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

Talking with a number of people over the week and looking at our recent ICAS (a voluntary external

exam) results the word of the week is science.

Science in a primary school is often integrated into other curriculum areas, for example if we are studying household chemicals we might also get the students to design a package for a new chemical (art) to write an advertisement for the product (English) and research what the need was for the new product (maths). In the one series of lessons, four curriculum areas are being taught because they are all closely linked. When studying the science area of astronomy (beyond planet earth) reading Greeks Myths and Legends about the Zodiac and the uses that the ancients had for the stars is important. It is important because it explains the uses that mankind can put the study of stars to. This is applying the science hence the

differential between the applied and pure sciences.

An applied science uses existing knowledge to create practical application to solve problems, pure science is a science that yields theories and predictions. At the primary level all learning needs to be put into

context by using the children's prior knowledge and extending this. So science like all subjects relies on prior knowledge as a foundation for future learning. Prior knowledge can be gained in biology by simple observations of animals (why are ducks the colour they are, camouflage).

The use of science labs and chemical experiments still have their place, but often using technology offers a huge range of alternative ways of learning new knowledge.

So remember when your child asks you what is the first star in the sky that you see a night, the fact that the evening star is actually the planet Venus is all excellent scientific learning.

Have a great week,

Mike Brosnahan

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

Welcome back to everybody for Term Three.

After looking at my diary I can say that this promises to be a very busy term.

Please remember to always read the diary of upcoming events in each newsletter and also

remember that all up coming events will be listed on the school website and facebook page.

One of my earliest memories of school was being in Miss Horgan’s junior room at Patearoa School and listening to the commentary on the radio of the moon landing. I can still well recall, "That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind".

Every boy had a set of plastic astronauts to play with along side his soldiers and cowboys and

Indians.

Man travelling to, and then landing on the moon, was astounding. It meant that people looked to the night sky to study the stars wondering, "where to next?"

Apollo 11 was surely only a gentle beginning. Next stop mars then the stars. After all we had Star Trek, Lost in Space, and U.F.O.

But then Nasa stopped it’s space programme, well certainly the manned flight aspect.

In recent times a large number of people have become sceptical about whether man has really landed on the moon. These sceptics point to a range of reasons why, they say this could not have happened: Van

Allan's belt, solar flares, the relatively primitive state of computers at the time. They look at the films and photos and say; the flag is waving, the shadows are wrong!

They suggest that the moon landings only happened on a film sound stage and they were done to "put one over the Soviet Union" at the height of the cold war.

I have read a lot about both sides of this debate. Neither side is conclusive. Neither side has definitive proof. But really for me and for a huge number of other people this matter has achieved a lot. It has got us to really think about a topic.

That is a very important part of education. No matter what, you encourage your children to think and question. That is how you learn, that is education.

Have a great term. Mike Brosnahan





 

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

Over the last week several of our staff have been to courses to support the implementation of ALIM (Accelerated Learning In Mathematics). Mrs Baines will be lead teacher in this contract and she will be working with a group of six pupils for out of class sessions and a further three pupils who she will work within her class.

The parents of the pupils chosen to take part in this project will be contacted over the next weeks.

While we have a high number of our pupils who achieve at or above the standard in mathematics, it is

important to remember that all learning is on-going and new:

Techniques, strategies, knowledge and approaches are always being imagined and developed.

While not many people use the most pure type of maths in their everyday life, most if not all of us apply some mathematical learning to almost every task that we preform.

That is what the focus is for ALIM—it is about accelerating the ability of the pupils to understand and

apply strategies to solve problems—mathematical but often with a practical purpose.

So for all of us we can help our child’s development in Maths by encouraging them to solve problems by using whatever technique they feel most comfortable in utilising.

Have a great week

Mike Brosnahan

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

Well here we are in week ten of term two. We have passed the solstice and according to my diary, the half way stage of the year.

The question that we often ask yourself is where has the year gone? The answer is easy to see, in all that we as a school have done.

It seems to be a time when a number of representative teams are selected at both the primary and

secondary level. Whenever these teams are selected there are winners and losers. Some children get

selected who didn’t think that they would, some don’t get selected who thought they would. To make it tougher, some, who made a team the previous year, don’t get selected in the new year.

As with all selectorial matters there are winners and losers, happy and sad and even angry.

