It was wonderful to see so many of you at our School Parish Mass on Sunday. It’s always a lovely celebration of our school coming together at St Mary Immaculate to share the Eucharist together. Thank you for bringing the children along in their school uniforms and your support with our amazing choir and readers. For our new families we have four School Parish Masses a year and we try to alternate between Saturday evening at 5.00pm and Sunday morning 10.30am so that we can accommodate the different family commitments that we appreciate you have.

We are in the process of our strategic planning for the next 2 years. An important part of this process is consultation with our community. A short survey has been shared digitally. If you could please complete this survey by the end of this week then we can begin collating your thoughts and begin the planning process next term. It’s important that all stakeholder voices are heard, so please do take some time to share your thoughts. A reminder that all returned surveys will go into the draw to win a $100 supermarket voucher.

Link to the survey

Thank you for letting us know when your child is absent from school. A reminder that the way to do this is through the Hero app on or before the day of absence. Please also include the reason for the absence so that we can accurately code the reason. If your child is away for further days you will need to let us know each day they are absent. This will avoid us needing to follow up with a phone call or text message. If we do not have the reason for absence the child will be marked as an unjustified absence (truant).

We are excited to let our St Mary’s whānau know that an Expression of Interest form has gone home early this week for families who would like to have a food or cultural activity stall at our Multicultural Festival on Friday 27th of November, from 5:00pm-7:00pm.

This will be a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the diversity of our St Mary’s community and showcase the amazing cultures, traditions, food and talents of our whānau. We would love to have a wide variety of food and activity stalls represented at the festival.

We are also looking for cultural performing groups who would like to share their talents and perform for our school community as part of the festival. If you are part of a cultural performance group, or know of a group who may be interested in performing, please email me at soneill@stmarystga.school.nz to let me know.

If you would like to have a food or activity stall, please complete and return the Expression of Interest form to the school office, or email your expression of interest directly to me at soneill@stmarystga.school.nz.

Expressions of interest for stalls are due by Monday 12th of October.

We would love to see our whānau sharing the wonderful cultures, traditions and talents that make our St Mary’s community so special.

Please see the digital copy of the letter that went out below.

Shayla O’Neill

Deputy Principal

Last week, we warmly welcomed 19 new children and families into our St Mary’s whānau. Our New Families Liturgy is a cherished tradition that reflects our Catholic Character,

offering a special way to welcome new students and their families into our school community.

As part of the liturgy, each child received a miraculous medal—a symbol of our connection to Mary, the Patron Saint of our school. We pray for Mary’s continued love and protection over all of us, and especially our new students and their whānau.

It’s official!!

Please do follow the link to listen to the Stars of St Mary’s Ensemble winning entry.

This year's SINGout4JUSTICE competition saw 32 entries and 446 students from across all six dioceses in Aotearoa New Zealand raise their voices for justice — and we are extremely proud and delighted to finally share our winners and honourable mentions with you!

Head to our Caritas website to see all our winners and honourable mentions, and to listen to the original entries (cover performances are listed but can't be shared due to copyright). You'll also find images and lyrics from across this year's competition.

https://www.caritas.org.nz/singout4justice

We hope you're as inspired as we are by these amazing young voices who have truly stood up and raised their voices for justice this year

Blessed Anne-Marie Javouhey was the founder of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Cluny. Her charism was one of deep faith, courage, compassion and service to others. She believed in recognising the dignity of every person and responding to the needs of those around her, especially the poor and marginalised.

At St Mary’s, we continue to live out the spirit of Blessed Anne-Marie Javouhey through our school charism. Her example inspires us to show Aroha (Mercy), Whakapono (Faith), Tika (Truth) and Māramatanga (Wisdom) in the way we love, learn and serve as we care for one another.

The Parish RCIC (Rite of Catholic Initiation as a Child) programme will begin in October. These lessons will run on a Wednesday evening at St Mary Immaculate Church, and are for young people aged 7 to 14yrs who are seeking to be baptised and become Catholic.

This programme covers the Sacrament of Baptism, Reconciliation, Confirmation and First Eucharist.

It is run once a year and this year will begin on WEDNESDAY 14th OCTOBER, 5.15PM TO 6.45PM AT ST MARY IMMACULATE CHURCH, and will run through to 17th March 2027.

The sessions will be held weekly on Wednesdays 5.15pm to 6.45pm (not in the school holidays though). A parent must accompany the child for the duration of the lesson please.

If you wish to find out more information or enrol your child/ren in this programme you can complete and submit an online application form - Please click on this link to visit our Parish Website. Or if you have any questions please contact Margie Cooper at the Parish Office.

As part of our commitment to Education Outside the Classroom (EOTC), we want to ensure our programmes at St. Mary's Catholic School offer the best possible learning and personal growth opportunities for our Year 5 and 6 students.

Currently, our senior students participate in a two-night camp held once every two years. The estimated cost of this camp in 2027 is between $320 and $350 per student. We are evaluating the value of this traditional camp experience against an alternative model: a series of multiple day trips spread across the school year.

Both options offer unique benefits:

The Two-Night Camp: Builds deep independence, resilience, and peer relationships through immersive, overnight communal living.
Multiple Day Trips: Provides diverse, curriculum-linked experiences throughout the year, eliminates overnight anxiety, and spreads out or reduces costs.

Your feedback is incredibly valuable in helping us shape the future of our EOTC programme. Please complete this brief survey to help us understand what matters most to your family.

