Term 2 has started with characteristic high energy! Leading this energetic charge was our fantastic musical production of Footloose the Musical. Huge congratulations to every member of the cast and crew for bringing their best night after night. The music was faultless and drove the actors to deliver excellent performances on stage. We are blessed to have such talent at our school. We thank all of the teachers who contributed to making the production a wonderful experience, and especially to Director Verna Oliver and Musical Director Thomas Cho.
More evidence of our extensive talent pool came in the shape of female rock band Modesty Baise who entered Rockquest, supported by our Head of Department Stuart Gibbs and performed admirably. Our annual Talent Quest was won by Kayla Kippen performing Bruno Mars’ Talking to the Moon – well done, Kayla!
The centrepiece of our Special Character Week was our wonderful Feast Day Mass, celebrated by Bishop Michael and our own Father Kevin. It was a joyous experience for all, and seeing so many students celebrate their confirmation and be commissioned into eucharistic ministry was uplifting and inspirational. A huge thank you goes to our Special Character Team and all those involved in making the Mass such a wonderful occasion.
Thank you also to all of the staff and students involved in celebrating the opening of St Luke’s Church.
Our pastoral team has led some notable events this term, including hosting the Revolution Tour, Pink Shirt Day and Gumboot Friday. Our school values the spiritual, social, cultural and academic development of our sons and daughters. Our brilliant Peer Support Team continues to enhance social connections across the school.
Enriching co-curricular experiences are so important for the holistic development of our young people, and it was an incredible experience for four of our senior students who achieved second place overall out of 43 Auckland Schools at the recent Model United Nations Assembly – the power to bargain, negotiate (but never bribe!) came sharply into view to win the day!
Earlier this term we were fortunate to have a visit from globally renowned co-founder of Valve Corporation, Gabe Newell, who visited Sancta Maria College as a guest speaker. Organised by Mrs Al-Rubaie, Gabe spoke to our excited senior Digital Technologies students about Steam, the online platform developed by Valve. The visit caused quite a stir across the world!
Year 7-10 students were also fortunate to have a presentation from best-selling New Zealand Steampunk author Gareth Ward, AKA ‘The Great Wardini’ who entertained and inspired the audience with his love of the written word.
Tread Lightly came to speak to our Year 7 students about the Environment with some simple key messages that they could take back to their whānau – we hope you have heard them this week!
Next week we welcome our Principal Louise Moore back from her study sabbatical. We are very much looking forward to Louise’s return with renewed energy and new wisdom. It has been a privilege to have been Acting Principal, and I wish to extend my sincere thanks to all of the staff at Sancta Maria College, and especially to the Senior Leadership Team, Business Manager Margaret Littlejohn and Principal’s PA Theresa Ganias for their unwavering support and great professional skill.
Staffing
We welcome Steven Marchant to the Technology Department, both Susan Toth and Debbie Davis to the Library staff, Allison Clifford to Learning Support and Reception and Lance Stevens to our Grounds team. We also look forward to welcoming Madhwi Mistry to Y7&8 in the coming weeks.
Our best wishes go to departing staff: Bob Gray, Lesley Dickson and Thomas Pereira.
Finally, we wish to inform you that our Director of Sport Jason Crummer will be taking up a full-time position with College Sport, Auckland at the start of Term 3. We are sure he will do well in this role. Jason joined our staff in 2016 and has overseen significant growth and achievement in the area of Sport. Jason will remain our Director of Sport until the end of Term 2, when we hope we will be in a position to announce his successor.
Ngā mihi nui
Ray Green
Acting Principal
