Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of St Mary’s School,
Well as I write this most people will be soaking in the realization that New Zealand are rugby world champions for the first time since 1987.
I listened with interest to the post match interviews and the one that I felt was the most illuminating was the one given by Brad Thorn, the man born in Mosgiel, who spent his primary years in Cromwell/Bannock Burn and then moved to Queensland where he became a Rugby League star.
A world champion with the Kangaroos and the winner of several premierships with the mighty Brisbane Broncos before changing codes and becoming an All Black, and a world Champion again. It’s a pity that he never became a Highlander.
Brad gave thanks on several occasions to God and expressed how fortunate he had been but also stated several times how, early on in his Career, he had not been able to make representative teams and he stressed that for all aspiring young athletes the crucial aspect is to keep trying, and work harder.
If you miss a team don’t quit, work harder, a selector or coach finds fault keep trying, you have a run of bad form don’t stop trying but rather work harder and believe in yourself.
Stephen Donald, a much maligned player, is a world champion because he hung in there and worked hard and believed in himself.
I am away at camp for most of this week with Room Seven.
Have a great week in what will be a very busy term.
Mike Brosnahan
Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of St Mary’s School,
Welcome to Week Ten of Term Three or Week Thirty Two for the year.
Firstly I would like to thank the parents who have sent in updated enrollment information for next year. This information is very helpful as it enables us to plan out how classes will be comprised for next year. We have a high number of enrollments for next year, obviously mostly in Room One, but right through the school up to Year Seven, so it is important we know the exact numbers of pupils that we will have in each year group.
Owing to the unusual configuration of the school terms this year because of the Rugby World Cup the beginning of next term will be very busy with a number of activities that usually occur later in the term occurring early next term:
The senior school camp is in week one, and the Fair and athletics also occur very early. Summer sport will be very short and sharp with most codes only offering 5-6 rounds in term four.
I was driving my daughter and five team mates back from a hockey tournament in Timaru on Saturday night when I was able to think through their chatter, I reflected on how busy life is getting.
I won’t bore you with my details but suffice it to say I didn’t have much down time over the week end. I think that it becomes imperative that we prioritize and that we remember we are moving into the season of Christmas and the time of ‘Good will to all”. To help us to live out this ethos we must allow some time for relaxation—whatever we deem this to be, so in your busy lives remember to keep a little time set aside to wind down.
To support the Cancer Society we would like children who have canteen bandanas to wear them on Thursday (Mufti day).
Have a great week,
Mike Brosnahan
Colouring in Competition The colouring competition that James Mullenger from ASB spoke about at assembly on Friday will be given to the children later in the week.
Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of St Mary’s School,
Welcome to week nine of the third term or to put it more into perspective week 31 of the school year; these two weeks will be very busy with a number of activities coming up.
Wednesday night is the annual ‘Haddon Shield’ public speaking competition with Outram School, the senior classes have been working very hard on their speeches and having heard a number of them already I can say that they are of a very high standard.
Summer sports must have started because I watched T Ball at 9 o’clock in a jersey and by 12.30 the cricket team that I coach's game had been called off due to rain!
Over the next term our school will be taking part in regular: T Ball, Futsal and Touch competitions. To ensure that all of our pupils get the most from these competitions a code of conduct will be given to all participants.
Remember the reason children play sport is to have fun, but as a school we expect all pupils who represent our school to behave in such a way that all of those involved: coaches, parents, officials and other players enjoy their sport. I feel sticking to the simple expectations in the code of conduct will ensure this.
As mentioned earlier we are getting well through the school year and already we have a huge number of enrollments for next year.
It is really important that we know of all possible enrollments as soon as possible to enable us to best manage the classes for next year.
So please if you know of any potential enrollments tell them to ring the school and fill in an enrollments form so that we have a more comprehensive picture of the number of pupils that we will have for 2012.
I have been amazed at how the Rugby World Cup has captured the imagination of our nation—I never thought that I would attend a rugby game in Dunedin between England and Romania that would almost be a sellout.
So over the next weeks I will sign off in one of the languages of the teams still taking part. This week it is an Irish farewell, from my family’s home province of Munster:
“Slan agus beanncht leat”.
Have a great week,
Mike Brosnahan
Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of St Mary’s School,
I spent my weekend well seventeen hours of it anyway, doing the class based component of my Level One cricket coaching qualification.
