I hope you all enjoyed the long weekend and were able to relax by having an extra day. Time is flying by and we only have four weeks of the term left.

The staff had a great day at our KAHUI AKO TEACHER ONLY DAY at Aquinas College in Tauranga yesterday. We joined other schools in our Catholic Faith-Based Kahui Ako with the theme "Whāia te Iti Kahurangi - "Leading Inclusive and Empowering Schools". We heard from two Keynote speakers and several workshops were also offered during the day.

Last week was action-packed at school with many activities focusing on Samoan Language Week. Amazing photos and videos of activities have been posted on Facebook. It was fantastic to see the amazing opportunities offered for learning more about Samoa and its language during the week. The highlight was the performance on Friday. Thanks to Tai Waititi for organising a great week for our school and the parents who came in and worked with our children.

A heads up: ALL our senior students will be performing as part of the Senior School Performance Showcase in Week 10 on Friday 30th June at three mini-performances. (9.30 am, 11 am and 1 pm). These performances involve all our senior classes and each class is depicting a different Maori Story.

A group of our senior students from each class are also performing at ShowQuest. This is also held in Week 10 at the Sir Howard Morrison Performing Arts Centre, on Monday evening on the 26th of June.

Have a great week

David Macmillan.

Principal.

Yesterday we attended a Kahui Ako Teacher-only day with other Catholic schools at Aquinas School. We had some interesting guest speakers and different workshops to attend. It is important for us as teachers to ensure we are developing and widening our knowledge in order to engage and teach our children effectively.

Coming up on Friday 17th June at 9 am we will be having a whole school Mass to celebrate the feast of the Sacred Heart. This will be a perfect occasion to also bless and present our children who have received the Sacraments of Reconciliation, Confirmation, and Communion with a Prayer card and medal. You are more than welcome to join us.

Wishing you all a wonderful few days.

Take care, God bless.

Lorna Dobson

St Mary's has a new student from the Phillipines, aged 8 years, who only arrived in the country on 23 April. She is living in Pohutakawa Drive, Owhata. They do not own a private motor vehicle. She has been enrolled to travel on the bus to and from school but she is afraid of riding in the bus.

Is there any family in that area who could accommodate a pick up and drop off for this little girl.

This would only be a temporary measure as the family are working on getting a vehicle and the mother would then be able to do the transporting.

Please contact Shanelle in the office if you think you may be of service. Thank you.

Football

Please keep the 24th of June in your diary as this is our next Football Club Duty day.

Please remember any team from grade 9 up needs to email in their score, so it can be entered into Comet.

Hockey

We are on duty on the 17th of June. Please email or call the office to see where you can lend a hand.

Gymnastics

Monday lunchtime is gymnastics fun gym for all. Thursday after-school is gymnastics for years 3 -6 who are interested in doing competitions. If interested in the Thursday after school gymnastics, there is an online form to fill out. Please see our website under sports.

Golf

Lakeview Golf fun Competition is on the 21st of June. Registrations close this friday the 9th of June. See details on our website under sports.

ShowQuest

Students in Years 4-6 have been rehearsing a performance piece with Mrs Trask depicting Maori stories from our local area. Students from these classes will perform in a school performance BUT they also have the opportunity to perform as part of ShowQuest. We can only take 100 students from the seven classes. There will be a fee of $25 per student. As this year's ShowQuest is in Rotorua all parents /caregivers will be responsible for getting their child/children to the day event and picking them up at the completion of the evening show.

To register your child for ShowQuest please head to our website and under sports you will find all the information and links. Registrations close this Friday the 9th June.

Please send any team photos through to sports@stmarysrotorua.school.nz