Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of
St Mary’s School.
Recently a report came out highlighting the
number of secondary school pupils nationally
who took part in an organized sport. Otago
led the way with 66% of secondary pupils
playing some form of organized school sport,
the national average was on about 50%.
That is half of our secondary pupils do not
play a form of organized sport.
As part of our funding annually we are given
a small amount of money that we use to
encourage our pupils to either join or
continue to play a sport.
Our figures show that 86% of our pupils take
part in some form of organized sport, and
this includes a group of very young pupils
who have very limited options of sports that
they can play.
This is a very pleasing result but even here
this is obviously room for improvement. The
definition of organized sport as we apply it is:
when you are part of a team that joins
together to compete against another team, or
as an individual you compete against other
individuals. There is an expectation of
preparation (practice) and self motivation.
While sport by itself is not the be all and end
all, the skills, attitudes and values that it
teaches are those that we value in people.
But even more than this, sport is a way for
people to gather socially in a positive and
healthy environment.
So please encourage your child to take up a
sport, or continue with one that they play or
even start a new one. Those of us who have
children at various stages in their sport will
confirm that the results are all positive.
Have a great week.
Mike Brosnahan
Reminder
Meet the Teacher Evening tomorrow night, see
the next page for the schedule and details