning on this Tuesday – it is with excitement that we begin to prepare for Level 2 at school. Today the Ministry of Education will be sharing further information with schools. When we know more we will be in touch with you. Staff will be here on Wednesday preparing classrooms for your child’s return on Thursday. We look forward to welcoming you back to school. I will be in touch later this afternoon with further updates.

Until then, stay well, go gently 

Abundant blessings

Caroline and the team

Blessings to you this spring morning. We have been sent the following from the Ministry of Education – please know there is support for you.

Fri Sep 03 11:55am

Support for Whanau:contact details

The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) have staff available and ready to support families in need. 

See below a list of useful information regarding the types of support available, and how to best access this support.  Please feel free to share this with your school community.

 To confirm availability contact MSD via:

Telephone: 0800 559 009

Website:  https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/

MyMSD : https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/online-services/mymsd/index.html
 It is important to note support is available to all New Zealanders on a low income, not just those currently on a benefit.  This includes support to pay for food, power, rent, mortgage and other necessities.

 This includes, but is not limited to the following:

Support to pay for food, power, rent, mortgage, board

Wage Subsidy

Short Term Absence Payment

Leave Support Scheme

Resurgence Support Payment

Small Business Cashflow Scheme

Up to date information relating to alert levels and further support available may be found at: https://covid19.govt.nz/about-this-site/contact-and-support/

Housing support

MSD works closely with emergency management offices and other key regional groups to ensure emergency housing is available for those who fit MSD eligibility criteria.  It’s important that anyone needing accommodation contacts MSD staff to ensure the right support is provided.

 Accommodation support

Further information is available through the Contact and Support page on the Unite against Covid-19 website here:

https://covid19.govt.nz/about-this-site/contact-and-support/

 Employment support

Information relating to the wage subsidy, including eligibility and application is available here: https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/about-work-and-income/news/2021/ws-applications.html

 Important: Information provided in an application must be correct and match the information held by IRD for the business or organisation to which the application refers.

 The latest update on doing business at Alert Level 3 is here.

https://covid19.govt.nz/business-and-money/businesses/operating-safely/doing-business-at-alert-level-3/

 NZ Superannuation queries

Phone: 0800 552 002

For Deaf, hearing impaired and speech impaired Deaf Link Free-fax: 0800 621 621

Text: 029 286 7170

Email: MSD_Deaf_Services@msd.govt.nz

Ministry of Education update 29/8

Sun Aug 29 06:24pm

OUR LADY OF LOURDES SCHOOL

Ministry of Education – regions moving to Alert Level 3

 

Hello to all -Kia ora

The quick move to Level 4, record volumes of testing for COVID in the community, extensive wastewater testing, huge numbers of New Zealanders being vaccinated (more than 2 million people have now received their first dose), and a very wide net being cast around confirmed cases, has given Government confidence that we are safe to move to Alert Level 3 on Wednesday.

At Alert Level 3, you legally must stay within your household bubble unless for essential personal movement including going to work and going to school. As the Prime Minister noted on Friday, schools are essentially closed at Alert Level 3 with the exception of those few children whose parents and carers must go to work at Alert Level 3, and there is no appropriate caregiver at home.

So we will be open on Wednesday, for a small number of children who need to attend. As you imagine it will not be school as we know it under Alert Level 2 or 1.  All our usual safety precautions for Alert Level 3 will be in place which include following all the recommendations from the public health experts. This means we will regularly clean and disinfect high touch surfaces, encourage everyone to frequently wash their hands and cover their coughs and sneezes, and keep everyone physically distanced from others as much as possible (1 metre inside and two metres outside). We will also keep school bubbles to no more than 10 students. These bubbles will not mix with other bubbles.

Our contact tracing systems will be in place, which includes our attendance register and visitor register, and we will be limiting staff onsite with the majority of our team working from home.

You can also assist everyone’s safety by keeping your child at home if they are feeling unwell and please do contact your GP or Healthline, to seek advice about getting tested.

We will continue to support all children who remain learning from home, through our distance learning programme.

While we know how difficult it is trying to work from home as well as support your child’s learning, please keep your child at home if there is an appropriate carer available. For those of you with no other option, we will look forward to seeing your child at school next week. Thank you for emailing me if you require your child to be at school from Wednesday. The front gates will be open at 8.45am – and children will be directed to one of two areas. A staff member will be at the front gate – and we ask that no one comes on to the school grounds to limit exposure for all. We have one junior bubble in the hall and one bubble in Room 6 upstairs. On Wednesday your child will be directed to one of these. We will stagger the two bubbles at the end of the day – the junior bubble at 2.50pm and the senior one at 2.55pm. Please make arrangements to have your child picked up by 3pm.

