Message from the Tumuaki/ Principal - Ms. Maria Prescott
Kia Ora, Fakaalofa lahi atu, Mālō e lelei, Talofa lava, Taloha ni, Ni sa bula, Kamonaso, Kia Orana, Ni Hao, Namaste, Ram-Ram, Salām, Sanibona, Magandang, Ola, Fakatalofa and warm greetings to all.
Aroaro / Presence, our Marist Pillar for the year, has been evident in the way our Marcellin whānau and wider community have come together to be present and available to one another, in thoughts, actions and prayer this term. I have been humbled by all the messages and gifts of aroha / love and rangimarie / peace for our school. We are blessed to have such a wonderful charism to guide us in times of need for our school community and those around us.
We have been busy with celebrations of aroha including the Memorial Mass for our beloved Tusigaigoa Sipapa Vaelua, Junior TechArt Show, Sports Prizegiving, hosting the Commissioning mass of our Auckland Marist Proprietor Board representatives, Champagnat Marist Principal’s hui and the Marcellin College Cultural Festival.
This week we celebrate our Year 13 ākonga at the Thanksgiving Mass on Rāapa / Wednesday 2 November at 11.15am which will be followed by their leavers assembly where they will address our school for the final time. Our senior ākonga (Years 11 - 13) will then begin their study leave for the NCEA examinations beginning next week on Rāhina/Monday 7 November, all this information will be in a letter which can be picked up from the Student Services Centre if they have not received this from the kaiako kaitiaki.
At the NZQA Examination assembly for all our senior ākonga this morning, guidelines and advice was shared which has also been emailed to them. Whānau of our senior ākonga, please read through this with them and encourage them to attend all their examinations. NCEA summary reports will be emailed out at the end of this week so please email office@marcellin.school.nz if your contact details have changed.
Celebrations of excellence continue with our Senior Prizegiving on Rāpare / Thursday 3 November and we look forward to having our whānau join us on this evening. We also look forward to the Year 9 and 10 camp, Sports mini tournaments, Year 7 to 10 Performing Arts Show and the Big Day Out in the coming weeks. It is important that your tamariki attends school every day this term to develop and strengthen all aspects of their hauora, taha wairua / spiritual, taha hinengaro / mental, taha whānau / social, and taha tinana / physical wellbeing.
This week also marks the start of November, with the celebration of All Saints Day dedicated to all those who have entered heaven, followed by All Souls day of remembrance dedicated to those who have recently died, two significant days on our liturgical calendar.
Please continue to pray for our school, whānau members who have gone before us, our senior ākonga preparing for examinations, those who are moving on at the end of the year to start the next part of their life journey and especially those who are finding life stressful and challenging at this time.
St Marcellin Champagnat, pray for us.
Ngā manaakitanga Marcellin whānau.
Ms. Maria Prescott
Tumuaki/Principal
Year 8 Cultural Activities
On Wednesday the 19th of October, the Korean Education Centre visited Marcellin College to run various activities related to Korean culture, with the two Year 8 classes. The programme included seoye (calligraphy), tuho (throwing arrows), gungdo (archery) and hanbok (traditional costumes).
Comments from students:
“They put much skill and love into their work they do!”
“I enjoyed the tuho game because it was really fun and I was getting a lot of points.”
“I loved learning about Korean Culture. My favourite part was learning/getting my name written in Korean and trying on Korean clothes.”
Love and Serve the Lord
Kia ora and welcome to Term Four. We hope it has been a restful and reflective holiday. Our Special Character team has lots of exciting events coming up and we look forward to sharing them with you in our newsletter.
From the Gospel of Luke, we listen to a familiar story of Zaccheus who humbles himself by going to great lengths to see Jesus. Being a tax collector, Zaccheus was not well liked in his community; however, we see that Jesus agrees to have dinner with him and in doing so helps Zaccheus to repent and reconcile his ways. Zacchaeus shows himself to be someone in search of salvation. Jesus recognizes the faith of this tax collector exhibited in his search for salvation and calls him down from the tree. In the hospitality he extends to Jesus and in his conversion of heart, Zacchaeus is raised up by Jesus as a model of salvation. Through the actions of Zacchaeus, we remind ourselves to come humbly before God and know that our God is a merciful God. He accepts us and loves us unconditionally; all we have to do is let Him into our lives. Let us pray for another that we continue to seek God in our words and actions and serve others with humility and grace.
On Friday 28th October we came together to celebrate culture and diversity at Marcellin College at our Cultural Festival! The whānau spirit was widely felt and all who attended enjoyed the wonderful performances and food stalls on offer. A big thank you to the Marcellin community for their support, the stallholders and the performers for making the festival a true celebration, and to everyone behind the scenes for their mahi. This collective effort made the Cultural Festival a true success!
