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21st Februar y

+e,sletter

2 1!

Birthday Wishes
Dillon Liang 26th February 6 years old Briarna Gregge 26th February 10 years old Mataurunga Ropata 28th February 10 years old

&rayer of t'e (ee)

Lord, in every need let me come to you with humble trust saying, "Jesus, help me." In all my doubts, perplexities, and temptations, Jesus, help me. In hours of loneliness, weariness, and trials, Jesus, help me. In the failure of my plans and hopes; in disappointments, troubles, and sorrows, Jesus, help me. When others fail me and our grace alone can assist me, help me. When I throw myself on our tender love as a father and savior, Jesus, help me. When my heart is cast down by failure at seeing no good come from my efforts, Jesus, help me. When I feel impatient and my cross irritates me, Jesus, help me. When I am ill and my head and hands cannot wor! and I am lonely, Jesus, help me. "lways, always, in spite of wea!ness, falls, and shortcomings of every !ind, Jesus, help me and never forsa!e me. "men.

Gospel Values for Term One: Love, Forgiveness and Justice

*uote of t'e (ee)

I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. #$is the business of little minds to shrin!, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death. Leonardo Da Vinci

Thank You
A huge thank you to the Xie family at Ping Jing Takeaways us for with supplying a great

lunch last Friday after overnight It is school in camp. our

great to have families school that are community

willing to go the extra mile for the students. It seemed give they the enough. Ping feel Jing like couldn t students support you

Please make sure you takeaways next time don t cooking. .

%tudents had a special visit from &arold the 'iraffe last $hursday, not too sure who was happier to see him, the children or (iss )eeves* $han! you to Jane from Life +ducation $rust for her time spent teaching our students about the human body and our dietary needs.

School News
!u"way Tuesday 11th February. office or Forms in are the available from the school classroom. !cholastic #ook $lu" Due back at school by the 28th February 2014 %orking Saturday #ee from This 10 because our board selects only the best and then nurtures them in our wonderful school community. 2o wonder they get 8obs elsewhere. $hose other schools can !eep their stable staff. 9ur staff are the most current, enthusiastic, freshly trained teachers that you can get. I !now where I would rather send my !ids. he Roll Just to :uash the inevitable rumours, our current roll is ;< students. When -atric! and I leave at the end of the term, that will ta!e the roll down to 0=. $here is also one other child leaving at the end of the term, due to the family securing wor! elsewhere. $hat will ta!e the roll down to 0>. We have two new entrant pre?enrolments for this year already 6and usually manage to pic! up @?A per year7 so that ta!es the roll bac! to ;<. $his is the pattern that we have had for the past @ years when we started 0<1< with 0B students. ou gain some, you lose some. $his is how it goes. I have to reiterate that of the > students that have left this school since 0<1< 6for reasons other than going on to year =, or leaving the district7 their parents have all have given the reason that there 8ust Cisn.t enough children or competition here at %t -atric!s.D What a load of old baloney. Ironically enough, if 6as I have said before7 every 3atholic family in this town supported this school by sending their children here instead of doing the CLemming enrolmentD at whichever facility is the trendy one, this would be a ;?@ teacher school and the church would probably be a vibrant, humming place every %unday as well. If there isn.t enough competition, how come so many of our students and past students do so well in sporting and academic competitions. /rom maths, to miniball, swimming to cycling and running to rugby6including a current &urricanes contact player7, our students have successfully represented the school, the town, the district, the Island and even a couple have represented the country in their chosen sports. 2o competitionE C eah,F.. nah,F whatever*D We.ve got the trophies to prove it. It.s really odd how rural %outh 3anterbury is one of the 6if not the only7 few places yet to figure out and follow the nationwide trend where parents are recognising the advantages of sending their children to 3atholic schools and in some cases are going to extraordinary lengths in order to be able to enrol their children in them as preference students. 9ne of the obvious advantages of being in a 3atholic school is that during times of review, 6such as post?election7 the (inistry of +ducation has no power to close or merge a 3atholic school, but can merge and close state schools at will, as they did on a small scale around her way bac! in 0<<A. "nother significant advantage for 3atholic families is that by law C Catholic Schools exist to provide Catholic education to Catholic children.D $hat is an advantage if you care about 3atholicism, because no other school has that responsibility or ability. I have heard whispers that some of my comments on this particular sub8ect have annoyed some fol!, or caused embarrassment for others and even anger on the part of a few. $oo bad* I !now that it is my responsibility as the -rincipal of a 3atholic school to remind those people that should be supporting it to do so. I !now it and I have discussed this situation with colleagues, advisors, mentors and others, right up the food chain and the advice is; C$ell it li!e it is, because they should be supporting the school.D +very single 3atholic family in the district should support this school. It.s a 3atholic school, with a 3atholic heart and a 3atholic curriculum. &ave the courage of your faith to do the right thing. If my highlighting this abrogation of your duty as 3atholic parents or grandparents of 3atholic children causes you discomfort, then the chances are that I am right. If there are other ChistoricalD reasons why certain 3atholic families are not attending the 3atholic school, the 8ustification for that 5boycott. has long gone, as there is no?one wor!ing at our school now that has been there any longer than A years. $he historical horror stories of elderly

