Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of St Mary’s School,
Well its week three already and as we anticipated this term is flying!
Please keep an eye on the diary of upcoming events to ensure that you don’t miss any events.
Work continues on with various activities on site—the senior toilets will be finished by the end of
the week, the library is progressing albeit in fits and starts, and progress continues on the ground
work. Bill Hayden the Manager of Catholic Property Services has intimated that we should be
totally all go by the end of the term. The hard work put in by the staff in difficult conditions has to
be noted here. Many things that we take for granted do not happen simply, even to get a phone
hook up has taken weeks of phone calls and heated conversations.
So please if you have a moment tell them what a great job that they are doing, for while it hasn’t
come easy I think that we all agree that the finished product will be worth the effort.
Have a great week.
Mike Brosnahan
Principal

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

‘It’s the final countdown’ as the group Europe sang.

I have begun attending the usual end of year celebrations and as the gentleman who was officiating at a service that I attended on Sunday said when you hear Christmas songs it tells you that Christmas is here.

It’s also a time of reflection and we at St Mary’s can reflect on a highly successful year.
It seems a long time ago, but our visit from the Education Review Office team was very positive and
complimentary.  They identified the excellent education that pupils receive at St Mary’s and this was
further born out by our excellent National Standards results.  Few schools would have produced the
excellent results that we have. 

Our mid season musical was also highly successful and it along with our excellent choir and brilliant Kapa Haka group shows that we are able to offer breadth as well as depth in our curriculum.

Our pupils have once again achieved some excellent results.  Some highlights that I would like to mention are the winning intermediate relay team and the senior boys basketball teams, where one team won the round robin and one team won the final—so St Mary’s was first and second in the grade.  Also the Year 7/8 and Year 5/6 Netball teams were also very successful winning their grades.  A great effort!

 

Now we see our new school rising up rapidly and so much of my time seems to be spent on coordinating aspects of this.  But as I see on each site meeting we are going to truly have a venue that is new and modern and helps to support our teachers and learners.

 

I would like to finish by saying a huge thank you to all of the people who help make our school a huge success: The BOT and especially the Chair, Donald Mitchell, few people realize the time and effort that he puts in and especially the key role that he plays with regards to the shift.

The PTA capably lead by Jacqui Dodson, do so much more than raise money (and they do this very well) but they also help to give our school a real sense of community.

To all of the parents who help in so many ways, by either coaching or managing teams, going on trips or camps, helping in class or just being supportive, to you all I say have a Merry and Holy Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year.

 

Have a great holiday—Mike Brosnahan

 

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

The second to last week of the term for us and like all schools this is a very busy time.

It is also a poignant time as we continue to prepare for our move to 87 Church Street.
Last week Donald Mitchell and I attended our fortnightly site meeting and the progress that had been made over the previous fortnight was amazing.
The new school is really starting to take shape and it will be amazing for our pupils to continue on their learning journey.

 Reports go out this Friday, so please read them carefully and discuss the contents of them with your child.  They are designed to show a learning path where both school and home can work together to achieve the best for our learners.

 

The results for our pupils against National Standards was excellent.  This information will be included in the end of year Board of Trustees newsletter but I would like to say that we as a school community should be very proud of all that we have achieved over the preceding year.

 

In next week’s newsletter I will list our highlights for the year and also timetable the upcoming events for the remainder of this year and the beginning of 2013.

 

Have a great week

Mike Brosnahan

 

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

As I look out the window this morning I can see that we are going to have a lovely summers day.  The senior classes have swimming and the junior rooms are off to Brighton Beach for their Beach Education Day.

I was speaking to a friend last night and he was telling me how that he found it quite sad how often the end of year can be a time not of joy and celebration as we approach Christmas, but a time of stress and tension.

I agreed with him but said that I still believed that people looked forward to the festive season but that they expected to tidy up all of life's ‘loose ends’ in the month of advent and as it became obvious that this was not going to happen, then they put pressure on themselves and others by trying to work to impractical and unsustainable time frames.  This is often compounded by the range and number of  functions that occur at  this time of the year.  The most relaxing Christmas times that I remember are times when we simply got away from it all.