Writing as a parent who has had children move through and one who is still in this process, selectors and non selections normally equalize. The more advanced the team then the more impartial the sectors and coach tend to be as they also are judged on results and are often looking to achieve good results in the team they coach so they can fast forward their coaching career.

My daughters have been lucky to have coaches and selectors who had no children in the team, so merit generally was all that counted. Yes in some cases parents did try to have input but their sports body put a firm notice out saying, "that no correspondence from parents was acceptable and any would be sent to the administration to deal with".

We are all human, and we all want the best for our children. But it’s not about whether you get selected or not it’s how you deal with the fact. One of my daughters has three times missed out on selection in teams that general consensus thought she would have made. She was sad, but then she looked forward and set new goals and made the teams she aspired to.

Many people think that sport for children, under 15, should be only for fun to develop skills. They think that it’s not until they are adults, under 18, that teams should be totally competitive.

That is a question that varies from sport to sport, region to region and time to time.

What I do know is that people who stay in sport after they leave school are the ones who enjoy the sport—they play it because they want to, they are not always the ones who make the teams, but they are the ones who play sport for the right reasons.
Have a great break, Mike Brosnahan ( Principal)

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

Well here we are in week nine and what a busy term it has been so far and promises to continue to be.

The weather has been very atypical of what we expect in Dunedin in winter but this has reflected on our roll being less affected by illness.

I would like to draw it to everybody's attention that there have been several health scares in the North

Island through Measles out breaks. The time that illnesses that are prevalent in the North Island are most likely to reach the South are the periods of time straight after a school holidays. So please take every

sensible precaution to ensure that your children obey the health departments hygiene advice (wash your hands regularly for a minimum of 20 seconds with hot water and soap and dry for 20 seconds).

Where possible avoid ill children and most importantly if your child is exposed to a serious illness like the measles you keep them isolated and inform the school as soon as possible.

Later this week we will be circulating a consultation document on our schools vision. Please read it and send in your feedback. Remember our vision is where we see our pupils going in the future.

Have a great week

Mike Brosnahan

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

Over the last week I have attended a number of situations where the major discussion point was "what

attributes do we need to succeed in life?"

The answer that seems to keep coming back is discipline. Discipline takes many guises, but to achieve in life what we talk about is self-discipline.

The discipline to get up and to train on a frosty morning, the discipline not to buy the new pair of sports shoes because you want to have some savings, the discipline to study for an exam when all of your friends are going to a party.

People who have self discipline have it from an early age and they tend to have it for life.

Can discipline be taught? Absolutely! Can it be role-modelled ? Without a doubt.

When we think of the things that you never hear anyone say, they are: "I wish I hadn’t studied so hard"! Or "I wish that I hadn’t trained so hard."

It’s always the opposite—I wish I had studied harder or trained harder. This is self-discipline.

When you look at people who are successful, the young Stephen Adams getting up at six o’clock in the morning to train, they are always the harder worker. To work hard you must have self-discipline.

Have a great week

Mike Brosnahan






Rooms

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

Over the past week there has been a major focus on ensuring that we have in place a safe environment for our pupils when leaving school at the end of the day.

Car parking and the correct use of the drop off zone have been a priority area. I have been closely

observing what is going on, and speaking to some people, to ensure that we are all working together to

make sure that our roads are safe for our pupils.

People who use the drop off zone between 8.30am and 9.30am and between 2.30pm and 3.30pm must not leave their car as the idea of the drop off zone is to quickly and safely pick up your child and then move on so that another car can use your space.

If you need to leave the vehicle for any reason then please park in one of the other parking spaces or on the road. Please also remember to respect the designated mobility/young (expectant) mum parking zones as we have a number of parents in the school who have a real need to use these parks.

The weather has once again gone off in a unusual direction, amazing clear and for June warm days, but also a frosty beginning. So please be careful when driving these mornings and also watch for slippery patches in the car parks.

Tomorrow I will be attending the funeral of Bishop Len. A lot has been and more will be written about Bishop Len’s amazing contribution to leadership in our Diocese, and indeed nationally. Like most people I have some excellent memories of him but a highlight will always be of his visits to our school just before a Confirmation celebration. He would talk to the class, always asking their name and then developing some link with the family. By the time he left, the whole class felt that this important man knew them

personally, a real gift. RIP Bishop Len Boyle.

Have a great week

Mike Brosnahan