12noon! 2 "ours should #et the follo$in# 4 %obs done& 1. To $eed and trim all of the #ardens and lay do$n $eed mattin# across it all '(rin# bi# scissors or somethin#) 2. To re*lace the si#n at the #ate 'Stu and +uke have this in hand) ,. To *ut u* the fence around the *erimeter of the field and across the end of our orchid to be 4. To *ut in some of the *osts course. Thank those su**lied bakin# you To all that salads! other and that in the obstacle

&rincipal-s .ommentary:
$ena !outou e whanau $he ,oard of $rustees will shortly begin advertising for the soon to be vacant -rincipal.s position. $his is a positive thing for our school. /or the past four and half years we have focused intently on student achievement, and on dragging the school out of the dar! ages and into the 01st century. 2ow it is time to turn the focus on further developing the 3atholic special character and on lifting student achievement even further. $o this end the ,oard are being very specific in the s!ills and attributes that they are loo!ing for in their new -rincipal. $his is an opportunity for the school to find and attract a 3atholic -rincipal with a range of s!ills and experiences that the school will benefit from. I have every faith in the ability of the ,oard to select the perfect person for the position, and they will do so. 3onsider the wonderful teaching staff that the ,oard have chosen in the last couple of years4 (rs Liddy, (rs %uddaby, (iss -, (iss )eeves, (rs 2ash, and (rs Waller. We have the highest standards, the friendliest and most caring of staff and our teachers are of the highest calibre; focused, determined, resourceful, honest, 5current. and well trained. It.s all very well for other schools to tout their stable teaching staff 6that could also be teacher spea! for stagnant7 but we are becoming well !nown as a great place to start a teaching career and our teachers then get chosen to go on to bigger and better things

*arents meat! and any

edible #oodies! it $as $elcomed those *arents a**reciated by all. To braved seein# the staff first thin# in the mornin# bi# thanks to you! $ithout your time and effort this cam* $ould not have *ossible.

2uns rapping pupils over the !nuc!les with rulers are more li!ely to happen in those schools where the teachers never change because their staff are so 5stable.. $he C3atholic schools are so boringD excuse doesn.t wash with me and I would neither teach in that setting nor allow my own children to attend a boring school. -erhaps it is me. Well, although I have only been here A years ? so can.t possibly be responsible for the dearth of support from 3atholic families, if that were to be the case then I can only assume that the roll will absolutely blossom once my replacement assumes office. &ow wonderful. I will loo! forward to hearing later in the year about what an awesome 8ob those good, !ind, 3hristian, 3atholic families are doing supporting the school. %pea!ing of support 6groanF.. now who is he going to pic! onE 7, it amaGes me how much such a small group of people can repeatedly do for the benefit of the common good. I refer to the /riends at %t -ats. )epeatedly over the past year, this hard wor!ing but very small group of parents has slaved away at various enterprises to raise funds for your benefit. &ow soE Well if they didn.t raise funds as well as they have done, the costs for the many experiences and resources that your children en8oy would all have to be borne by you. $his could refer to anything that occurs in the school year that our very minimal school fees do not cover, from the free 141 laptops, to the incredibly well subsidised school camp. ,ut sadly it is always the same faces

doing the wor!. $he excuse that Cwe wor!,D or Cwe have sports,D or whatever,F is sometimes 8ust that4 an excuse. +very single one of those (ums and the occasional Had that helps out at these fundraisers all wor!, all have children with sporting commitments and none of them can really afford the time, but they do it anyway. I thin! that it.s a bit sad 8ust how much they do for everyone, with little than!s or support. $here are 00 families represented at this school and there are at least ;> 5active. or 5custodial. parents here. et there are usually only ever B or > parents that do the planning, the footwor!, or the actual fundraising tas!s, and one of those doesn.t even have a child at our school. $hat.s 8ust 1>I of parents supporting the rest. 2o wonder some of these dedicated fol!s are starting to :uestion the wor!load and the commitment. -roportionately though, 6number of students to funds raised 7 this group of dedicated individuals raises more funds per year than many other schools and if they could gain more support more often, could do even better. I sometimes thin! that 8ust for a change, as 8ust reward, that maybe the fundraisers should 8ust concentrate on raising funds strictly for the benefit of their own children and we could simply charge everyone else 1<<I for the resources and activities. What is the answerE Well, you and your children benefit from what this group does, so help out

occasionally. "ctions spea! louder than words. !ni"or#s %t -atric!s is a uniform school, and proudly so. "ll students are expected to wear the correct school uniform. $here is no ambiguity about what the uniform is and wearing it is a condition of enrolment. )epeatedly wearing non?uniform items is clearly a breach of this policy. %everal senior students have recently ta!en to wearing non?uniform footwear, opting instead for trendy coloured shoes. "n exception may be made for a short and limited period of time if parents need to purchase new shoes, providing that the parent notifies the school, but an acceptable grace period would not exceed a wee!. %tudents repeatedly flouting the uniform rules will be dealt with under the behavioural management procedures and will receive conse:uences appropriately. $his may include missing out on preferred activities. I am proud of how our students loo! in their uniforms, particularly when we are out and about and they need to ta!e pride in their own appearance as well. Just my thoughts fol!s 2a!u noa na (e rongo 6in peace7 Harcy Jemp