 To ensure that our pupils continue to achieve at the high standard that they do I would ask that you all ensure that your children continue to read and write over the Christmas period.  A recent study showed that in all schools the amount of progress that children make during the school year is quite similar but that what makes the difference is the work put in during holidays.

If pupils don’t read or write for six weeks then they have to catch this up, so please encourage your child to read daily during the upcoming holidays, and play lots of card and board games.

Remember a good book is a great present.

 

Have a great week

Mike Brosnahan

 

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

Here we are in week six of what is proving to be a very busy term.

The focus over the final month will be on the season of Advent as we prepare for the celebration of Christmas, plus swimming for the senior classes along side beach education for the whole school and reflecting on our time at 62 Church Street, as we prepare to move.

 Obviously on top of this are a number of other outings and activities.  I can count four possible outings for the senior class over the next week, off the top of my head, and of course the major focus will continue to be on ensuring that our learners continue in their learning right up to the end of the year and in fact are prepared to continue their learning through the holidays.

 The Christmas season, the season of ‘Good will unto all’ can be a stressful time, the school year is ending or has ended, everybody is expected to attend a wider range of functions and as a society we have become more and more focused on ‘things’.  The ‘things’ in this case being presents, always aiming for bigger and better.  What we need to remember is that the actual meaning of Christmas is about families being together no matter the circumstances, that material possessions are only temporary and that what is really important is the relationship that we have with those close to us.  Christmas is a time of reflection and a time of joy but most importantly it is a time to give thanks for all that we have.

 Have a great week

Mike Brosnahan

 

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

Tomorrow 14th November is the second time this year that a rare astrological event will take place.  This one is a solar eclipse that will best be viewed at 10:36am.

Last week our school took part in the annual South Taieri Schools Athletic Sports, and what a great day it was.

I was very impressed with the results that our school achieved, and winning the intermediate relay was a great feat.  The attitude shown and effort put in by our pupils were also highlights and to be commended.

Athletics continues to be a major focus of most primary schools because there is usually one event that favours every shape and size of pupils.

If you look at the Olympics the athletes who run the sprint are different from those who run the marathon and they are quite different from the throwers.

Despite what people may say the rule of 10,000 (Hours) says that the more time you spend training especially at a young age then the better you will be.  Natural talent really only occurs because of some who began early.  Mozart was thought a genius at 11 but he had been honing his skills since he was 3.

 

As my son continues into his first week of NCEA externals the same point occurs in a slightly different way.  Because he has worked steadily all year he doesn’t appear panicked about cramming now.  Other Year Tens that I speak to are not so laid back, because they didn’t do the hard yards early on.

 

To all of our ex-pupils who are sitting or have sat exams this year, good luck, you can still help yourself by ensuring that you are well rested before your exam and that you work for the entire three hours.

 

Have a great week

Mike Brosnahan

 

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

Week four of the last term of 2012 already and those of us with secondary aged pupils will be only too aware that for some the academic year is over and they are moving into exams.

The NCEA assessment criteria has often been much maligned but having gone through a year of working with the system I am very happy with it.

Under the old system (school certificate) pupils had in most subjects, one chance, through a three hour end of year exam to succeed.  Work throughout the year to a large degree counted for nothing.

With NCEA each credit at whatever standard is known and accounted for.  If you get a merit you usually have the opportunity to up grade to excellence.  Many students will already have passed before they sit their external exams and those who haven’t know what they need to do to succeed.

A very similar system of internal and external examinations now exists in most tertiary institutions and this more transparent system ensures that pupils know where they are and what more they need to do to pass.

 

Work at our new school site is progressing smoothly and the new school is taking shape rapidly.

I have no doubt that there will be more challenges to face before we get to February 5th but we are now well on the way to moving into our new school.

 

Have a great week

Mike Brosnahan