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

As I mentioned at Friday’s assembly we are now in the season of advent, our preparations for Christmas. The seasons of preparation: advent and lent, are times of reflection and

contemplation. They are a time when we think honestly about the year that has just passed and reflect on what we have achieved and on what we failed to achieve. An important focus for

people who achieve in life is to take ownership for your actions, both good and not so good. Sometimes we get it wrong and only ‘own’ the good things that we have done. Sometimes we get it wrong and only own our failures forgetting about our successes. Both of these view points can be harmful. If we only own our successes then we must blame others for all failures. If we only take ownership of our failures then we elevate others above us giving them credit for the good we have done.

People who only accept their successes and blame others for all failures struggle socially

because people around them tire quickly of being told how good that person is and being told all mistakes cannot have been made by them but must have been made by you.

People who focus on their failings become unhappy because they soon develop a sense of

never succeeding and that everybody is better than them.

Balance is the answer—accept your victories and defeats as your own. If you score the winning runs, or goal or try, acknowledge it, accept it, put it in context and move forward. If you made a mistake that led to a defeat, remember that as being a moment in a game during which you will have contributed many good things.

Success and failure is often defined by centimetres and seconds. In a hockey game that my daughter Grace was playing in this year, (the final of the national tournament) late in the game the scores were tied 2-2, with only a few minutes to go. It looked as though the game was going to ‘strokes’.

Grace had the ball, the other team were pressing hard on defense. She held the ball and drew a number of defenders to her. Then once they had committed to tackling her she turned and fired a long pass back to her full back, to enable the team to attempt a back and round. (This is a technique in hockey where you draw the opposition to your side of the field then pass the ball back and to the other side of the field to create space for your players to attack in).

Just as Grace passed their striker anticipated the move and raced to cut off the pass. It looked like she would succeed creating a one on one with the goalie—in hockey almost a certain goal. She reached for the ball, missed by centimetres and Graces team mate trapped the ball quickly pass the ball up the wing and the movement lead to the winning goal. A few centimetres the

other way and the result would have been quite different. Life is like that, we try hard, we do our best but sometimes the margin of a few centimetres or a second is the difference between

success and failure. If we accept victory by a few seconds then we should accept failure, if then we accept loss by a centimetre then we should accept victory in the same way.

Have a great week

—Mike Brosnahan

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of St Mary’s School,
Well here we are in week nine of what has been a very busy term. Today the three junior classes are off to the beach, the forecast is good although the sky doesn’t look so inviting.

Over the rest of the week the other classes will also be visiting the beach to enjoy "Beach Education day". This programme is designed to teach young New Zealanders the skills needed to be safe around the beach at summer time. We present it to our pupils every two years to compliment their swimming
programme which finished last week.

Tonight the Sacrament of Reconciliation will be being performed at the Church. For one group of pupils this will be their first Reconciliation and marks the beginning for them of the year in which they will make their sacraments. We celebrate this sacrament at this time because of course, we are in the season of advent.

Advent is a season of preparations and reflection—a time of healing if you will. So taking part in the rite of reconciliation at this time allows people time to celebrate for the feast of Christmas.

As with all schools over the next week there are a number of celebrations and events so please check closely the time table sections of the newsletter to ensure that you don’t miss any of these events.

As we move into the season of "Goodwill to Man" please remember that while this is a busy time it is also a time of great joy for we celebrate the birth of Christ.
Have a great week

—Mike Brosnahan




Room

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

I was at a function recently where a man told a very insightful story.

"A young man returned to attend his secondary school fair after leaving a few years earlier.

On arriving he saw his old headmaster working on a stall. Immediately he became overwhelmed with guilt. He approached his old teacher and said "Excuse me headmaster, do you remember me?" "Yes I remember you, how are you," was the reply.

"Headmaster I need to talk to you privately for a moment", the young man said. "Can you come over here?" The headmaster followed the young man over to a quiet place and the young man said "headmaster do you remember several years ago when a terrible story was going around about you?" The headmaster said, "Yes that story was proven to be a lie but it still caused a huge amount of pain and hurt to me, my family and the school." The boy said, "Headmaster it was me who made up the story and I am so sorry. I just want you to know that I will never do anything like it again."