Like all learning aspects of it took me out of my comfort zone, but equally like all learning it was inherently beneficial. One of the key factors that come up was a discussion about why children play sport. Many people had strong views on the subject (for this purpose all children who attend school are defined as children). Research shows that the reason that most children play sport is to have fun, fun maybe having a laugh or it maybe
enjoying the success/winning. But the next reason differ dramatically from boys to girls: The next strong reasons for a girls wanting to play sport are all based on the social aspects e.g. team spirit to be in a team, team work. For boys the reason that they play is to be good at something, to learn and improve skills and to be fit. While these reasons may differ from child to child the overall picture is that girls focus on their involvement with the team and on skills secondly, while boys focus on skills and competition.
The implications for us as parents, teachers and coaches are obvious. If we want our child to continue to play sport the focus needs to be that, for girls we develop the team and social aspects of the game. For boys they need to be well coached on the technical aspects of the game and to feel that they are improving and can win.
It is important to give our children as much encouragement and support as we can to ensure that they stay involved in positive ex-school activities. Not all people can or even aspire to playing at an elite level but participation in physical activity is a vital component of a healthy lifestyle and the attitude our children learn when you follow them through their life.
Have a great week,
Mike Brosnahan
Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of St Mary’s School,
As you hear repeatedly on the radio, television or read in the paper, only ten days to go until the beginning of the Rugby World Cup. While it is a sporting event it also presents a unique opportunity to learn more about the diverse countries and cultures that will be taking part. As a school wide topic we have chosen this theme to encourage pupils to find out more about cultures other than our own and to develop an understanding of how huge and diverse our world is.
Last week I was privileged to watch our pupils perform in the ‘Stars on Stage’, the standard of their performance was exceptional and they looked to be really enjoying themselves. A huge thank you to Miss Cooper and all of the other people who helped in any way.
Tonight our Choir is performing in the biennial Catholic Schools Music Festival. They also have been practicing very hard and I know that Mrs Dillon has been putting in a huge effort with this group of pupils.
Thank you for all of your donations for our mufti day today. Hopefully this will make a real difference to the people struggling in our community. Remember the old saying ‘charity begins at home’.
Have a great week,
Mike Brosnahan
Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of St Mary’s School,
As you hear repeatedly on the radio, television or read in the paper, only ten days to go until the beginning of the Rugby World Cup. While it is a sporting event it also presents a unique opportunity to learn more about the diverse countries and cultures that will be taking part. As a school wide topic we have chosen this theme to encourage pupils to find out more about cultures other than our own and to develop an understanding of how huge and diverse our world is.
Last week I was privileged to watch our pupils perform in the ‘Stars on Stage’, the standard of their performance was exceptional and they looked to be really enjoying themselves. A huge thank you to Miss Cooper and all of the other people who helped in any way.
Tonight our Choir is performing in the biennial Catholic Schools Music Festival. They also have been practicing very hard and I know that Mrs Dillon has been putting in a huge effort with this group of pupils.
Thank you for all of your donations for our mufti day today. Hopefully this will make a real difference to the people struggling in our community. Remember the old saying ‘charity begins at home’.
Have a great week,
Mike Brosnahan
Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of St Mary’s School,
Welcome back to week four and what a special week this week promises to be with St Mary’s making it’s first appearance on ‘Stars on Stage” since 2003. I have had a sneak preview of our school performance and it is stunning.
I wish to thank here all of the people who have been involved in making it happen, especially Miss Victoria Cooper for the hours of work and effort above and beyond that she has put in, also for the energy and enthusiasm that she has brought to our item. It is easy to see that all of the participants are having fun and that is what makes it such a success.
I would also like to congratulate the pupils from our school who have achieved representative honours for this year. The demands on young people to achieve in sport has increased exponentially over the last decade. In the ‘old days’ I played for the Otago Primary Rugby team and we had one game a season, I think that I would have played a total of about eight or nine games in a year. Consider how many games children play now days, and they often play a number of sports.
I am a great advocate for sport but I think we need to ensure a balance or we will finish up with pupils of late primary school or early secondary age ‘burning out’ from too much competitive sport. How much is too much? That is the 30 billion dollar question? But I think one aspect of the answer is in the first part of my writing, enjoyment. If the child is enjoying the sport it isn’t too much, if they are asking not to attend a game or a practice then maybe it is.
Have a great week,
Mike Brosnahan
