St Mary's School

8th March, 2024

'I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth' - Apostles' Creed

Kia ora e te whānau,

6 weeks down, 5 to go for term 1 - where has the time gone? Room Pīwakawaka's focus for Monday's whole school prayers was on the Apostles' Creed. This aligns beautifully with our new RE curriculum Tō Tātou Whakpono Our Faith and one of the focus questions in the Te Atua God theme 'What do people believe about God?'

As Catholics, the Apostles' Creed states everything that we believe ...

I believe in God,
the Father Almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried;
He descended into hell;
on the third day He rose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from there He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Holy Catholic Church,
the communion of Saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.
Amen.

It's fairly hefty isn't it? That's where faith comes in. Simply put faith is belief in God. This is both a gift and a response. God gifts us with an invitation to believe and we are free to choose our response, to accept or reject this invitation. It is impossible to say that we believe in God and leave it there. Every dimension of life is affected by our belief in God. As Christians we are missioned to live our faith; claiming it, naming and sharing it with others. Faith is not static because we can never fully understand God.

Ma te Atua e manaaki - God bless,

Mallory

Principal | Tumuaki

Eastern Athletics Success!

A huge well done and ka pai to all our children who competed at Eastern Athletics on Thursday at Newman Park. I was sad to have missed this year but was told that you all made us very proud - putting your whole confidence in God and being humble and encouraging sports people.

The children below were so awesome that they have qualified to compete at Southland Athletics on Sunday 24th March at Surrey Park in Invercargill - more info will be coming your way soon.

Top Effort Preston!

Isn't this an epic action shot? Straight out of the Otago Daily Times, the photo below shows Preston Byars competing alongside 1,000 other children aged 7 -15 in the Sanitarium Weet-Bix Kids TRYathlon on Sunday in Dunedin. The aim of the day was promoting particpation. While placings weren't given, Preston reckons he was right up there in the swimming and running, but might have slacked off in biking ... I can't imagine that!

Relay Training

Caitlin's mum Jincy has spent several afternoons at school this week training up our relay runners who competed at Eastern on Friday. It was awesome to have an expert put their hand up to come and make sure our kids were well prepared for their race. Thank you for your time Jincy!

Cutting for Cancer

Last week Eden Barbour got an extra special hair cut. If you know Eden, you'll know her mum, Kristy always has her done up beautifully so I have no doubt it was a big decision to cut the whole lot off! But that's just the kind of kid Eden is, nothing is a problem if it's to help someone else. Eden donated her lovely hair to be made into a wig for someone battling cancer. I reckon Jesus would be so proud of the person you are Eden - I know we certainly are. Thank you for your kindness and generosity.

Save the Date!

Our Home and School Committee are busy putting together another awesome Night Fair. More details to come but in the mean time, save the date below. Everyone is welcome!

Home and School Fair

Come grab a colouring competition from the office! Great prizes up for grabs.

Attendance

If a student misses one day of school every two weeks, they miss a whole year of school by 16 years of age. As a parent or caregiver, you, alongside our school, play a key role in building strong habits of regular school attendance.

All students are legally required to attend school every day and it is a shared responsibility to make sure students attend and engage in learning from when they first start school. As we enter 2024, every day of school matters.

You must let the school know if your child is going to be absent for a day or intends to be absent for a portion of the school term for whatever reason, like a tangi or medical procedure.

If you're struggling at home with getting your child to school, talk to us. Our school is committed to supporting your child to attend school and building a culture that fosters excellent attendance by having:

• School staff who have strong relationships with students and whānau.

• A school culture that recognises your child and your family for who they are, where they come from and who they want to be.

• A school community that does everything to make sure students are at school, and they are participating, and progressing in their education.

Parents and caregivers can find more information here:

Student attendance: A guide for parents and caregivers

Every single day counts towards your child's learning at school and gives your child the best chance to gain qualifications and do well in life. Ākonga | students are legally required to attend school every day. Support is available for families of children who are struggling to attend.

parents.education.govt.nz

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Board Report

The School Board meeting was held on Monday 4th March, commencing at 6.00pm in the school staffroom.

Before our official meeting started, we had the pleasure of hosting Mr Cleave Hay who ran a workshop for the Board. Cleave was the consultant when the Board were going through the process of employing a new Principal in 2023. He has experience working in employment relations across a number of industries including the meat industry, working under Bill Richardson in the transport industry and then latter in education. As far as education goes, you name it, Cleave has consulted on it, managed it or implemented it and we were very grateful for his time on Monday.

In our workshop Cleave focused on the role of the Board and also on that of the Principal. The role of our Board being to govern the school through policies and strategic decision making while affirming the Principal; and the Principal's role as being that of the chief executive of control and management of the school within those policies and delivering on the strategic decisions made.

The agenda then included:

Reports: reports were provided by the Director of Religious Studies, Principal, Finance and Property in relation to their progress against annual goals and updates around school organisation, administration and finances.

The next Board meeting will be held on April 11th in the staffroom at 6pm.

Mallory Hood

Principal/Board Member