Monday, January 30, 2017




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

Welcome back to the 2017 school year. I hope that everybody had a restful and enjoyable holiday.

While the weather has been inclement, to say the least, the summer holidays always give a chance for

families to spend quality time together.

The demands of modern living are huge and the focus that seems to exist now is on always being first or

biggest or best are stressful for all.

Over the break I have been away with a couple of sports teams, and I watched a number of young sports people compete. The ones who enjoyed themselves were the ones who were there because they loved the game. Correspondingly these were usually the players who achieved the best results.

As the great American golfer Ray Floyd said "if you love what you do then you never work a day in your life".

During the holidays our family (or parts of it) undertook some substantial road trips. One was from

Dunedin to Whanganui. During this time when my passenger slept I got to listen to a number of my

favourite artists. The words of one song I think give a message that we all should aim to live by is Glen Campbell’s "Try a little Kindness".

"If you see your brother standing by the road with a heavy load from the seeds he’s sowed.

And if you see your sister falling by the way, just stop and say, your going the wrong way.

You got to try a little kindness."

Powerful words to live by.

Have a great year,

Mike Brosnahan




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

Well this is the final newsletter for the year and what a busy and successful year it has been. Academically artistically and in the sporting field our pupils have achieved some excellent results. Brilliant results in the ICAS exams and excellent achievement in our National Standards data show just how well our pupils are achieving academically. The number of our pupils who placed at our regular interschool athletics and cross country events was amazing. Two of our pupils Sophie Galliven and Ella MacKenzie placed in Otago Championships (Athletics and Cross Country respectively). A huge number of pupils gained

representative honours in a range of sports.

Our Choir, Kapa Haka group and school performance were all of the very highest standard and were

highly acclaimed.

I would also like to thank the huge range of people who work hard to make our school the success that it is: Our Board of Trustees, our PTA, the fair organising committee, all of the sport coaches and managers, the Parents who accompany sports groups on outing and camp, the people who helped at working bees, the Parish members who take reading with our pupils and of course Fr Michael and the teachers.

They say that it takes a village to raise a child and if that is indeed the case we are very lucky to have a big supportive ‘village’.

Schools more than any other institution are under constant scrutiny. We are audited by three separate independent bodies. This year we were reviewed by the Catholic Education office review team. They

completed an in-depth and comprehensive review earlier this term.

The first comment on their summary page: "St Mary’s is a successful school delivering high quality

Catholic Education to a supportive and responsive community", is a glowing tribute to what our school achieves. The full report is available at the school office.

I would like to finish this final newsletter of the year by wishing you all a happy, healthy and holy

Christmas and thank you for your continued support of our school.

Have a great week,

Mike Brosnahan






Swimming Lessons



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

Well here we are in week nine of the year and the run into the end of the year and Christmas.

This is always a very busy time for everyone as they ensure that the current year finishes on a positive note while preparing for the next (yes 2017).

To this end, to help with school wide planning for 2017 I would be most grateful if people let me know of any enrolments at whatever level for next year. We have a large number of new entrant enrolments start-ing and to enable us to manage our resources to best level that we are able to. It is always best to know all of our enrolments as early as possible.

To enable everyone to enjoy the preparations for and indeed Christmas itself we should reflect on the Christmas story. Christmas is a time for hope and looking to a bright future. It is a time for family and enjoying positive relationships. Most of all it is a time when we think of others and of giving and not

receiving.

Have a great week,

Mike Brosnahan