St Mary's School
Thursday 25th August
'I have great confidence in you to do what you think best. Always act with courage.' Catherine McAuley
Dear whānau,
Hard to believe we're heading into week 6, isn't the term flying by? It will be term 4 and Christmas before we know it, time to start trying to catch up and fulfil those New Year resolutions - 'good today, better tomorrow'. Before I get into the good stuff, I thought it was best to remind you that we have two staff only days booked in this term (the ones that Covid railroaded last term). They are set for Thursday and Friday 8th and 9th of September this means we will not be open for teaching those days.
We started this week off right with Room Piwakawaka's Monday Prayers where they talked about how they show kindness at home and around school. It was a great reminder that, even though we're getting puffed, we should still put lots of energy into treating others with kindness ... it's really not that hard and it's what Jesus would do! Room Piwakawaka also celebrated their first class Mass of the year (and of Mrs Christie's career at St Mary's School) with Father Jaime and their families this afternoon. If you have a child in Room Piwakawaka (including you, Debbie Coyle) you should be very proud, they all did an amazing job.
On Tuesday we all got out for some fresh air out with Sarah, our Sports Activator. We also had a visit from our ERO Leadership Partner, Lydia Sula who loved spending some time in Mrs Butterfield's class and also in Room Kiwi with Mrs Gray meeting and chatting to our kids. 'They're so well mannered, confident and articulate' - what a compliment.
You can catch up with what else has happened over the week below.
Please remember, if you have something you'd like us to celebrate in the newsletter, send me through a picture and a wee blurb by Thursday 9am each week and I'll make sure it gets in - mallory.hood@stmarys.school.nz
God bless,
Mallory
Acting Principal
Farewell Jayne 😥
We celebrated Jayne with with songs, memories, gifts and finished off with the year 5 and 6 haka, Toia Mai and the Irish Blessing while she walked out to a guard of honour - we managed to break her, but not enough for her to change her mind and come back unfortunately. We also had some of our past pupils (Ella and Cody) put together a farewell video each, which Jayne loved. They also made the effort to come to our celebration and even came equipped with flowers ... how cool is that?
Jayne has worked with many teachers, children and families over the years and always lives by our shared school vision and values of faith, hope and love. We already miss having Jayne around the place, it's very quiet without her. We wish Jayne (and Baz) all the best in her new role ... but we have also made sure she knows we'd take her back in a heart beat if she misses us too much!
Reminder: Daffodil Day Mufti and Gold Coin Tomorrow (Friday 26th)
Harold has left the building (carpark)!
On Monday and Tuesday we had our last sessions with Pip and Harold for the year. To say the kids love visiting Harold would be an understatement, he's like a Rockstar. We get so much out of the Life Education Trust visits and the coolest part is how inclusive it is, equipped with a hoist, everyone gets to experience the magic of Harold! Below is Jimmy living the Harold dream. Cute!
End of Season Awards ...
Mahi pai to all our kids who took part in sports this winter season ... Your guts and drive to get out in the cold for your games and to be super team players is inspiring!
Room Kiwi Year 6 Camp Writing (more to come from Room Takahe next week)
That was our Awesome Camp!
Remember when we played spotlight and either someone would get hurt or lost in the deep dark trees?
Remember when we had the delicious lunches, teas and breakfast?
That was camp!
Remember getting pushed quickly down into the cold green pond water splashing into your face?
Remember flying at the flying kiwi and shooting the basketball and making it cleanly?
That was camp!
Remember zipping across the bright green grass on the long zipline and trying to get the teddy in the small blue bucket?
Do you remember the adrenaline rushing through your veins and flowing all through your body when you were jumping off the high leap of faith?
That was camp!
By Baxxter Ross
That was Camp 2022!
Remember zipping down the fast high zipline screaming, throwing Horton the elephant in the tiny blue bucket?
Remember playing spotlight in the dark noisy woods and never being found?
That was camp!
Remember jumping so high you could touch the roof and playing the colour game on the giant bouncy pillow and falling off so hard?
Remember kayaking through freezing cold ice in minus five and Willy pretending there's an eel in the lake?
That was a camp!
Remember doing the flying kiwi and going so high you could touch the clouds and doing supersonic and getting so dizzy you would fall over?
Do you remember doing crate stacking? It was so wobbly you nearly fell off but you wouldn't. You would go so high everyone would look so small!
That was camp!
By Brianna Moriarity
That was Year 6 Camp!
Remember zooming down the tough concrete slide in the wooly sacks?
Remember jumping as high as the sun on the bouncy pillow?
That was camp!
Remember flying up to the sky and playing super shot basketball on the flying kiwi?
Remember slowly shuffling across the extreme high ropes on a really thin rope?
That was camp!
Remember stacking the crates up so high that if there was only one gust of wind you would tumble over?
Do you remember the adrenaline rushing through your body after doing the leap of faith?
That was camp!
By Mason Chittock
That was Camp 2022
Remember getting bowled over on the giant colourful bouncy pillow also flying onto the mats?
Remember getting spun super hard and falling over on the way down?
That was camp!
Remember my heart pumping as I jump off the leap of faith?
Remember screaming whoo while flying through the air on the extremely fast zip line, it felt like you were going 100 miles an hour?
That was camp!
Remember scanning the room for any type of clue and pulling the rope so fast that Olivia could not see what was written on it in the Escape room?
Remember running up the steps so fast that you almost fell over so you can have another turn on the super fast slide?
That was camp!
By Verity Dynes
Board Elections - Don't forget to vote!
Southland Cross Country Champions 2022
Father's Day BBQ Breakfast and Liturgy
Help us get more funding for our kids who would benefit greatly from it ⬇️
Upcoming events
This term Class Masses begin. The Masses are at 2pm in the classroom that is responsible for Gospel and prayers that week
Week 5 22- 26 August
Friday Daffodil Day mufti - gold coin donation
Week 6 29 August - 2 September
Prayers, Gospel and Class Mass - Room Takahē, Miss Bond
Friday Father's Day breakfast at school
Sunday 4th - First Holy Communion - whole school celebrating at the Mass 10.00
Week 7 5-9 September
Prayers, Gospel and Class Mass - Room Pūkeko and Moa, Mrs Cruickshank and Mrs Thacker, Mrs Gray and Miss Hood
Social Justice Week
Thursday and Friday Teacher Only Days, no school (the ones that had to be abandoned last term!)
Week 8 12-16 September
Prayers, Gospel and Class Mass - Room Kererū, Mrs Knowler
Tuesday and Wednesday Sports Activator in school (sporty shoes will help)
Wednesday Karla from Using Technology Better in to teach Year 6s about Microsoft 365 in preparation for St Peter's - POSTPONED UNTIL TERM 4
Week 9 19-23 September
Prayers, Gospel and Class Mass - Room Ruru, Miss Smith
Monday and Tuesday Year 5 children at camp in Dunedin
Week 10 26-30 September
Prayers, Gospel and Class Mass - Room Kiwi, Mrs Gray and Mrs Hansen
TEACHER ONLY DAYS CONFIRMED 8th and 9th September 2022.
Contact Us
Email: admin@stmarys.school.nz
Website: https://stmarys.school.nz/
Location: 14 Ardwick Street, Gore 9710, New Zealand
Phone: +64 3-208 7733
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1407464649522913