Kia ora kātoa,
We have reached the midway point of what has so far been a very busy and successful year at Sancta Maria College.
Mānawatia a Matariki
We hope everybody enjoyed a wonderful Matariki. At school, we marked the event with a haka whakataetae – an inter-house haka competition in which every student participated. It was wonderful to see the passion and commitment of our young people as each House group took turns to perform the College haka which has been gifted to us this year.
Our guiding whakataukī for this mahi was He waka eke noa, kia eke panuku, kia eke Tangaroa: We are all in this together. Through all our efforts, we will succeed.
And we did succeed, as every single student undertook a cultural journey to learn about the significance of the haka to our kura. The haka unifies us as one, connects us to the land we stand on, the faith that guides us, and honours those who came before us, connecting our school to both Aotearoa New Zealand’s heritage and to our faith.
This term also saw us celebrate our Special Character Week, culminating in a very special Feast Day Mass at St Luke’s Church. A huge thank you to Bishop Peter Brown who celebrated the Mass, and to those parents and whānau who were able to attend. We wish Bishop Peter well as he undertakes his sabbatical, and thank both him and Father Jean Paul for their genuinely warm welcome and their significant impact on the faith journey of our young people over the course of this year.
Staffing
At the beginning of Term 3 we look forward to the return of Mercy Edward into the Mathematics Department, and also the Technology Department welcomes Sheethal Deeplal, who joins us from Aorere College. We farewell at this time Mr Yiping Zhu, who joined our College in 2006. Yiping epitomises the values of diligence and humility. He transitioned from our teaching team into our support team seamlessly two years ago and has been a huge support to both students and teachers in accessing and maintaining our digital infrastructure.
Nothing is a chore or an imposition to Yiping, and we thank him sincerely for the quiet, often unseen way he works to ensure the smooth running of our kura. Yiping leaves Sancta Maria College with our thanks and our blessings. We wish him a long and enjoyable retirement.
With blessings to all for a restful break,
Ray Green
Acting Principal
