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

Last week I was looking through some old files and I found a photograph of a class of children that I taught in London. The children in the photo were all aged about eight at the time.

Incidentally I was speaking to a friend who had also taught at the school at about the same time. We were talking about some of the pupils in the class and she said that she had heard that one of the boys in the class had joined the British army. This is not a boy who you would expect to be a soldier. When I googled this boys name a sheet came up from the British Military saying that this officer had been killed while on active duty in Afghanistan. The article was in the form of an obituary and it spoke in some depth of his schooling, his tertiary studies, his travel and his career in journalism and in the army.

Tragically he was only 27 years old when he was killed while on an infantry patrol by a roadside bomb.

He was obviously a young man who had achieved a great deal during his short life and judging by the

tributes that were paid to him he affected a great number of people in a very positive way.

Paul, as this was the boys name, led a life crammed full of action and achieved more in his short life than many do who live to be a hundred. He was born into a life of some privilege but rather than be content to live a comfortable life in this setting he challenged himself in many ways.

As a teacher, that is one of the attributes that we would like all of our pupils to possess; the confidence to challenge ones self and to become truly life long learners.

Lieutenant Paul Mervis

2nd Battalion, The Rifles

Born London 30/09/1981

Died Sangin Afghanistan 12/6/2003

RIP

Have a great week

Mike Brosnahan

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

During the last two days of last week Mrs Dillon and I were at the Diocese Principals and DRS

conference. This was a very informative couple of days lead by Brendan Spillane. One key message that came out of the conference was to remember to celebrate success.

In this busy world it is always so easy to focus solely on the negative, the glass is half empty, but the glass is also half full.

In life it’s not how we deal with our successes that part is usually easy but rather what we want to teach our children, is how we deal with the times that we don’t get the result we desire.

When we aren’t selected in a team, how do we react.

My daughter Grace has enjoyed a lot of success in her sporting endeavours, but the time I believe that she gained the most as a person from sport was a time when she didn’t get selected into a team that she trialled for. She on missing selection, had two options: suck in her pride and aim to be the best player in the B Team or throw her toys out of the cot and refuse to play for the lower team. She chose I am pleased to say, option A. She was the team MVP and has gone on to enjoy a lot of success. But the key lesson was she celebrated being in a team, being a leader, being well coached and winning. She didn’t focus on the negative.

Our school National standard results are a huge source of pride for us so this week to help us celebrate successes I have included them for you also to also share in this success.

Have a great week

Mike Brosnahan
National Standards Data Summary

Year	Writing	Reading	Maths
2014 – Whole School National Average	80% 71.1%	86.9% 78%	79.2% 75.2%
2015 – Whole School	81.8%	89.2%	82.6%

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

What a great spell of weather we are enjoying—the weather at times over the weekend was almost tropical.

It was great to see a number of parents at our information evening last Wednesday night. A school is

always a very busy place with a huge number of things happening, often at the same time.

The key purpose of the information evening and the information letters that the teachers put out at the beginning of the term is to inform the parents about: the expectations that they have for your children, the goals that they want to achieve, how they are going to achieve the goals and what events and activities you can expect for your child to take part in over the term.

Communication is a key part of any organisation and that is why at St Mary’s we put a lot of effort into communicating with our parents in a range of ways, the information evening was the first. There are also two interviews and two written reports about your child’s progress. We have a weekly school newsletter an informative website, a Facebook page, a termly BOT newsletter and also teachers send out a termly newsletter. We also highlight key events by sending out special newsletters and emails. All our staff are available for other informal meetings and during the course of a year we run several parent information evenings as well as a rigorous consultation programme.

So please use these wide ranging communication avenues to ensure you are well informed about our school.

Have a great week

Mike Brosnahan

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

As educators and indeed as parents we are always looking at ways that we can help our children to obtain a better education and become more engaged and involved citizens.

One simple way and indeed a way that is the focus of a long term push by the Ministry of Education is to ensure that when ever possible your child is at school.

When they are unwell obviously they should be at home getting better. If something comes up that is an extra ordinary event and can’t be done during holiday time that is understandable.

But studies show that if a child is absent for more than 10% of the school year it will have a big impact: academically and socially.

The Ministry of Education’s slogan to support better attendance is "attendance matters", and it does.

Our school goal for 2016 is to have a greater number of our pupils attending over 90% that is being at school for at least 345 half days this year or being absent for 19 days or less.

Our opening school Mass alongside our Whanau picnic and fun day were very successful especially the games afternoon which was very well supported. Thank you to all those who came along.

Have a great week

Mike Brosnahan

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

Well that was a very pleasant and restful long weekend. I think sometimes when you are standing by a quiet river at dusk casting out a fishing line (although in two years I haven’t caught anything) it is a great time to relax and reflect on what is important.

As a teacher and a parent I tend to often think of things that relate to learning and especially the skills and values that will enable our children to have a great life.

The one that struck me was that they need to be honest and truthful. Honesty is a hard skill to work with because it sometimes means telling people what they may not want to hear. So an important part of

honesty is about the way that you communicate.

You can be accurate and totally honest but if the message you deliver is too blunt then the message

recipient will simply mark you as an enemy, and ignore your message. If you don’t make the message firm enough they will simply "fob you off" as not important.

So the skill mainly by our actions that we need to teach our kids is to be honest, to say to someone's face what you would say behind their back and to be sensitive when delivering a message.

Personally I respect people who approach me with a criticism, then face to face the points can be

discussed. Like most people I have no respect for those who deal in gossip and innuendo.

Honesty is the way that our society functions. Scientific experience would be of no use without honest

evidence and our relationships with each other become dysfunctional without honesty.

As Williams Shakespeare said "No legacy is so rich as honesty".

Have a great week

Mike Brosnahan






Welcome to all the new children at St Mary’s School

A thought for the week

Always dream and shoot higher than you know how to. Don’t bother just to be better than your

contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself. -William Faulkner

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

Welcome back to everyone for the new school year. We start the year with a roll of 137 this is the largest beginning of the year roll that we have had for many years. We welcome a number of new pupils and their families.

During the last month our family went through a major milestone, Sean our son left home to go flatting!

While he is a second year law student at University and is 19 years old and only lives 10 minutes from home, this is still a major milestone. One bedroom is empty, one place at the table (well for most meals) is vacant. Yes the washing line still carries the same load (at the moment anyway) but things have changed.

Life is like that, just when we get used to something, it changes. Two of my favourite musicians Glen Frey (of the Eagles) and David Bowie passed away during the last month.

Their music was the music of my youth, my family get sick of hearing "Taking it Easy" or "Ziggy Stardust".

As I reflect on these changes a theme comes through. Changes happen and we are remembered for our contributions (be they songs or being a good part of a family).

So as we move on into 2016, we should focus on making the most of each and every opportunity and to use a Latin quote: occupare momento—seize the moment.

Have a great year

Mike Brosnahan