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

Last week we held the AGM for the School PTA (Parent Teachers Association). I spoke at the AGM thanking the PTA for all that they do for our school. Along side the amazing job that they do as

Fundraisers, they also organise and facilitate a huge range of social events including our school disco, new parents morning teas, after Mass morning teas, and the school Fair to name a few.

I would like to thank: Sharon Wilson, Kellea Williams, Steven Alexander, Antoinette O’Brien and Rachel Morris all of whom stepped down from the PTA at the AGM, for all of their service over a number of years.

Congratulations to Jacqui Hyde (President) Julie Farr (Secretary) and Alison O’Neill (Treasurer) who all have been re-elected in their key roles for another year. Also welcome and thank you to all of the new members.

Have a great week

Mike Brosnahan

Principal

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

What a great morning Sunday was. We had a very good turn out of pupils attending the Mass. The input of the pupils into the service was brilliant and when the children are so actively involved, I believe we see the future of the church in action. So well done to all of the pupils who fulfilled a role or who helped simply by their participation and singing.

The morning tea and games was also very successful. It is a great time to ‘catch up’ and the time and effort that was put in by Jacqui, Antoinette, Fiona and their team was greatly appreciated.

The new parents morning tea that was also organised by the PTA was also another excellent way for our new and soon to be new parents to meet people in a similar situation and to network.

So a huge thank you to our brilliant PTA and all of the great work that you do.

Have a great week

Mike Brosnahan

Principal






Room

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

I was thrilled to see in the paper yesterday so many of our pupils pictured taking part in the Weetbix kids triathlon.

It is always great to see events where families can get together and support each other in a challenging, healthy and life affirming way.

We have so many events that are based around schools, clubs and representative teams that it is great to see an event where children can see their parents in a leadership and support role.

This Sunday is the PTA morning tea and games event, after family Mass.

This is a new event and one that promises to be a lot of fun, so please try to be there.

Over the next few weeks the children in the middle and senior school will be taking part in our annual PAT testing programme. This process gives us excellent information on where your child is with regards their learning, and what we and you can do to facilitate their future learning. As with all things we achieve

better results when we work together.

Have a great week

Mike Brosnahan

Principal

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of St Mary’s School,
This week we have been blessed with a number of our pupils achieving excellent results in a range of activities:

Devon Scott has been selected in the Dunedin Metropolitan Gold Cricket Team. They played Southland on Sunday and he scored 17 not out.

Gracin Fraser and Sam O’Neill where re-selected in to Metropolitan teams for the third year. Congratulations to all these boys.

Pyper Johnson has been selected to represent Otago in athletics in the national

interprovincial competition.

Aarnika Bungard donated her hair to the cancer society to be made into wigs.

This is an act of selfless service to people in a challenging and vulnerable time of their lives. Acts of giving like this is the Christian message that we should all aspire to live by.

Thank you Aarnika.

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. Lent, like Advent is a time of prayer-ful reflection and a time to refocus. In this hyper busy world that we live in the challenge is often to allow ourselves ‘time out’ to refocus on what really is important.

Sometime it is a case of "the less haste, the more speed".

Have a great week.
Mike Brosnahan

Principal






Whanau

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

It’s always nice to start the year with good news, and our National Standards results for 2014 were certainly great news.
86.9% of our pupils are reading at or above the National Standard as compared to the
national average of 77.9% reading at or above.
 79.2% are doing Maths at or above the National Standards as compared to the national

average of 74.6%
 80% of our pupils are writing at or above the national standard as compared to 70.6% of the

national average.

I have put this information as a table below to make it easier for people to understand.

2014 National Standards Data

This is a very strong positive reminder of the great work done by our teachers and the high standard at which St Mary’s operates.

We are also lucky to have as a school so many wonderful new pupils, as could be seen in last weeks newsletter. Starting on Monday we will welcome Albie Paul and Cy Dougherty to Room One.

Tomorrow is our opening school Mass at 9am and in the afternoon is a fun whanau games after-noon. As we are in the midst of an excellent summer, the weather promises to be good so please join us for some fun in the sun.

Mike Brosnahan

Principal

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of St Mary’s School,
"Nollaig Shona Daoibh" - in Irish "have a Happy Christmas".

It’s that time of the year, less than ten days to Christmas, when the focus of most of us gradually moves from the looking back at the old year to looking forward to the new.

2014 has been another year of huge developments at St Mary’s—one only has to walk around the school to notice the developments. Our national standards data has continued to be significantly above the

national average.

But the thing that we as a school remain most proud of are our graduating Year Eight class. These are a group of young adults who go out to face the future. The world is a far different place from when I walked in their shoes. In 1975 when I left Paerau Primary School; (it no longer exists as the roll got too low about two years ago) the cold war was still the largest global fear, Apartheid was still the policy in South Africa, Gerald Ford was the US President, James Callaghan was the British Prime Minister, Rob Muldoon was the New Zealand Prime Minister. My favourite T.V. programme was Bonanza and a pint of milk cost four cents.

The world has changed, we now have iphones and ipads and computers.

The world our young people are moving into is a world of new challenges not better, not worse just

different. Everywhere there are good people, people who will and can help with no thought of personal gain. Christmas is a time that teaches us to focus on what is really important.

To all of our supporters and helpers, thank you and we really appreciate all of your work.

In German Huben ein frohes und erfolgreiches neues jahr—have a happy and holy Christmas and a

prosperous New Year.
—Mike Brosnahan

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

Welcome back for the 2015 school year.

We started the new year for the pupils yesterday with a brief but enthusiastic assembly.

It was pleasing to see all the faces of the pupils (both returning and new) smiling back at me. We welcomed eleven new pupils to the school for day one and we have another four new entrants joining us during term one, this is great for the school.

Yesterday I visited all of the classrooms and spoke to a number of the pupils and everyone I spoke to had enjoyed a great holiday and was pleased to be back at school and keen to begin the school year.

We have enjoyed a summer that has been great for holidays but not so good for farmers. The warm weather over the break has enabled a number of projects to be carried out at school: new planting in the garden, our brightly painted and patched seats, the new path (by the lower car park) and the mending of some of the paving. Thank you to all of the people who worked so hard over the holidays to complete these tasks.

During the term there are a number of events and activities on, so please remember to read this section of newsletter.

I would just like to conclude this newsletter with the following quote from Henry Ford: "Coming

together is a beginning; keep together is progress; working together is success".

Have a great year.

—Mike Brosnahan