Newsletter Week 1 Term Four

It was lovely to welcome our students back to school. I hope the children enjoyed the two-week break. It sure went very quickly. The year has gone very quickly too and the final term is now upon us and it will be a busy term too. I would like to extend a warm welcome to Natalie ? who is starting our new entrant class in Room 11. Natalie has been a great reliever in the school during the year.

Welcome to our new students and their families. We hope your time with us is happy and that you enjoy all the opportunities for learning that you encounter during your years at St Mary’s. Our new students are

Our roll is very full at the moment so if you have pre-schoolers that you intend to enrol at St Mary’s for next year, please pick up an enrolment form from the office. Spaces are limited.

It was sad to hear of Maggie Dalton passing last week. Maggie was our School Receptionist for 23 years and must have interacted with thousands of families in her time here and made a big impact, especially with those families in need. Maggie had a big heart. Our Year 5 and 6s along with many staff attended her funeral at St Mary’s and sang beautifully at Mass.

We returned to the school with our school grounds looking exceptionally sharp. Thanks to Richard and Deb for making sure that our environment looks top-notch for the start of Term 4. A lot of work has gone into the gardens, lawn maintenance, the school pool, car park painting and lots of other maintenance jobs.

During the holidays Mr G took a Chess Team to the National Chess Tournament in Auckland. The competition was tough but our students were 6th out of 32 teams which is an amazing feat. Well done to Claire delos Santos, Alvin Biju, Eric Yang and Owen Squibb. Thanks, Mr G and parents for taking the group to Auckland for this competition.

ST MARY’S PTA AGM is on tonight, Wednesday the 11th of October at 7pm in the Staffroom. Find out what the PTA does, join the crew or just come along to meet some new faces. All are welcome.

We have a Teachers’ Only Day on Monday 6th November. There will be no school for children. If you require after-school care you can ring Maryanne Roling from Glenholme Afterschool Care. Mary Anne’s contact number is 347 0709 or 0211 215599

We intend to have a working bee on Saturday 4th November. There are a number of jobs that need to be done. I really appreciate the support we get from you, so thank you in anticipation. Children are welcome and we will have a BBQ lunch.

GRANDPARENTS/GRANDFRIENDS MASS: Friday, November 10th at 9.00 am

Please join us for Mass. We would love to see as many Grandparents/Grandfriends as possible there.

Interhouse Athletics Day 2023. Our annual Athletics Day for year 4 to 6 students will take place on Thursday 23 November. A notice will be going out to parents shortly asking for parent help.

The pool is in perfect condition for swimming. Thanks to our caretaker Richard for preparing the pool. The water temperature is around 30 degrees, so it is warm. The pool is a great facility and we expect that children will have their swimming togs with them when their class is timetabled for swimming.

Thank you all for sending your children in summer uniforms this week. If you need more uniforms you can purchase them from our shop or through our school website. You can order and pay online and pick up your order from the school office. Children must wear a blue school sunhat at school. This is compulsory, so those children who do not wear a school sunhat will need to sit in the shade by their classroom.

I am looking forward to an awesome Term 4.

Have a good week.

Ngā mihi

David.

Welcome back to Term Four !

For the Month of October, we will be saying the Rosary. The Rosary is a Catholic form of prayer using beads. It is a cycle of repeated prayers, such as the Our Father and the Hail Mary. A rosary can also be the series of joined beads a person holds while saying these prayers. A person who says a Rosary usually thinks about certain events from the Bible, called "Mysteries of the Rosary."

The Rosary is thought to have begun in 1214. St. Dominic had a vision of Mary, the Mother of Jesus. She is said to have presented him with the rosary, both the beads and the prayers to be prayed. Dominic had a great devotion to Mary and the rosary, which he promoted wherever he travelled to preach. He encouraged Catholics to gather in small groups to pray together which was an early form of the rosary.

Try to say a decade of the Rosary throughout this Month as a family. All our children from St. Mary’s have their own special beads, it would be great to use them too.

Have a wonderful week.

God bless.

Lorna Dobson DRS

Everyone is cordially invited to the PTA AGM this evening in the school staffroom.

Come along and see what this vibrant group of parents are about.

Refreshments on offer.

Our team competed in the Chess Federation NZ National tournament in Auckland in the holidays. The top 23 junior teams from all over NZ competed in 7 rounds of chess over 2 days. A really tough competition but our team of Claire delos Santos, Eric Yang, Alvin Biju and Owen Squibb finished 8th with 3 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses (one of which was against the team that won the tournament).

The next focus is on the Chess Power NZ Nationals in Auckland on Labour weekend. We have a team of 8 playing in the onsite team event on Saturday, and a team of 6 playing online. On the Sunday we have 9 players competing in the Individual championship - fantastic outcome as schools normally have a maximum of 4 competing.

For Term 4 we will still be doing lunchtime chess on Wednesdays for those who are keen.

Happy Chessing

Mr G.

Lucky book orders due back 27 October 12 noon, no late orders please. Please ensure that your child’s name and classroom number are on the order form otherwise the order will remain in the office.

There are 2 ways of paying either 1) through the loop system which is on web page LUCKY Book Club | Scholastic New Zealand and selecting the parent’s tab, or 2) paying cash and sending the money and order form to the school office. If the order is a gift, then please mark this clearly and you will be contacted to collect the order from the office.

Lucky books donate the school 15% of the total amount spent to purchase extra books or on classroom resources

SPORTS

If you are looking for any information about sports and events, please head to our school website under sports. https://www.stmarysrotorua.school.nz/our-sports-/

SUMMER SPORTS

Very excited to see summer sport starting. Touch, Futsal and Netball teams have all had emails sent out please see the office if you have not received anything.

Big THANKS to all our coaches and mangers for these teams. We really appreciate all your time and commitment for our children.

Football/Hockey

Coaches/Managers please return any football or Hockey gear from your teams NOW please.

MINIBALL

Please return miniball singlets to the office.

Team photos

PLEASE can I have some team photos sent in or any awesome shots of kids playing their sports.

This is so we can make up our sports pages for our end of year magazine.

Ngā mihi

Shanelle McCashin

School Office & Sports Coordinator

ROTORUA TENNIS CLUB JUNIORS at MANUKA CRESCENT

Want to try tennis out this summer?

Join Rotorua Tennis Club for $80 for a whole year which includes access to the courts, club days and tournaments. Welcome to come along and try it out.

https://clubspark.kiwi/RotoruaTennisClub

Friday junior club day 3.30 to 4.15 for primary and beginner intermediate

4.15 to 5.45 for high school and advanced intermediate.

For more information contact Debra 021 335492 or physiodeb@hotmail.com

Coaching with club professional Justin Megraw is on Wednesday and Thursday. This is paid separately. See the details and sign up https://www.no1tennis.co.nz/