Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of St Mary’s School,
In this newsletter I want to concentrate on highlighting the modes of communication that we have at St Mary’s. Our
first and foremost way of communication is our weekly newsletter. This usually contains three or more pages of
information including the upcoming events scheduled for our school and a brief look back at previous weeks events.
It includes in depth information about the up coming events to ensure that all families are well informed about all that
is going on. Also if deemed appropriate it includes information on community events. We send the newsletter out
electronically to all parents nominated email addresses. If you have trouble receiving these emails then please
contact Mrs Evans, pauline@stmarys-mosgiel.school.nz
The weekly newsletter can also be viewed on our school website www.stmarys-mosgiel.school.nz under the
information tab.
The website also contains a lot of other interesting information and an up to date calendar of events and activities.
Some events that predominately have a class focus will be communicated by way of a letter from the class teacher.
We also have as part of our formal reporting process a parent information evening in term one, interviews in terms
two and three and written reports on your child’s progress in terms two and four.
We also have a regular programme of consultation and parent information evenings designed to ensure that we use
up to date information to strengthen our strategic planning and to ensure we offer parents the opportunity to keep up
with any new developments in teaching and learning.
Last year the Board of trustees invested in a new phone system. This system is an up to date version of the system
employed in most New Zealand schools. It always begins with an electronic message so please listen to the
prompts and this system will lead to a more efficient use of our phone system.
Our school email system is developed to ensure easy communication between the school and the parent community
so please if you have a question email it in and we will get back to you as soon as possible with an answer.
Finally there is the obvious way of communicating by way of a face to face interview. If it is a simple quick question
then teachers are happy to answer these before 9am and after 3pm. If the question requires some depth in its an-swer then please make an appointment to meet the teacher and let them know the broad basis of your question to
allow them to prepare for the meeting. So in summary the forms of communication between home and school are
as follows:
  School Newsletter (weekly—Tuesday)
  Board of Trustees Newsletter (once a term)
  School Website
  School Email
  School phone
  Formal reporting (ie interviews, meet the teacher, written reports)
  Information meetings between teachers and parents
  Additional information notices and letters sent out by the teachers or the school about specific events
We have sent this newsletter out to all parents in hard copy as well as electronically to ensure that it is received by
all families. If you need us to update any information please contact at the school office.
Have a great week
Mike Brosnahan

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of St Mary’s School,
At the moment one of the greatest ever feats of New Zealand sporting history is unfolding,
Brendan McCullum is currently waiting (I hope) to come out and bat with an overnight score of 281. No
New Zealander has ever made 300 in a test, the closest is the great Martin Crowe who was run out on
299. The scoring of the 300 would be a monumental achievement on its own but the context in which it
has been scored is what makes the achievement immense: It has been made against one of the world
best test match teams and a country with more than a billion staunch fans (India), New Zealand was
bowled out for 192 in 323 balls in the first innings. When Brendan came in to bat New Zealand were 3
wickets downs for 52 and before he found a solid partner in BJ Watting New Zealand were 5-94. Most
people thought the test would only last three days, New Zealand had blown a great chance to score a se-ries win. But as they say ’cometh the hour cometh the man’.
To score 100 runs is a feat all cricketers aspire to, it requires skill, determination, patience,
resilience and self belief. To do it under the pressure that ’B Mac’ did is amazing, to then (hopefully)
score two more centuries defies belief.
I think that whether you are a cricket follower or not in this instant is irrelevant, few of us are mountain
climbers but we all admired Sir Edmond Hillary’s feats. The important thing to
remember about this great sporting action is that it was done by a man who tool the mantel of leadership
seriously and battled hard, not for personal glory, but for his team mates and country.
As Kipling wrote
“If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, …. If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds
worth of distance run—yours is the earth and everything that’s in it, and what is more—you’ll be a man my
son!
Have a great week
Mike Brosnahan

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of St Mary’s School,
Over the next month or so a major focus for the students at St Mary’s is the ‘Keeping Ourselves
Safe’ programme. This programme has been taught at St Mary’s over a number of years. It is a
programme that is taught in conjunction with the New Zealand Police and focuses on way that
young people can keep themselves safe and as they get older, others safe.
It is a programme that is practical but also addresses the theory and reasoning behind why we
should or should not behave in certain ways.
In fact the key behaviour that helps us support our young ones to keep themselves safe is
communication.
Talk to your children often, even when what they are saying doesn’t really interest you, and listen
to what they say. If they know that you are listening to them, then they will go to you for
guidance, and more importantly you will be more aware of what's going on in their world.
With the advent of social media: Facebook, ask, snap chat, twitter etc., people who may be distant
are able to communicate as simply as they can with someone sitting in the same room.
Obviously this has massive benefits, you can Skype your sister in Melbourne and it’s almost like
a face to face meeting. But as with all technologies it has a dark side, unwanted intrusions into
you or your families life being the paramount concern. Sometimes it would be nice to retreat into
our log cabin and bolt the door. But the reality is that in our technological world, this is not
possible. To keep ourselves and our children safe, communication is again the answer.
Encourage them to come to you if they are ever in a situation that makes them feel
uncomfortable or confused.
Have a great week
Mike Brosnahan
Our RE focus in each class h