It was pleasing to hear that across New Zealand compliance is high. As you have been doing, please continue to follow all the alert level requirements. It is the best tool we have to keep our community safe.

Blessings to you and your bubbles

Caroline Gilligan (Principal).  Maria Amey (Board Presiding Member)

Planning ahead for the school

Fri Aug 27 10:32am

Good morning, Morena to you all
I hope the week has been going well for you. We are all so very grateful for everything you are doing at home -it is wonderful to see all of our children doing so well. We hope you are too. I am writing to share that staff are working these days on a range of things, one of which is planning for the change in Alert levels when they come. We continue to keep our country in our prayers and pray that people stay well and safe in their bubbles.
Last night the Ministry of Education contacted all principals explaining that we don’t know when Alert Levels may change but are conscious that schools need time to prepare for any changes in advance. Equally we won’t know if there will be any changes to how schools are expected to operate under different Alert Level settings until after Cabinet meet and agree those settings.
We do know that we need to collate numbers of children who have parents who are ‘Essential workers or those who need to return to school’ under Alert Level 3.

Can you please let me know by the end of today by emailing me: principal@olol.school.nz
And please remember we are here if you have any questions.
May Mary continue to bless and keep you and family well and safe.

Blessings
Caroline and the staff

Planning ahead for the school

Fri Aug 27 10:30am

Good morning, Morena to you all
I hope the week has been going well for you. We are all so very grateful for everything you are doing at home -it is wonderful to see all of our children doing so well. We hope you are too. I am writing to share that staff are working these days on a range of things, one of which is planning for the change in Alert levels when they come. We continue to keep our country in our prayers and pray that people stay well and safe in their bubbles.
Last night the Ministry of Education contacted all principals explaining that we don’t know when Alert Levels may change but are conscious that schools need time to prepare for any changes in advance. Equally we won’t know if there will be any changes to how schools are expected to operate under different Alert Level settings until after Cabinet meet and agree those settings.
We do know that we need to collate numbers of children who have parents who are ‘Essential workers or those who need to return to school’ under Alert Level 3.

Can you please let me know by the end of today by emailing me: principal@olol.school.nz
And please remember who are here if you have any questions.
May Mary continue to bless and keep you and family well and safe.

Blessings
Caroline and the staff

Good Morning from St Vincent de Paul

Thu Aug 26 11:24am

We have been contacted by Rose to share the following:
At present the op shop is shut and that is our usual
contact point for people to contact us.
We are sort of waiting to see what tomorrow brings
before we move to changing things but if you know
of people in need just let me know and I’m sure we can work
out a way of getting food to them. We mostly have longer life
food in tins and packets.
Rose Semmens

Please contact me, Caroline at ‘principal@olol.school.nz’ and I will pass on Rose’s contact details.

Stay well and safe in your bubbles

Caroline

SCHOOL COMMUNICATIONS 20 AUGUST

Fri Aug 20 07:46pm

SCHOOL COMMUNICATIONS 20th AUGUST
We hope this update finds you all well and safe. We continue to keep you in our thoughts and prayers. It has been wonderful to see so many of you on Seesaw and all the wonderful learning. From Monday, your child’s classroom teacher will be taking the classroom roll, following the Ministry of Education guidelines. If we do not hear from you or your child, teachers will make contact with you on Tuesday to see how we can best support you. Please continue to look at SEESAW, the SCHOOL APP and your FAMILY EMAILS as these are our methods of communication. We are planning for the different Alert Levels and will keep you updated as we hear more.

As we are in Level 4 until next Tuesday we will be organising home packs for your child. It is likely that we may move down through the levels and it may take a little longer to return to our normal school routines.

Teachers will be on site on Monday 23 August to prepare hard packs and resources for your child. On Monday, the junior team will be there from 9-11am and the senior team from 1-3pm. It is important that we protect all those on school grounds and follow Ministry of Education advice. They will be organising your child’s packs that will contain their activity books, pencil cases and additional resources for you to use at home. Please also keep using all the Apps (Reading Eggs, Steps web, EPIC, Mathletics) and Seesaw that you and your child have access to.

These will be available for pick up on Tuesday August 24th. We will do this via a DRIVE IN process. When you arrive please stay in your car. We will then come out, please pop your boot and we will place these in there. If you have more than one child who is enrolled at school then we will have these together so that it is only the one stop for you.

