I hope you all enjoyed the long weekend. We had an excellent Teacher Only Day yesterday. We were with the staff from John Paul College, St Michael’s, St Mary’s Putararu and Bishop Edward Gaines Tokoroa, and the theme was Matariki.

Last week was action-packed with children viewing the Mother Mary icon in the Church and our Year 4 to 6 children celebrating Mass together with the icon and other parishioners.

We celebrated Pentecost Mass together as a school last Friday and our little readers from Kakano were fantastic. Thanks to Sara Mines and Lorna Dobson for organising the Mass. The highlight for me was seeing two of our teachers, Lorraine Thomson and Sany-Joy Mareroa being welcomed into the Catholic faith.

During the weekend we were very proud to see a large number of our children being Confirmed and making their First Holy Communion. Our children looked stunning in their special clothes and looked very excited on their special day. I think the children will always remember this occasion as we all who have received these sacraments do. Sara Mines, Lorna Dobson and Sylvia Dunkley have been involved with teaching the children on a Sunday afternoon for the last 18 weeks.

We got our cross country completed in between showers on Friday and the team to compete at the Interschools has been selected. It was a shame the race didn’t happen in the Redwoods but having it at the racecourse was a good alternative.

Our Chess team also performed particularly well in Taupo, being placed first, second and third and Claire Delos Santos received the top girl award. The team has now qualified for Nationals later in the year. A team is travelling to Hamilton this week to compete in a tournament over there.

Weather permitting, our two 7s teams are competing in the inter-schools 7s tournament tomorrow, Thursday.

It is also Support Staff week. I would like to thank our awesome support staff for the fantastic work they do for our Leaders and our Tamariki. We are fortunate to have such a great group of people on board.

Have a good week,

David Macmillan,

Principal

On Sunday we celebrated our children receiving the Sacraments of Confirmation and Holy Communion. Both the Saturday and Sunday Masses were incredibly special and all the children looked like angels. Thank you to all the teachers as wall as Father Thomas and Father Prakash for their time spent preparing our children for this special day. We would also like to acknowledge the Mums and Dads who have supported their children in their faith journey over the last four months.

Over the next few weeks the children will be learning about Matariki. The Kahikatea team will be leading the school in a Matariki Liturgy on Thursday the 16th June at 12:15. The word Matariki can be translated as Mata Riki (Tiny Eyes) or Mata Ariki (Eyes of God). These eyes watch over the land and her people.

Matariki is a special time to celebrate our connection to the whenua (land). Matariki is a time of growth and change, a time to celebrate what we have and what gifts we have to use. Matariki is a celebration of culture, language, spirit and people. We give thanks for Matariki, season of new beginnings and quiet growth. Let us give thanks specially for the tangata whenua, and pray that we may all continue to grow together to understand and honour the treasures of our heritage.

Our next whole school Mass will be held on Thursday 23rd June at 9am. The children and teachers from the Totara team will be preparing this Mass. We warmly invite our families and community to share this Mass with us all.

God bless,

Sara Mines and Lorna Dobson

For every lunch that is ordered in Term 2, Pita Pit will donate $1.00 to the Fundraising efforts of the PTA. Help the school by ordering your child/ren Pita Pit for lunch on any Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday during Term 2.

Mobile Phones : Any old mobile phones welcome for Starship Hospital. Chargers not required. Please leave at office.

Inter-school competition. Students who qualified for this event have received a note today to take home. Please return by tomorrow, Thursday.

If you are attending your child/childrens' sporting events and have some good photos to share, please send to sports@stmarysrotorua.school.nz with a notation about the occasion.

Please regularly check our school website for information about the sport/s your child is playing. If you have any sports queries please do not ring the office. Contact for the Sports

Co-ordinator is : sports@stmarysrotorua.school.nz. or mobile 0272857579

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