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of St Mary’s School,
Welcome back to the 2014 school year. I hope that everyone has enjoyed a restful holiday and
has come back rejuvenated for another busy school year.
Over the next few weeks a number of programmes will begin and outings and celebrations are
scheduled. Please remember to check the calendar of events to ensure that you are aware of all
these happenings.
Last year we consulted on the topic of homework—this is a subject that always delivers a wide
range of opinions. For every academic study that insists that regular homework leads to contin-ued academic success, you can find one that insists that homework doesn’t achieve the antici-pated academic results.
At St Mary’s we believe that some amount of homework is necessary to: reinforce the learning
done at school, to prepare for future learning and to act as a link between home and reinforcing
the concept of being life long learners. But we also believe that homework is counter productive
if it causes unnecessary stress. There of course comes a time when the pupils needs to accept
100% responsibility for their learning (usually in senior secondary school). Mainly due to the fact
that the topic material becomes to specialized. My son (Year 13) was doing quadratic equations
last night and he was able to complete a number of them before I could have done one!
But we feel the most important aspect of homework is not the content but the attitude developed
in continuing school learning at home.
One important study from the United States shows that the work done at non-school times, eve-nings, weekends and holidays is what leads to academic success. It is not about volume of work
it’s about being positive and continuous and modelling that learning (reading, writing, maths etc)
is valuable.
We recognise of course, that there will be times when homework can’t be done, a note or email
is helpful as it removes any chance of confusion.
As part of our ongoing parent information programme we will be holding an information night
later in the term to outline more fully our expectations with regards homework at the various
levels in our school and also to offer some ideas on how to make homework fun.
As well as welcoming all of our returning pupils back we would like to offer a special welcome to
the following pupils: Olivia Clydesdale to Room 1, Kate Jordan to Room 5, and Emma Jordan to
Room 6.
Have a great year
Mike Brosnahan

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

 

One of the worlds great sports contests is taking part in Australia at the moment.  I am talking of course of the Ashes cricket series.  Cricket is an intensely tough game mentally, it’s hard to imagine this when your youngster starts off playing section four have a go cricket; no matter what they get with 12 hits and 12 bowls.  Often who won is lost in the joy of taking part and hitting a four or taking a wicket.

But as players progress through the grades the expected standard rises, now when you are out then you are out!  Players need to be selected for teams, some make it, most don’t, every duck or dropped catch weights heavily on the player involved.

But cricket is still a team game and the longer we can maintain this as a focus the better because  it at least partially defeats the pressure from the individual.  In few team sports is the individual player so exposed if not nurtured by the team.

Cricket like all sport was designed initially as a pastime something to be done for fun.  Over it’s long history the intensity with which it is played has changed, I remember the story of the great Victorian cricketer W.G. Grace being bowled without scoring, he calmly picked the bails up, put them back on the wickets and said “more people came here to watch me bat then you bowl” and prepared to start again.  Imagine Michael Clark doing that!

But even at high level sport we can go too far.  The sledging or name calling in the series has already resulted in fines being levied and I have heard this morning that the English batsman Johnathan Trott is returning home with a stress related illness.  A number of top level cricketers in recent times have either stopped playing or at least stopped playing at the top level due to the stress that they have felt.

I’m not sure if it’s a factor only in modern life or if stress has always been significant in people’s lives.  Maybe it’s the speed we now travel or the amount we try to cram in.  Recently in our year eight class we have talked about spirituality and nurturing the soul.  Communication and taking down time are vital, but also so is looking at the big picture.

Few people look back at getting a ‘golden duck’ or coming last in a race, or not making a team in year 5, when they are 50, as a disaster!

Have a great week, Mike Brosnahan

 

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of St Mary’s School,
Well here we are in Week Six of Term Four already. Today a number of our pupils are off representing
the school at the Otago Primary School Sports Association Championships. I’m sure that you join with
me in wishing those pupils good luck.
Success in sport is like success in any field—the harder that you work then the better results that you
achieve.
I recently attended a debrief of Otago representative hockey coaches and managers, At the end of this
meeting Dave Ross the coach of the Southern men’s team (beaten finalists the last two years), raised the
point for debate. “When is the time in sport to move from development to competition?”
His thoughts were high school as the changing point. As soon as you have tournaments, medals, cups
and representative teams, he reasoned the focus goes on winning solely and a huge amount of pressure
is then put on everybody involved but especially the child to win.
The bottom line is sport should be fun enjoyable, challenging and social. Except for a very few outstand-ing athletes, children can not look to a forward career as a professional athlete, quite simply only a tiny
percentage of people achieve this.
Those that do and sustain this success do so because of self motivation, self belief and great work ethic.
The values that we learn through sport are invaluable life skills.
As the great American football coach Vince Lombardi said, “Football is like life—it requires perseverance,
self denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication and respect for authority”.
Have a great week
Mike Brosnahan,
Principal

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of St Mary’s School,
Over the next five and a half weeks we begin an unbelievably busy time of the year for schools. Those of
you with children at senior secondary will most likely have already attended senior prize giving and they will now be in the middle of their NCEA externals.
Until my son started the process of gaining his NCEA qualifications I was very sceptical of their academic
rigour, however now that Sean has completed (well almost) two years of study at NCEA I can see the
benefits that they bring. The old system of one three hour exam as the sole way to assess academic
success at both Secondary and Tertiary level was a fine vehicle for some students in some subjects but I
find that NCEA is more equitable and caters for long term learning rather than simply cramming in information to answer the questions set in one three hour exam.
One of the key goals that Sean has learned is that the credits you gain in February, when you have no
pressure are worth just as much as the ones that you need to gain in November in the stress of an
external exam, so aim to run the full race, don’t walk until the finish is in sight and back yourself to have
the spirit to get across the line in time for as the immortal Robbie Burns wrote “The best laid schemes
o mice an men, Gang oft agley. An’ lea’s us nought but grief an’ pain, for promised joy”.
The same message that I support in all endeavours, I’m sure that Sir Edmund Hillary when on
approaching the peak of Everest didn’t say I wish I hadn’t prepared so much!
Have a great week
Mike Brosnahan,
Principal
Junior
Athletic