Below is a timetable:
9-10 Discovery rooms – those who have class in the hall
10-11 Room 3 – those in Mrs Pedley’s room
11-12 Room 6 – Mrs O’Callaghan’s room
12-1 Room 7 – Mrs Moor’s room
1-2pm Room 8 – Mr Anderson’s room

For those who have more than one child you can pick up your child’s trays from 2pm onwards. If this does not work for you then please contact the office, via email and we will work to get these to you by dropping off at the front door of your house.
As we know this Delta outbreak is working a little differently and we want to protect all of our school community.
We thank you for your time and your patience as we move to this different platform of teaching and learning.

Enjoy your weekend, stay safe and in your bubbles.
Go gently and keep our country in your prayers

The team of Our Lady of Lourdes.

The latest from the Ministry of Education

Thu Aug 19 08:02pm

Good evening fabulous people

I hope this message finds you all well. As you may have heard on the news tonight, limited staff have access to school from tomorrow to retrieve IT equipment and to organise hard packs to be sent to every child.  We will wait to hear what the 1pm news briefing discusses about the possible shift in Alert levels and will organise things from there and be in touch.

Please take good care of each other.

We ask Mary to continue to protect us all…

Blessings

The OLOL team

 

Please use the following email address to update your child’s information/address is: office@olol.school.nz, or principal@olol.school.nz.

Wed Aug 18 08:28pm

Up to date information for your child

Wed Aug 18 08:17pm

Good evening fabulous families

We hope your first day went well for you all and we hope your child showed their MERCY values.  We saw many children showing SERVICE and EXCELLENCE when posting on Seesaw. The Ministry of Educaiton has asked us to check with all families regarding up to date address information for family. Have you shifted since March this year? At enrolment and then again every year we update these so if you completed this form that we will have the correct addresses. If we are in lock down for a little longer the Ministry are looking at options that may include sending our Hard packs.

Please email the office with any up to date address information so we can update our school systems.

Blessings and thanks

The team at OLOL

Level 4 from midnight

Tue Aug 17 08:09pm

Dear families

You would have heard by now that we are heading into Level 4 for as of midnight tonight. School will be closed for all while we are at Level 4 for three days. We are having a meeting with teachers tomorrow via zoom and will be in touch with you shortly afterwards. We know this is an unsettling time for you all and we keep you all in our prayers and thoughts. Please keep an eye on your child’s seesaw account as that is how the teachers will keep in touch. We will send out updates as we recieve these from the Ministry of Education. We can do this again – we did it really well last year and will look at doing the same type of thing this time.

Please contact me, the office or your teachervia email –  we are all here for you.

Go gently, take good care of each other.

Blessings

Caroline

APOLOGIES – the start time for the light and sound show at the Cathedral on Saturday 14th August starts at 7pm NOT 7.30pm. Blessings

Fri Aug 13 12:51pm

Assumption Week is starting tomorrow night

Fri Aug 13 08:55am

Fr Joe asked us to share these with you…
Saturday 14th at 7pm Cathedral,Light and sound show installation
Sunday 15th August all churches in the parishes (Kotahi Ano)
Dedication Mass
Tuesday 17th 10am -Cathedral: Schools Liturgy
Wednesday 18th 7pm, Cathedral: Liturgy and song
Friday 20th, 2pm Our Lady of Lourdes: Sing a-long with Mary and High Tea

A wonderful week ahead.

Blessings

Hello there. There is no netball practice today due to the weather. Blessings for your day.

Thu Aug 05 12:30pm

MUFTI MANIA TOMORROW – please bring a gold coin as we work with all our other Catholic schools in NZ. Tomorrow is the last day of the term.

Thu Jul 08 03:20pm

Morena, a reminder that school finishes EARLY at 1pm today for 3 way conferences. Please ensure students are picked up at 1pm. Blessings.

Wed Jun 30 09:40am

A reminder – school closes at 1pm tomorrow due to parent/teacher/student conferences. Blessings everyone.

Tue Jun 29 02:15pm

A reminder regarding absences from school

Mon Jun 28 10:59am

Good morning familes.  A reminder to please let the school office know by email or phone if your child is going to be absent from school.  We need to know that your child is safe at home and has just not arrived at school.  Thank you to those families who have emailed, phoned in or left a message or voicemail this morning to let me know their child is absent today – I have received these.

Thank you and blessing for you day.

 

THREE WAY CONFERENCES THIS WEEK

Sun Jun 27 04:21pm

A REMINDER OF OUR CHILD/PARENT/TEACHER CONFERENCES MONDAY AND WEDNESDAY

Child/parent/teacher conferences will be held at the following times:

Monday 28th June @ 3.30pm – 5.30pm
Wednesday 30th June @ 1.30pm – 7.30pm (SCHOOL DAY FINISHES @ 1PM – please make arrangements for your child’s early pick up from school.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend

Blessings and thanks