Dear Parents,

Well, isn’t it great to have these clear blue skies? It is a little colder but I prefer weather like this rather than wet windy days. It is great to have the children outside enjoying playing at play and lunchtime.

I am going to give you an update each week on our attendance rate. We are super proud of our attendance rate results so far this year. The current Ministry of Education expectation is that students are at school at least 90% of the time. If your child cannot attend school please continue to let the office know before 9.15 am. You can also leave a message on the school answerphone.

ST MARY’S CATHOLIC SCHOOL ATTENDANCE RATE FOR WEEK 7 TERM 2: 94%

Our student Environmental leaders have an environmental project in mind and have planned for a Mufti Day tomorrow, Thursday. The theme is to come dressed in something that represents the colour of a butterfly, so something yellow, black, orange, red, brown or white. However, Chief's jerseys are banned. Just joking!

We are going to St Mary's Church on Friday to celebrate the Mass of the Sacred Heart. Come along and join us for the celebration. Mass starts at 9.00 am

The interschool Cross Country was held yesterday at the Springfield Golf Course. Congratulations to these students who were placed: Mateo Rodriguez 3rd, Xavier Parata 4th, Leah Gelid 4th and Simon Stahlhut 6th.Thanks to Jill Dinniss and Mr G for taking the team to the Springfield Golf Course and also to the parents who accompanied the students to the event. The students who were placed have been selected to represent CBOP in Opotoki next week.

Our Chess Teams have done exceptionally well in the three tournaments that they have played in over the last ten days. Students have played in Taupo, Hamilton and Tauranga. In the last tournament, in Tauranga, our team was placed first and second, In Taupo we were 1st and 2nd and in Hamilton, our team was placed first. Individual results are listed later in this newsletter. A number of our students have now qualified to compete in the Nationals later in the year. Thanks to Mr G for his excellent job coaching and encouraging our Chess players.

Our students have been enjoying lots of opportunities. Our Year 5 and 6 students have been participating in a Bike Safety programme being run by Rotorua Lakes Council. Some of our classes have been working with educators from the Rotorua Museum.

The PTA have organised a disco for Friday 23rd June and the theme is the Addam’s Family. The disco starts at 5.30 pm until 7.00 pm and food will be available for purchase during the night.

The Junior Cross Country is also planned for this Friday 16th June starting at 11.30am.The course is centred around the school and its surroundings. We welcome you to come and watch.

Our Hockey teams are on duty this weekend down at the turf. Thank you Hockey parents for your support with this.

Have a great week everyone.

David Macmillan.

Principal.

This coming Friday 16th June at 9 am the whole school will be celebrating Mass for the feast of the Sacred Heart.

The Sacred Heart image shows Jesus with his heart on the outside of his body. It is to remind us that Jesus wants to know how much he loves us. He loves us so much that he can’t keep this love to himself. Jesus is both God and man. He is a person just like you and me and he has a heart just like us. Also in the image of the Sacred Heart, we see a cross to remind us how Jesus sacrificed his life for us by dying on the cross. There is also light and fire around the heart. The fire reminds us that when we are close to Jesus we can feel him near us and we feel safe. Light symbolises the everlasting light that burns in His heart for us always. Take a look next time you are at church to see the Sacred Heart statue.

I hope you have a wonderful week.

Lorna Dobson, DRS

The parish will be starting the next programme of Sacraments of Initiation, (Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, and Reconciliation) beginning Thursday 3rd August 2023 at 5pm. This program is for unbaptised children only.

You can start registering the names of your Child / Children 8 years and above at the Parish Office from June 19th during Office hours only.

The Parish Office is open 8am until 2pm Tuesdays through to Fridays. Registrations will close at 2pm Friday 28th July.

“Our bicultural living and breathing Maori heritage makes our city truly warm, wise and welcoming to the locals that live here and the tourists who visit. Maori stories have helped shape our worldview - Te Ao Maori and the beautiful natural environment in which we live in. From our lakes to our forests, our mountains and rivers that flow out to the sea, Bay of Plenty and Rotorua is our home, and there is no where we would rather be.