Community News
&orthern &et"all $lu" -e#istrations on Friday 28th February at .ictoria /ark 0etball 1ourts for interested *layers a#ed 23. 1om*etition starts 4arch 25th. !cottish $ountry

'ancing $lu" ( 1lasses startin# soon for ne$ dancers a#ed 23. Fees for the $hole year are 627. 8dult 1lasses are on afternoon. ;85 2175. %aimate Tae)wan'o $lu" Trainin# ni#hts 4on < Thurs ;.,0 8*m at St /at=s School "all. /hone +eanne 022 847 ;,2; or :ane ;85 8;0; for more information. )ids $hoir 9e are lookin# at resurrectin# a kids choir. >f your children are interested contact :ohn (ottin# on 0, ;85 ;405 or at bottin#family?#mail.co m )aye #lackham 'ance !tudio For more ((e#inners information classes start in 4arch. contact kaye4dance?yahoo.co.n @ 9ednesday 4ore

information call :oyce on

/essage from Toni Oudemans 0 Friends at #t &ats

Welcome bac! everyone. /riends at %t -atric!.s is having its "'( on (arch 1;th, B.;<pm at the school, everyone is welcome to attend. /or those of you that don.t !now, we are the fundraising group for the school and we help the school buy materials that aren#t budgeted for, help fundraise for school camps and many other things. Last year with the help and support from many of you we were able to donate KLA<< to the school camp which helped to reduce the cost of camp for everyone. $his year we are purchasing new uniforms for our successful miniball teams but to enable us to continue do this we need the support from the parent community. We all have busy lives and our time is special to us all. With our fundraising events we try to choose ones that don.t re:uire you to give up a lot of time, an hour here or there is :uite often all that is needed. If you wish to contact us with any ideas or opportunities our email address is4 friendsMst?pats.co.nG 9n (arch >th we have been as!ed to supply the food for the 2N 3lubsport 3hampionship at the Waimate )acecourse. We are doing a bb: and supplying other food items. $o ma!e this successful we 2++H your help. " notice came home earlier in the wee!, can you please return this by Wednesday the 0Lth of /ebruary indicating whether you are able to help or not. Hon.t forget to support the 9amaru Warehouse who is helping us fundraise for some shade sails through the cardboard coins program. It.s a great way to support the school while buying something nice for yourself.

Donations
(any than!s to all of those people and organisations that have recently made donations that have directly or indirectly benefitted our school. $hese recent donations have enabled us to upgrade the data pro8ectors in both classrooms to fully interactive, ultra short? throw mimio pro8ectors, with built?in audio. $his allows us to eliminate the mimio bars on the whiteboards and the spea!ers and potentially allows us to use nearly any hard surface as a pro8ection screen. $he school has also 8ust purchased several new laptops in the senior classroom to enable us to continue our 141 programme 6at no cost to parents7 with the latest models. $he board are currently considering a draft I3$ strategy that would ensure that our students continue to have access to the latest and best technology at all times and still use , 9H 6bring your own devices7 if they so desire. 2o other school in the district has this. Hon.t listen to those that would tell you that this is the way of the future, because the future is already here and will :uic!ly become history. I than! especially our farming families for their efforts through 3(-. "lso those families that have purchased uniforms at -ostie -lus, your donations all helped. I now urge you to start supporting the Warehouse in 9amaru as often as possible and encourage others to do the same as well, as this %aturday they will !ic! off a L month long fundraiser for us through the cardboard coins programme. -urchases attract a cardboard coin which shoppers can then place in one of three charity containers at the entrance to the store. /or every cardboard coin collected

#t &atric)- #c'ool ,ould li)e to t'an) t'e follo,ing sponsors

1 Main North Road Oamaru

The Warehouse 27 Eden Street

the Warehouse will pay each charity real money. $he Warehouse has !indly given us this opportunity for the following L months. $he funds raised will go towards the construction of a %hade sail area over top of the 8unior eating area. -lease support the 9amaru Warehouse. -lease also ta!e every opportunity to support 'ordon &andy machinery in 9amaru as they have done our school a significant service with the supply of our new John Heere lawnmower. (any than!s to "ndrew 3raig for putting the hard word on the management team over that one.