Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of

St Mary’s School,

Last Thursday we were very lucky to have a visit from one of our ex pupils, Sialie Tunoka (Lawrence). Some people would have

recognized him as the guy from the Sky TV advertisement.

Sialie was here to present a programme on financial literacy to the pupils and the feedback was that it was a highly successful and interesting programme.

Talking to Sialie we discovered that his last year at St Mary’s was 1992. Since then he has built on his artistic talents, which we first saw displayed on the stage at St Mary’s

playing Captain Hook and the Christmas Dragon, to working professionally as an

actor.

So remember to keep telling your children that the chances that they get at St Mary’s need to be seized, developed and made the most of. Then if they really want to be something they, too, can do whatever they want.

Have a great week.

Mike Brosnahan

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of

St Mary’s School,

Last Thursday we were very lucky to have a visit from one of our ex pupils, Sialie Tunoka (Lawrence). Some people would have

recognized him as the guy from the Sky TV advertisement.

Sialie was here to present a programme on financial literacy to the pupils and the feedback was that it was a highly successful and interesting programme.

Talking to Sialie we discovered that his last year at St Mary’s was 1992. Since then he has built on his artistic talents, which we first saw displayed on the stage at St Mary’s

playing Captain Hook and the Christmas Dragon, to working professionally as an

actor.

So remember to keep telling your children that the chances that they get at St Mary’s need to be seized, developed and made the most of. Then if they really want to be something they, too, can do whatever they want.

Have a great week.

Mike Brosnahan

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of
St Mary’s School.
What an exciting and busy day last Friday
was. The Beginning of the Year and Leadership
Mass was an excellent event. The most
poignant thing for me was looking at our
school leaders and remembering them when
they entered our school as five year olds and
seeing them now as young adults taking a
leadership role in our school.
The afternoon activities were also excellent,
a special thank you to Mrs Baines and Room
Seven for all of their hard work in planning
and organizing the afternoon.
Events like this are always special in the life
of children often becoming a happy memory
that they take with them on their life long
journey.
As we move into Week Three we have a
large number of our pupils representing our
school in a range of sports: T ball, touch and
cricket. Thank you to all of the parents who
have helped to coach or organize these
sports, without your help our pupils wouldn’t
enjoy these opportunities.
Have a great week.
Mike Brosnahan
2011 Whanau

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of
St Mary’s School.
Recently a report came out highlighting the
number of secondary school pupils nationally
who took part in an organized sport. Otago
led the way with 66% of secondary pupils
playing some form of organized school sport,
the national average was on about 50%.
That is half of our secondary pupils do not
play a form of organized sport.
As part of our funding annually we are given
a small amount of money that we use to
encourage our pupils to either join or
continue to play a sport.
Our figures show that 86% of our pupils take
part in some form of organized sport, and
this includes a group of very young pupils
who have very limited options of sports that
they can play.
This is a very pleasing result but even here
this is obviously room for improvement. The
definition of organized sport as we apply it is:
when you are part of a team that joins
together to compete against another team, or
as an individual you compete against other
individuals. There is an expectation of
preparation (practice) and self motivation.
While sport by itself is not the be all and end
all, the skills, attitudes and values that it
teaches are those that we value in people.
But even more than this, sport is a way for
people to gather socially in a positive and
healthy environment.
So please encourage your child to take up a
sport, or continue with one that they play or
even start a new one. Those of us who have
children at various stages in their sport will
confirm that the results are all positive.
Have a great week.
Mike Brosnahan
Reminder
Meet the Teacher Evening tomorrow night, see
the next page for the schedule and details

Welcome Back for 2011

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of

St Mary’s School.

Welcome back to the 2011 new school year, the beginning of a new decade.

I have just spoken to the pupils and a small group of parents in the hall to welcome them all back and I was thrilled to see so many smiling faces looking forward with

anticipation.

2011 promises to be an excellent learning year for our pupils with a number of exciting opportunities becoming available to our

pupils.

This year we will be highlighting one of our of our school values each term and the value that we will be highlighting for term one is ‘Respect’.

Respect for self, for others, for things, for our school and for the environment.

As the famous Chinese philosopher and sage Confusius said—”respect yourself and other will respect you”.

Have a great year.

Mike Brosnahan

25 may 2010

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of St Mary’s School,
The days are getting shorter and the mornings certainly seem to be darker and colder so winter must be here.
It was pleasing to see such a good number of people at the celebration of Pentecost Mass on Sunday. Thank you to all of the people who helped organize the Mass and especially to the pupils from our school who read - you were a credit to us.
I would also like to welcome the new members on to our school Board of Trustees and also acknowledge the hard work over a number of years, put in by those standing down.
Governance of a school is a challenging but
ultimately rewarding task. No matter the size of the school the legislative requirements are the same. An integrated school involves other laws and acts of parliament that have to be adhered to. Much of what the Board of Trustees do is unseen by their community and the hard work put in is not really recognized.
So to Sheryl, Jacqui, John and Ross - thank you, it was a privilege working with you.


Have a great week.
Regards, Mike Brosnahan

18 may 2010

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of St Mary’s School,
Over the weekend we have had our first real taste of winter so it is a prudent time to remind people of a few important items of organization.
Please remember if your child is unwell don’t send them to school, the bugs will quickly spread and affect the whole school. It has been widely reported that a third of the population last year caught the ‘swine flu’ and it will resurface again this year. All flues and colds are potentially dangerous and need to be treated with care. So we have reprinted our guidelines on what to look for when deciding whether to send your child to school on the back of this
newsletter.
Also please remind your children to thank their sports coaches during and after games by: doing their best, being good sports and saying ‘thanks’. Remember that without our volunteer coaches we would have no sports teams and they need to be treated with
respect at all times.


Have a great week.
Regards, Mike Brosnahan