Europe Trip 2025
On Saturday 5th of April, 16 amazing students jetted off with Mrs Sullivan and Mr Rimamate on an amazing curriculum enrichment trip for Year 12 and 13 English, Classics, and Art History students.

A week in Greece was spent visiting the Acropolis, museums, a range of historic places that collectively could be considered the birthplace of civilisation and philosophy. We sat in theatres that were 2000 years old and went to the cradle of the Mycenaean Empire, walking through ruins from pre-history dating back to 1750BC.

Visiting Ancient Olympia was a delight on a beautiful spring morning with most of our students opting to run in the stadium using the original marble starting blocks! We also had an amazing day trip to the island of Aegina – a highlight for all of us, complete with a horse and carriage ride along the spectacular waterfront!

We spent two weeks exploring Italy: Sorrento, with the highlights of Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast; Florence with its spectacular art galleries and beautiful architecture; and a day trip to explore the treasure that is Venice.

Our students especially loved our visit to Monte Cassino Abbey – a significant site for New Zealanders due to the great sacrifice of our soldiers there, and especially the Māori Battalion, during World War Two. The rebuilt abbey has been spectacularly reconstructed and also still, deep in the earth, we were able to visit parts of the ancient abbey that had escaped allied bombing intact.

Rome was an amazing experience. The art, the history, the many clear links to learning in both Art History and Classics, and the ability to see how much influence ancient Greece had on ancient Rome. Our students felt very knowledgeable! Walking out of a metro station and looking straight up at the Colosseum was awe-inspiring as were so many other places – far too many to mention here. We were fortunate to see the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museums before they closed for the funeral of Pope Francis.

Our visit was during the year designated by Pope Francis as a year of Jubilee, calling on us to be “Pilgrims of Hope”. This made it an extra special time for us, including the opportunity to pass through one of the Holy Doors for an outpouring of God’s mercy.

With five nights in Rome, we were blessed to attend Easter Mass at the Vatican and come within a couple of metres of Pope Francis as he blessed the faithful from his Popemobile. It was a bittersweet moment for all of us as he did look extremely unwell. Following his passing the next day, many of us visited St Peter’s Basilica the afternoon of his death to pay our respects, while others queued to see him as he lay in state two days later. This was a great effort including almost a six-hour queue – well worth it for those students who made it through.

This trip was an amazing educational and cultural experience, and I am sure that the memories, learnings, and strengthened relationships will last our students a lifetime.

Growing Senior School Leadership
Students are currently participating in leadership training on the Blues Leadership Course, consisting of four workshops during May at the Blues HQ.

The programme is for learners with a range of different interests, and explores the power of belonging, great leadership, overcoming challenges, and servant leadership, amongst other things.

 They are provided with practical tools and advice for developing their leadership skills, while also learning about the importance of self-care. I look forward to seeing our students put their new skills into practice.

Participating students applied for opportunities to improve their leadership and were selected from there. While some students missed out, there are many other opportunities to develop leadership skills at school, and the very best way is to be actively involved in school activities. If further opportunities arise, we will return to the pool of applicants.

The Howick Youth Council
Week Four is Youth Week. Our Howick Youth Councillors, Kathrina Cassandra Bacay and Aryaman Sinha, have been busy working on activities to engage our youth and create awareness of what the HYC does. They did a free hot chocolate using recyclable cups and organised a clothes swap at Botany Town Centre over the weekend.

There is a Youth Summit coming up soon and this is a great opportunity for some of our Year 11 students to start their leadership journey. Watch this space!

Academic Excellence Evening – 12th June
We have an Academic Excellence Evening coming up on Thursday the 12th of June (Week 7) from 6.30pm-7.30pm for our most capable senior students. It will be hosted by our Academic Prefects, Sofia Bryan and Paolo Lecias.

Year 11, 12, and 13 top scholars (those likely to be undertaking NCEA Scholarship courses now or in the future), and their parents, will be invited to attend this information evening. Students who gained Top Scholar, Excellence Subject Endorsements, or Academic Scholar awards should consider attending. 

We will be discussing our Able and Ambitious Programme and our Academic Excellence Pathway, leading to NCEA Scholarship in either Year 12 or 13. Our HOD team will be on hand to answer any questions that you might have.

If you don’t receive a letter this week, but are keen to attend, please email Mrs Sullivan at c.sullivan@sanctamaria.school.nz .

NCEA Scholarship
Tutorials are now underway for most NCEA Scholarship subjects for our most capable Year 12 and 13 students. If your child is not involved and would like to be, please get in touch with their subject teacher. All senior (achievement standard) subjects should be offering the opportunity for Scholarship level study.

NCEA
Just a reminder that all NCEA documents can be found on our website https://www.sanctamaria.school.nz/academic/ when you scroll down. The Parent Student Handbook can also be found in this location. 

For queries about NCEA (non-subject related), please contact Mrs Leishman or Mrs Sullivan.

Ethics Olympiad
On Friday, as part of our Able and Ambitious programme, a group of Year 11 and 12 students, supported by Bernadette-Rose Tominiko of Year 13, competed in the national Ethics Olympiad. Many thanks to Ms Redwood for her superb coaching and enthusiastic organisation of this annual academic competition.

Our team represented our school superbly; they consistently spoke eloquently, respectfully, and confidently throughout each of the four heats today. They worked extremely well as a team and feedback from the judges and moderators (international academics) were that we were “very impressive”. Unfortunately, we did not make place this year but look forward to trying again in 2026!

Keep an eye out for the Junior Ethics Olympiad that will be led by the Academic Prefects and supported by some of our 2026 team members. The selection and training of the junior ‘ethletes’ will begin in the next couple of weeks.

Road Safety Education Week

Week 3 this term was Road Safety Education Week. Road Safety is very important to our kūra. All our Year 12s complete education in road safety through the RYDA programme at the start of the year. They also complete an English Level 2 assessment based on road safety advertising. Ensuring our young people are informed and empowered to be both responsible drivers and passengers matters.

On Wednesday 14 of May, Jake Price and Mrs Sullivan were invited to attend a Road Safety Week event at the Royal Yacht Squadron, with the Harbour Bridge lit up in yellow behind us – it was spectacular in the dark. Both Jake and Mrs Sullivan spoke at this event and participated in a panel. It was a great experience.

Sancta Maria College Ball
The Senior’s Ball was a glittering event on Friday 16th May, themed ‘City of Stars’. It was a wonderful evening for our Year 12 and 13 students. A huge thank you to all students on the Ball Committee, and to Akaroa Kaihautū Mrs Al-Rubaie (with help from Mr Campbell), for their organisation of this amazing event. Please look at the photographs of the event via News Centre.

Holidays During Term Time
There has been a 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 NZ 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. Attendance is closely linked to student achievement.

Ministry of Education guidelines note that student attendance is considered unacceptable if it falls below 94%.

Students are highly unlikely to be able to sit, or complete, NCEA assessments that occur during these unjustified absences.

Whānau Hui
We hosted our annual Whānau Hui in Week 10 last term – it was well attended and there was some excellent kōrero to support future planning. Thanks to Mrs Hiddleston for her organisation of this event and to Ms Du Blom and Ms Samaeli for their help on the night.

Mathematics Olympiad
Four of our top mathematicians attended the Auckland round of the Mathematics Olympiad at the University of Auckland on May 12th. They competed in both junior and senior divisions completing a two-hour examination.   Some of our students will be moving forward to the National round – so watch this space!