The headmaster looked at the young man for a moment and said "Follow me". The young man followed the headmaster and as the headmaster strode past, he grabbed a handful of inflated helium balloons, dropped a handful on money on the counter and strode on. As the young man followed the headmaster they walk across the field, up to the high school bell tower, up the stairs to the platform at the top. When the young man had joined him the headmaster said, "You said that you were sorry and you wanted to make things right. Well O.K. bring these balloons back to me!" On saying this he released the balloons. A wind immediately caught them and they soared up into the air, scattering in all directions. "Headmaster I can never catch up and bring all of those balloons back, it’s impossible" the young man said.

"That’s what happens when you tell lies or gossip," the headmaster said. "Once it’s said you can never undo or bring it back"!

He looked at the young man and said, "I can see that you are sorry and I hope you have learned something. Lies and gossip are like the balloons in the wind, they scatter and go in all directions, and they are impossible to take back!"

Have a great week

—Mike Brosnahan

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

Well here we are in week five already.

Last week I attended my son’s last ever prize giving. After 13 years of schooling he now has five exams and a leavers dinner and then as they say, he is his own man. Next year he is going to read Law at Otago University and having spent time with a friend who is a lawyer he is sure that this is the field for him.

Sean has always been a single-minded person, if he set his sights on something then he would work hard to achieve it. He has the ability to totally focus on something and produce the results he aspires to. He has already achieved NCEA level three and while some students would now cruise he has set new goals, excellence endorsement. His school has worked for him, but it

didn’t just happen by dropping him off and five years later picking him up. We knew our son, we knew what school would best suit his needs and we were proactive in getting him in there. I would find it hard to list the number of interviews, prize giving's, meetings and seminars that we have attended, we coached sport and worked at the fete and supported each and every co-curricular activity. So yes Sean’s secondary school worked for him, but it worked because we were involved in his life, we supported him and his school and we ensured a positive two way relationship between home and his teachers. To such a degree that after the prize giving I found that I spent most of my time thanking them and reminiscing over the years.

But as they say "time and tide wait for no man", Sean now moves on to tertiary education.

So as our year eights begin their secondary education I would offer these words of advice—be involved in your child’s life—in their school and get to know their teachers. It will not always be easy but if you start as you aim to finish it will work out.

Have a great week

—Mike

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

What a great day Sunday was, the weather before the event was doubtful but the weather on the day was as good as the organisation—perfect.

I’d like to thank the PTA as a group and specifically the smaller group who co-ordinated the fair, Kellea Williams, Antoinette O’Brien, Denise Scott, Sharon Wilson, and Sonja O’Brien. You don’t run such a successful fair without a huge amount of hard work. So from the whole school

community thank you.

School fairs, like all curricula activities accomplish a huge amount, yes they bring needed funds into our school but they put school into context. School is a part of a young person and their families life. An important part and like all important things the more you put in the more you get back.

This is a lesson that is learned not by something that happens in the class room but rather by what happens in all areas of our lives. The pupil who is naturally big and fast will only go so far in sport if they don’t work hard at their skills and practice. The pupil who reads from an early age will not become a renowned academic if they don’t apply themselves to their studies.

As Derek Jeter the American baseballer said: "There may be people who have more talent than you, but there’s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you".
Mike Brosnahan 

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of St Mary’s School,
It seems to start earlier each year people are preparing for Christmas, end of year functions and prizegivings are booked, secondary pupils have only days of their school year left, senior pupils are preparing for exams and the university is emptying out. Soon we will be seeing ‘Santa’

parades and decorations going up.

The sad thing is that while this time of the year should be the time for good will to all and people should be able to enjoy a relaxed and spiritual time we seem determined to fit as many functions and events in as we can and the result is a very stressful time of the year.

We can try to take the pressure off by picking the functions and events that we attend, by
allowing ourselves and our families some down time. A time to reflect, a time to chill, a time for some spiritual healing.

Over the next few weeks our school has a very busy time with: the fair, athletics, the sacramental programme and senior swimming. Then we begin our beach education programme, and
preparation for our end of year celebrations.

Please enjoy these occasions where you can with us and attempt to make our Christmas term a time enjoyed by all.

Have a great week

—Mike Brosnahan






Room 3 Children are settling