Principal's Reflection
Tena koutou te whānau
Well what a fortnight we have had. We feel we may have reached our COVID peak and are possibly coming down the other side. It has been great to welcome back many children this week who have recovered or completed their isolation with their families. Overall we have been blessed with minimal disruption to our regular school routines. Over the past two weeks we had up to 30% students absent which made for a sense of calmness around the classes and playground. During this time we had up to five staff affected either with COVID or isolating. We have been able to use our regular part time teachers as relievers to work in classes. This is brilliant for our students to ensure smooth running of classes continues.
I want to acknowledge the outstanding work all the staff are doing to ensure learning is seamless between home and school for our students isolating. This is evident with the smooth transition back to school on their return. A HUGE thank you to our parents for all your support as you manage working at home and distance learning.
Learning Conversations
Last week we held our Learning Conversations and many of these were held over zoom. The overall numbers were slightly down understandably with our current COVID numbers. Please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher to arrange a meeting if you missed the learning Conversations.
Gully
Titoki Landcare - a specialist ecological company has been contracted by the church to complete work in the gully in order to meet the resource consent for their new apartment build. The owner of Titoki Landcare, Adam Purcell, is an old boy of Marian, and is passionate about sharing his ecological knowledge with our students. The HCC resource consent requires a number of measures to mitigate the negative impact of the new build. This work includes:
clearing weeds and restoring approx 3000 square metres of the gully to native planting, extensive bat management work - installing bat houses and predator exclusion bands, and a lizard protection programme. This work is providing rich learning opportunities for our students. Thank you to Adam and his team for spending time talking to our students.
A HUGE THANK YOU to Mr Stu McIntyre and Mr Matt Iremonger for spreading mulch in our gully. Our gully is a treasure for our school and we are so grateful to these parents who had a couple of hours spare to help spread mulch around our new planting.
Would you have a couple of hours spare to help with pruning, planting or spreading mulch in our gully? We would love to have a team of parents who could chip away at these jobs supporting our Enviroschools programme. If you are interested please email me: dwhite@marian.school.nz
Ma te Atua koutou e manaaki
Arohanui, Debra
Gospel Reflection
Stand strong in the Lord
Second Sunday in Lent (Luke 9: 28-36)
One day, Peter,James and John saw Jesus transfigured on the mountaintop. This means that his appearance changed as his face and clothes shone like the sun.
The light shining from Jesus was as bright as the sun. The rays of light were shafts of God's glory and a glimpse of his power and might.
Just as the light chases the darkness so that we can see, the light shining out from Jesus that day made the disciples see that he was the Son of God. Their lives were touched by the brilliance of God's power and love , and they were filled with the light of faith.
Jesus, fill me with the light of your faith. Make me shine in the darkness and touch the lives of others with the light of your goodness.
DRS News
This week we have two special Feast Days to celebrate.
St Patrick’s Day.
Tomorrow, 17th March is the Feast day of St Patrick, the Patron Saint of Ireland.
St Patrick’s faith and courage brought many people to believe in God. He was a great teacher who used simple ideas to explain his beliefs. He used the Shamrock – a small Irish plant to explain the mystery of the Trinity – three persons in one God
As a school we are celebrating St Patrick’s Day tomorrow. The staff and students are encouraged to wear something green to school tomorrow, Thursday.
St Joseph’s Day.
This Saturday, March 19th, we celebrate the Feast day of St Joseph. He was the husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus. St Joseph is a patron of workers partly because he was a worker himself – a carpenter – but also because of the gift that he gave of himself when he agreed to take care of Mary and Jesus. Joseph was a hard-working carpenter, so he was able to give Mary and Jesus the things they needed to live. Joseph gladly gave of himself to be a husband to Mary and a father to Jesus.
We wish all St Joseph’s schools well on their special day.
Feast of the Annunciation
Next Friday 25th March is the Feast of the Annunciation, when Mary said ‘Yes’ to God and agreed to be the Mother of Jesus. She agreed, and calmly said, ‘Yes, let it happen to me’.
This was an expression of Mary’s faith. She, like many other women of the Old Testament, displayed absolute faith.
As Marian Catholic School, this feast day of Mary is a special day for us.
May the light of Mary’s grace shine upon us. Help us to have the courage to say ‘Yes’ as Mary did and answer God’s call.
God Bless,
Nicki Whyte DRS
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Upcoming Events
- St Patrick's Day Mufti Day - 17 March
- Teacher Only Day - Friday 1 April (No BSC or ASC on this day)
- L3 Tennis - Tuesday 22 and 29 March and 5 April
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Marian Catholic School Jacket
These jackets are supplied through our sportswear supplier Kukri and are of a very good quality. They are a soft shell, water proof material with a polar fleece lining.
We have some sample sizes in the school office if you would like to come and have a look and try out the sizes before purchasing.
Child sizes available: 3-4 yrs, 5-6 yrs, 7-8 yrs,
9-10 yrs, 11-12 yrs, 13-14 yrs.
The cost is $70.00 each.
Adult sizes: X-small, Small, Medium, Large
The cost is $80.00 each.
Delivery of the Jackets are approx. 8 weeks from
order placed.
Payment must be made before we order.
To place an order please contact Jardine McIntyre:
jmcintyre@marian.school.nz or come into the
school office.
Last day to order: Friday 18 March
