St Mary's School

'The Mass is the most perfect form of prayer.' - Pope Paul VI

Kia ora e te whānau,

She's been a busy second last week at our place. We've had the Junior Nativity, SPC students in for Christian Service Morning, our Year 6 final assembly and informal farewell to them and Miss Sutherland - we're tired (some of us more than others) but we're hanging in there!

Next week we have our Whole School Fun Day at Dolamore Park (Tuesday), if you haven't filled out the permission form yet, you can find it on Facebook, the App and Hero. It also has all the details of what's happening and what kids need to wear/bring with them. If it comes to Tuesday and you're at a loose end, come on out and join us - the more the merrier! The weather is looking pretty good so let's hope it stays that way.

There's been a few people asking about a Christmas dress up day - we're going to scrap this this year as we are going to Dolamore Park.

Thursday night is our End of Year Mass. At Mass we will join together as a whole school to celebrate 2024 at St Mary’s School and to farewell Miss Sutherland and our year 6 leaders and (some of) their families as they embark on the next part of their learning journeys.

Other schools celebrate with a prize giving or graduation ceremony, at St Mary’s School we celebrate with a Mass. At Mass we will celebrate our year, our leavers and of course the coming of Jesus Christ, who is the reason for our wonderful school.

It is an expectation that we will have all our students, big, small, and in the middle here to finish the year off together - the way we do it best.

Currently not all our students are year 6’s, but one day they will be, and I bet when it’s their turn they’d love to look out from the altar as they perform their final leavers song and see all the kids they have set up games for, got ice packs for, solved problems for, buddied up with in whānau groups - you name it, this group of outstanding leaders have done it. They’ve been an inspiration for our senior school students to look up to, putting our values of faith, hope and love into action in everything that they do.

So ….. LET’S CELEBRATE THEM …. TOGETHER …. IT’S WHAT WE DO!

All students are asked to meet in the quad at 5.45pm in their school uniforms. They will sit with their classes during Mass and you will be able to take them from the Church when we are finished to start their school holidays!

Ma te Atua e manaaki - God bless,

Mallory

Principal | Tumuaki

Nau Mai, Haere Mai - Welcome!

This week we welcomed 2 new Kākāpo kids just in time for the Nativity (which they were part of), Rollover Day and all the fun end of year stuff! First up we welcome Indie Braithwaite. Indie is the daughter of Laura and Nathan and she joins her big brother, Ollie here at St Mary's. Indie has been desperate to get to school so it's so good that she got her wish before Christmas. Happy school days, Indie!

This week we also welcome Harman Harvey to Room Kākāpo and St Mary's School. Harman is the first in his family to come to our school so we welcome him and his mum and dad, Maggie and Callum to our school community. We're stoked to have you all here. We hope you love your time at St Mary's School, Harman. Happy school days!

Huri Rā - Rollover Day

Today we surprised the kids with Huri Rā - Rollover Day. Rollover Day is when the kids get to try out their new classes for 2025 for a few hours. I went for a quick look around, and as you'll see in the photos below, they were all as happy as Larry!

They should come home with a letter tonight that tells you who their teacher is, who the support staff member in their class is and a few people they enjoyed working with. Aside from the straight year groups, lots of time was put into creating the classes; looking at who kids work best with, who they need a wee break from, numbers, learning and social needs. We talked about how class time is for putting their 'heads down and bums up' and working hard and that we get morning tea and lunch time to hang out with our mates - they get it!

Another Awesome Nativity

Congratulations to our junior syndicate for all the hard work they put into performing their Nativity play for us all on Wednesday night. What a treat it was! All the kids did a great job of performing their songs and actions, and our year 2 students shone in their lead roles.

Big ups to Peter Moir for his work in the tech box, Ann-Marie Kelly for her dazzling costumes, Mrs Volp and Mr Sutherland for their work backstage, Jackie for managing backstage and props, Mrs Snell, Mrs Thacker and Mrs Butterfield for their time and support of our directors and a huge congratulations to Mrs Knowler and Miss Sutherland for an outstanding show. Thank you also to everyone who came along to cheer these cuties on! Now it feels like Christmas time!

Working Hard Still

Miss Sutherland is making the most of her time as a full time teacher at St Mary's School and working these kids right till the very end. Look at these wonderful Christmas wish lists written by Violet, Macy and Isa-Rae. They were even kind enough to put gifts for other people on their lists. Great work girls!

Jimmy's On Fire

Ka pai to our mate Jimmy for all his hard work this week. Check out all that writing! He wrote all of that by himself on his Eyegaze device. There's so much writing it's hard to read in the photo but it was all about how he sent a letter to the zoo to send him a pet but they kept sending him naughty snakes, tall giraffes, and elephants so he had to send them back.

What a legend! Keep up that hard mahi Jimmy!

Jack's a TV Star

Last week Jack had a TV crew in at school (for almost the whole day) to interview him about his 'Jack's World' comics and t-shirts. You may remember seeing his cool comics and t-shirts of sale on Mission Day - you had to be quick though as they sold out REALLY fast. Jack's interview will be up to see on the Kea Kids News website before Christmas. The link is below. Ka pai Jack, keep up the creative mahi!

Kea Kids News

The legendary Tim Bray Theatre Company is closing up shop, with one last explosion of Christmas cheer! Reporter Ryan goes behind the curtain with the cast of the show.

keakids.news

Thanks St Peter's College!

Yesterday we were very lucky to have a heap of kids from St Peter's join us for Christian Service Morning. Some of them helped out in the junior classes while the rest took our senior students for some games. Our teachers couldn't speak more highly of everyone who came down to see us, it was the perfect way to spend the morning. Thanks team!