Come, journey through our Pukenga as we unwrap the beautiful stories that guide and shape our region. Stories we connect with and relate to, that explain and enrich our understanding of Te Ao Maori. Just as our lives intertwine with our daily environment we would like to showcase a snippet of some of our favourite local stories, which are an integral part of our history and identity at St Mary's Catholic School in Rotorua. We must treasure and protect our environment for generations to come, through both our stories and the natural beauty of our whenua in which we live.”

This is a free performance and parents / caregivers and whanau do not need tickets to attend any of the shows. We look forward to sharing our hard work with you on the last day of term.

Friday 30 June : Performances, 9.30am - 11am - 1.30pm

At this Community Day (this coming Saturday 17 June) we will be guided by Raymond Eberhard, as we explore the writings of renowned author James Finley on ‘Experiencing the Presence of God’ and Tim Roberts on ‘Attuning Myself to God’s Love More Closely’.

Raymond has been meditating in the Christian tradition for six years, and in other eastern traditions prior to that. He is facilitator for the Waikato and Bay of Plenty regions of NZCCM. He facilitates two activities for St Peter’s Church in Katikati, chairing a committee enabling support for school children to cope with loss and grief, and also facilitating a monthly Mens’ Breakfast. He and his wife Maureen lead a meditation group at St Peters and an online group. Formerly he was General Manager for a Rudolf Steiner based residential care facility for intellectually disabled people for almost 25 years. Raymond is a Benedictine Oblate.

Morning tea, coffee and biscuits available from 10am!

Meditators and people new to meditation are most welcome!

Please bring: Your lunch

Koha (suggested $10)

$2 for a book raffle raising funds for ‘Friends’, enabling the

spread and resourcing of Christian Meditation world-wide.

Credit card or cash if you would like to buy books from

Pleroma Christian Supplies

If you have any queries, feel free to phone Damien Robertson on 0220686506.

Damien apologises for the late notice advertising this community day.

Parents have been emailed their child’s unique Key Code to go online to view and purchase 2023 School Photos.

***FREE DELIVERY EXPIRES Midnight Sunday 25TH JUNE *** Please check your trash / spam folder if you have not received the email in your inbox.

We have a number of jerseys and polar fleeces in our lost property. Many are unnamed. If your child has lost one, can you please get them to check the box. Parents can you please check regularly that your child has the correctly named jersey.

Weather permitting I will place the lost property outside the hall during Week 9 for parents and children to check.

The 2024 online enrolment registration portal is now open on the JPC website.

If you know of anyone who is seeking a JPC education for their child, please invite them to complete the application on the website.

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 this Saturday the 17th of June. Please email or call the office to see where you can lend a hand. Thanks to those that have offered to help already.

Gymnastics

Monday lunchtime is gymnastics fun gym for all and Thursday afterschool 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.

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

Rotorua

40 St Mary's players competed (101 children in total playing) SMS had 3 teams of juniors, plus 1 team Rookies. Teams finished 2nd, 3rd, and 7th. Individuals Alvin 1st overall, Claire best girl.

Hamilton

1 team of 4 played. Team 1st overall. Individual Eric Yang 1st (won all 7 games)

Alvin Biju 3rd.

Taupo

2 teams, 16 players, 1st and 2nd overall. Individual Claire 2nd, Eric 1st (both won all their 7 games) Alvin 3rd, Claire 1st girl.

Tauranga

2 teams, 25 players. Teams 1st and 2nd. Individual Claire 1st (won all 7 games) Alvin 2nd, Richard Zhang 3rd, Claire 1st girl.

Congratulations to all the St Mary's students who represented our school and the CBOP Cluster competition on June 13th at the Springfield Golf Course. It was a hard course with some good hills and excellent competition. Mr. G and Mrs. Dinniss were very proud to see all the kids trying their hardest and running the whole course.

Special Congratulations to Mateo Parra Rodriguez who came in 3rd place in the 9year old boys. Xavier Parata who came in 4th place for the 10year olds, and Lea Gelid who came in 4th in the 11year old girls. These three students will be going on to represent St. Marys at the Bay Wide competition on June 22nd in Opotiki. Good luck!

Double Golds for the Louis, Joe & Harry Mathis lads, and Silver for Arabella Tapsell.

An entreprenurial ex-student looking to make some money ....

If anyone you know needs this service Phone Seb. 2040472477 or Brigitte Holmes 0272121206