Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of St Mary’s School,

Welcome to week nine of the third term or to put it more into perspective week 31 of the school year; these two weeks will be very busy with a number of activities coming up.

Wednesday night is the annual ‘Haddon Shield’ public speaking competition with Outram School, the senior classes have been working very hard on their speeches and having heard a number of them already I can say that they are of a very high standard.

Summer sports must have started because I watched T Ball at 9 o’clock in a jersey and by 12.30 the cricket team that I coach's game had been called off due to rain!

Over the next term our school will be taking part in regular: T Ball, Futsal and Touch competitions. To ensure that all of our pupils get the most from these competitions a code of conduct will be given to all participants.

Remember the reason children play sport is to have fun, but as a school we expect all pupils who represent our school to behave in such a way that all of those involved: coaches, parents, officials and other players enjoy their sport. I feel sticking to the simple expectations in the code of conduct will ensure this.

As mentioned earlier we are getting well through the school year and already we have a huge number of enrollments for next year.

It is really important that we know of all possible enrollments as soon as possible to enable us to best manage the classes for next year.

So please if you know of any potential enrollments tell them to ring the school and fill in an enrollments form so that we have a more comprehensive picture of the number of pupils that we will have for 2012.

I have been amazed at how the Rugby World Cup has captured the imagination of our nation—I never thought that I would attend a rugby game in Dunedin between England and Romania that would almost be a sellout.

So over the next weeks I will sign off in one of the languages of the teams still taking part. This week it is an Irish farewell, from my family’s home province of Munster:

“Slan agus beanncht leat”.

Have a great week,

Mike Brosnahan

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of St Mary’s School,

I spent my weekend well seventeen hours of it anyway, doing the class based component of my Level One cricket coaching qualification.

Like all learning aspects of it took me out of my comfort zone, but equally like all learning it was inherently beneficial. One of the key factors that come up was a discussion about why children play sport. Many people had strong views on the subject (for this purpose all children who attend school are defined as children). Research shows that the reason that most children play sport is to have fun, fun maybe having a laugh or it maybe

enjoying the success/winning. But the next reason differ dramatically from boys to girls: The next strong reasons for a girls wanting to play sport are all based on the social aspects e.g. team spirit to be in a team, team work. For boys the reason that they play is to be good at something, to learn and improve skills and to be fit. While these reasons may differ from child to child the overall picture is that girls focus on their involvement with the team and on skills secondly, while boys focus on skills and competition.

The implications for us as parents, teachers and coaches are obvious. If we want our child to continue to play sport the focus needs to be that, for girls we develop the team and social aspects of the game. For boys they need to be well coached on the technical aspects of the game and to feel that they are improving and can win.

It is important to give our children as much encouragement and support as we can to ensure that they stay involved in positive ex-school activities. Not all people can or even aspire to playing at an elite level but participation in physical activity is a vital component of a healthy lifestyle and the attitude our children learn when you follow them through their life.

Have a great week,

Mike Brosnahan

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of St Mary’s School,

As you hear repeatedly on the radio, television or read in the paper, only ten days to go until the beginning of the Rugby World Cup. While it is a sporting event it also presents a unique opportunity to learn more about the diverse countries and cultures that will be taking part. As a school wide topic we have chosen this theme to encourage pupils to find out more about cultures other than our own and to develop an understanding of how huge and diverse our world is.

Last week I was privileged to watch our pupils perform in the ‘Stars on Stage’, the standard of their performance was exceptional and they looked to be really enjoying themselves. A huge thank you to Miss Cooper and all of the other people who helped in any way.

Tonight our Choir is performing in the biennial Catholic Schools Music Festival. They also have been practicing very hard and I know that Mrs Dillon has been putting in a huge effort with this group of pupils.

Thank you for all of your donations for our mufti day today. Hopefully this will make a real difference to the people struggling in our community. Remember the old saying ‘charity begins at home’.

Have a great week,

Mike Brosnahan

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of St Mary’s School,

As you hear repeatedly on the radio, television or read in the paper, only ten days to go until the beginning of the Rugby World Cup. While it is a sporting event it also presents a unique opportunity to learn more about the diverse countries and cultures that will be taking part. As a school wide topic we have chosen this theme to encourage pupils to find out more about cultures other than our own and to develop an understanding of how huge and diverse our world is.

Last week I was privileged to watch our pupils perform in the ‘Stars on Stage’, the standard of their performance was exceptional and they looked to be really enjoying themselves. A huge thank you to Miss Cooper and all of the other people who helped in any way.

Tonight our Choir is performing in the biennial Catholic Schools Music Festival. They also have been practicing very hard and I know that Mrs Dillon has been putting in a huge effort with this group of pupils.

Thank you for all of your donations for our mufti day today. Hopefully this will make a real difference to the people struggling in our community. Remember the old saying ‘charity begins at home’.

Have a great week,

Mike Brosnahan