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

Here we are on a nice sunny morning well into week eight of the term already. The weather is very spring like and the first flush of spring growth is upon us.

The next two and a half weeks will be a busy time at St Mary’s.

Next week the Kapa Haka group will be performing at ‘Polyfest’ - this is always a highlight. Having watched the amount of effort that has gone into this performance I know that it will be a success.

In week ten we will be performing our annual musical. This also will be a real highlight. With the ultra busy schedule it is a challenge to balance the myriad of new ideas that is presented to us along side the

important traditional events. The benefit that they have to the over all education of our pupils is the key criteria that we measure all events against. While the basic core skills are important (obviously) the crit-era of values and attitudes that our pupils learn along the way are also very important.

I watched my daughter in a national hockey final over the past week. Her team were 0-2 down with 12 minutes to go. They had achieved their primary goal of qualifying for the top flight tournament for 2015. There was a feeling amongst some of the parents that they had already exceeded their expectations of the week. But the girls especially the nine who played the whole game, never gave in, they never argued or criticized each other, they stayed positive and supportive. They maintained their self belief. They played because they wanted to win not because they feared losing. In the remaining time they scored three unanswered goals and won. Sport or other experiences that teach: self belief, how to maintain

positive relationships, resilience, tenacity and focus, lead to young people achieving a happy and

successful life.

Have a great week

—Mike Brosnahan