European and Japanese trips
A group of 16 senior students departed for their Europe trip, accompanied by three teachers, last Saturday. We wish them a safe and enjoyable trip as they study Italy and Greece history during the following three weeks. Coinciding with the Europe trip, a small number of senior students also left our shores early on Thursday morning enroute to Japan, as they plan to immerse themselves in Japanese language and culture for two weeks during the school holidays. We wish both of these groups a very safe and exhilarating experience overseas.
Yr 12&13 Art trip
Our Year 12 & 13 Art students were left in awe and gained valuable creativity from their recent visit to the Olafur Eliasson Exhibition (at Auckland Art Gallery Toi O Tāmaki) and Te Tuhi gallery in Pakuranga. Thank you to our staff who facilitated this outing for the students.
12PES spent four days out at Tāwharanui Regional Park and Goat Island Marine Reserve on their annual summer camp. Within these days the class were able to have some amazing experiences with a snorkelling session at Goat Island, a glass bottom boat tour to see the wildlife, surfing at Anchor Bay along with searching for Kiwi at night. Students were able to gain credits for two NCEA standards on this experience. A special thank you to the staff who organised, accompanied and facilitated this wonderful experience for our year 12 students.
11HEA investigated the impacts that different experiences have on their Hauora, which have included Yoga, Nature Walks and Mindfulness. These activities have been a fantastic opportunity for the class to understand how to balance their overall wellbeing.
The 2025 Senior Ball will be held on Friday 16 May 2025 at the Ellerslie Convention Centre (Greenlane) for our Year 12 & 13 students. Tickets are available to purchase from the cashier’s office during school hours – please ensure you have your completed consent forms to accompany payment.
The theme for this year’s senior ball is ‘City of Stars’ and is sure to be an evening to remember as our committee tirelessly plan this special night.
Whānau Hui
Tēnā rawa atu koutou, a big thank you to our wonderfully passionate whānau who joined us during our annual whānau hui on Thursday 3 April. We celebrated Māori student achievements and exchanged ideas for raising achievements and learning – we always appreciate your generosity of time and knowledge.
Progress Reports
It’s been another fantastic term of learning for our senior school, which has seen many internal assessments completed. Please take the time to discuss the highlights with your children. Please also ask them about their progress towards the goals they set.
To help inform discussions about learning and progress, interim reports will be available on the student portal from today. You will have the opportunity to meet with your child’s teachers in Week 1 of Term 2. As a college we really value the home school partnership so look forward to meeting with parents, caregivers and whānau when we return from the break.
Holidays during term time
There has been a large number of requests for trips or holidays during term time. This is considered an unjustified absence, as most of these trips should be taken during the twelve weeks of allocated holidays. You will have heard that the New Zealand Government, and Ministry of Education are concerned about attendance. At Sancta Maria College, one of the major causes of poor attendance is holidays during term time. Ministry of Education guidelines note that student attendance is considered unacceptable if it falls below 90%. Students are highly unlikely to be able to sit, or complete, NCEA assessments that occur during these unjustified absences.
Chris Sullivan,
Deputy Principal, Senior School
