Newsletter Week 9 Term Two

Kia Ora,

I have to say that I was on the edge of my seat watching the Chiefs playing the Brumbies during the weekend. What a great game, and yes, I was cheering for the Chiefs. It will be interesting to see what shape the Chiefs will be in for next week’s game after last weekend’s bruising encounter.

Our Sacred Heart of Jesus Mass was a wonderful celebration. Our children sang and read well. It’s lovely to be able to celebrate Mass with parishioners and whanau. A big thanks to the Year 3 and 4 teachers along with our DRS who helped organise the Mass. The student readers were fantastic and the singing was amazing. A brilliant job once again from Lorette Tiedt and Tai Waititi for leading the singing on the piano and guitar. We are so lucky to have such talented teachers at our school. Our next Mass is the St Joseph’s Mass on Friday, August 11th. You are welcome to join us for this too.

Congratulations to all junior students who participated in the school Cross Country on Friday, The children’s enthusiasm and perseverance was obvious and they were all trying to do their best. Thanks to parents who came to support their children at this event. It is always great to see so many of you there. Thanks also to the Junior Class teachers who organised the event.

This term children from Years 4, 5 and 6 have been working with Mrs Jane Trask in Dance, Drama and Music to put together an imaginative depiction of local Maori stories called “Our Stories”. ALL students in Years 4, 5 and 6 will be performing as part of the Senior School Performance Showcase on Friday 30th June at three mini-performances. The times for these performances are 9.30 am, 11 am and 1.30 pm. The performances are in our school hall, so hopefully you will be able to attend one of the shows at a time that suits you. You can come to these shows as many times as you want. There is no cost to you and the performance should last around 15 minutes.

Each class is depicting a different Maori Story -

Room 1

Maui & the Sun

Room 2

Ihenga & the Patupaiarehe

Room 3

Maui & the Fingers of Fire

Room 4

Hinemoa & Tutanekai

Room 5

Hatupatu & Kurungaituku the Birdwoman

Room 12

The Legend of Mauao (Mount Maunganui)

Room 14

Rona & the Moon

A hundred students from these classes are competing in the Bay of Plenty Showquest Event at the Sir Howard Morrison Centre on Monday 26th June at 7.00 pm. These children are rehearsing during the day at the Sir Howard Morrison Centre preparing for the evening show. If you would like to watch the show you can buy a ticket from the Ticketmaster Website. I would like to thank Jane for all her hard work in preparing the children and I wish them all the best for the competition.

Today we have a group of students playing golf in a tournament at the Lakeview Golf Course and tomorrow three of our students are representing the school and the Central Schools in the Bay of Plenty Cross Country event in Opotiki. We wish our golfers and athletes all the best.

Tomorrow night is the PTA's Addams Family themed Disco. Our children are very excited about the disco. It starts at 5.30pm and finishes at 7.00pm. Food and drinks will be on sale.

It is great to see our Breakfast Club running in the classrooms each morning. The toast is the most popular with children and the bread is kindly donated by our local St Vincent de Paul. If you are able to donate a pot of honey, jam, butter or any spread to your child’s breakfast club it would be much appreciated.

Finally, thanks to the parents of children in the Hockey Teams for helping us on our duty day at the Hockey turf. Our sausage sizzle and Bake Stall was very successful, thanks to you. Thanks also to Shanelle McCashin for organising the morning and Brigitte Holmes for taking on the job of timekeeper for the games.

This weekend our Football Club is on duty and we have had a great number of parents offering to help. Fingers crossed that the weather is fine.

Have a great week.

David Macmillan.

Principal.

Thanks so much to all the whanau who attended our whole School Mass to celebrate the feast of the Sacred Heart last Friday. Thanks so much to Father Thomas for a lovely sermon and the singing was beautiful. All the children who recently made the Sacraments of Initiation received a medal and a Prayer Card. Father Thomas gave the students a special blessing too.

This weekend is the feast day of St John the Baptist. John prepared the way for Jesus, he announced his presence and baptised Jesus in the River Jordan. Pope Francis says we should learn from the one who was the forerunner of Jesus. John showed the ability to bear witness to the Gospel with courage, beyond our own differences, while preserving the harmony and friendship that form the basis of any credible proclamation of the faith.

Pope Francis feels that we can seek the friendship of Jesus through prayer.

Here is a prayer you could say this week:

We beseech you today to fill us again with the strength, power and love of the Holy Spirit, so that we may serve you today and at the same time bear witness to your love, like John the Baptist. Amen.

Wishing you all a wonderful week.

God Bless

Lorna Dobson DRS

The parish will be starting the next programme of Sacraments of Initiation, (Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, and Reconciliation) beginning Thursday 3rd August 2023 at 5pm. This program is for unbaptised children only.

You can start registering the names of your Child / Children 8 years and above at the Parish Office from June 19th during Office hours only.

The Parish Office is open 8am until 2pm Tuesdays through to Fridays. Registrations will close at 2pm Friday 28th July.

School Disco and Pasifika evening definitely Thursday 22 June .... See you there!

“Our bicultural living and breathing Maori heritage makes our city truly warm, wise and welcoming to the locals that live here and the tourists who visit. Maori stories have helped shape our worldview - Te Ao Maori and the beautiful natural environment in which we live in. From our lakes to our forests, our mountains and rivers that flow out to the sea, Bay of Plenty and Rotorua is our home, and there is no where we would rather be.

Come, journey through our Pukenga as we unwrap the beautiful stories that guide and shape our region. Stories we connect with and relate to, that explain and enrich our understanding of Te Ao Maori. Just as our lives intertwine with our daily environment we would like to showcase a snippet of some of our favourite local stories, which are an integral part of our history and identity at St Mary's Catholic School in Rotorua. We must treasure and protect our environment for generations to come, through both our stories and the natural beauty of our whenua in which we live.”

This is a free performance and parents / caregivers and whanau do not need tickets to attend any of the shows. We look forward to sharing our hard work with you on the last day of term.

Friday 30 June : Performances, 9.30am - 11am - 1.30pm

Parents have been emailed their child’s unique Key Code to go online to view and purchase 2023 School Photos.

***FREE DELIVERY EXPIRES Midnight Sunday 25TH JUNE *** Please check your trash / spam folder if you have not received the email in your inbox.

We have a number of jerseys and polar fleeces in our lost property. Many are unnamed. If your child has lost one, can you please get them to check the box. Parents can you please check regularly that your child has the correctly named jersey.

Weather permitting I will place the lost property outside the hall during Week 9 for parents and children to check.

The 2024 online enrolment registration portal is now open on the JPC website.

If you know of anyone who is seeking a JPC education for their child, please invite them to complete the application on the website.

Football

Football Club Duty day, this weekend the 24th of June. If you are able to help please let the office know. An email has gone out !

Please remember any team from grade 9 up needs to email in their score, so it can be entered into Comet.

Hockey

Thanks for all the volunteers that helped with Hockey duty. Was much appreciated!

Gymnastics

Monday lunchtime is gymnastics fun gym for all and Thursday after-school is gymnastics for years 3 -6 who are interested in doing competitions. If interested in the Thursday after school gymnastics there is an online form to fill out. Please see our website under sports.

Please send any team photos through to sports@stmarysrotorua.school.nz

An entreprenurial ex-student looking to make some money ....

If anyone you know needs this service Phone Seb. 2040472477 or Brigitte Holmes 0272121206