Thank you for taking the time to share your perspective.

We’re absolutely thrilled to announce the winners of our PTA Raffle Fundraiser! A massive, heartfelt thank you to everyone who bought a ticket, spread the word, and helped us get closer to reaching our goal of the playground upgrade.

Our lucky winners were officially drawn under police supervision by Police Officer CHAMBERS, Elisabeth (Lis)!

Huge congratulations to our lucky winners!

Our Grand Prize Winners:

$1,000 Pak'nSave Supermarket Voucher: Gilbert Richard
6-Month Gym Membership (Value $856.70): Vincent Pham
$500 Mitre 10 Voucher: Peter Kamp
Rotorua Skyline Gondola & 2x Luge Rides (Family Pass - Value $185): Sharon Llenin
Tenpin Tauranga Family Voucher (Value $56): RMA Electrical
Tenpin Tauranga Family Voucher (Value $56): Sharon Todd

Our $200 Petrol Voucher Winners:

Primo Santos
Andrew Fenton
Shahdad Sharfudheen
Ameeta
Sheree Furnes

How to Collect Your Prize

Please head into the school office to claim your prize! To make sure it goes to the right person, please bring your photo ID along with you when you collect.

A Massive Thank You to Our Sponsors!

This fundraiser wouldn't have been possible without the incredible generosity of our local business community. A huge shout-out to:

Tasman Plumbing
Pak’nSave
The Gym Tauranga
Rotorua Skyline
Tenpin Tauranga
Kale Print (who did an amazing job printing and stapling all of our raffle booklets!)

Thank you all again for making this fundraiser a massive success!

Kind regards,

PTA Team

A message from Community Dental

The dental team will be onsite during Term 4 from Monday 12th October to Thursday 10th December and will be seeing the most overdue tamariki/children during this visit. As the clinic will be prioritising all their appointments, it may not be possible for the dental staff to see all students during this visit.

The dental team will notify whānau and families via a text prior to your tamariki/child’s dental appointment. When you receive this notification, please contact the team to update any contact details, confirm medical details or renew permissions for examination and dental x-rays.

Current service demands and delays weigh heavily on the teams and your kindness and support is appreciated.

If you have any queries or urgent dental concerns, contact (07 571 5423) or 0800 TALK TEETH for further help and advice.

Last week, we were delighted to welcome the team from Mitre 10 MEGA Tauranga to St Mary’s as part of their Citrus Trees in Schools initiative. To celebrate Environmental Month, Mitre 10 generously donated two citrus trees for our school. Our Environmental Leaders, Phillip and Angel, were excited to help with the planting alongside the Mitre 10 team. The trees were given all the nutrients needed to get them off to a healthy start, and we look forward to watching them grow and, in time, enjoying delicious fruit from our very own school citrus trees!

A huge thank you to the Mitre 10 MEGA Tauranga team for their generosity.

Get your garden ready for summer! We are holding our Garden to Table Seedling Sale on Friday 23 October, straight after school on the Tika Deck.

This is the Friday right before Labour Weekend—the absolute perfect time to get your summer vegetables and plants into the ground!

Along with a great selection of seedlings, we will also have Juicie Iceblocks and fresh Popcorn for sale, so make sure to bring some spare change for an after-school treat.

How You Can Help Us:

Donations Needed: We are currently collecting ice cream containers and planting pots (especially 6-cell seedling trays and small single pots). If you have any to spare, please drop them off at Room 1.
School Holiday Volunteers: We are looking for keen gardeners or families who would be willing to care for and grow seedlings at home over the upcoming school holidays at the end of Term 3. If you can help keep our seedlings thriving during the break, please send me an email.

Thank you for supporting our Garden to Table programme. We look forward to seeing you at the sale!

Louisa Strange
lstrange@stmarystga.school.nz

We’re getting together for our second community working bee to continue the fantastic progress we’ve made on our Secret Garden at St Mary’s School.

Thanks to funding from our Sustainability Grant from the Bay of Plenty Regional Council, we’re creating a wonderful native garden and sustainable growing space for our students and school community.

There’s still plenty to do, and we’d love your help!

🌱 Planting more natives and other plants
🌱 Mulching our garden areas
🌱 Building our new compost system
🌱 Completing the finishing touches to our Secret Garden

Saturday 10 October (the last Saturday of the school holidays)
9:00am start
St Mary’s School – Secret Garden (park on Harvey Street)

Everyone is welcome, and children are encouraged to come along and get involved too. We’ll provide morning tea to keep everyone fuelled!

Please bring a wheelbarrow and shovel if you have them.

If you’re able to help, please email Louisa Strange at the address below to let us know you’ll be coming, so we can make sure we have enough morning tea for everyone.

Come along, lend a hand and help us get our Secret Garden project finished.

Louisa Strange
lstrange@stmarystga.school.nz

Save the date! Tuesday, 13 October!

Our school photos are being taken on Tuesday, 13 October by Photolife Studios. All students will have their individual and class photo taken on this day.

Sibling Photo Request Form

To ensure a sibling photograph can be taken, please complete and submit this form by Monday, 12 October. Without a completed form the photographers are not authorised to take a sibling photograph.

What happens next?

You will receive your child’s Photo Access Key by email sometime after photo day. Visit photolife.co.nz and enter your unique key to view your photos.
Place your order online before the Free Delivery Date to save.

Orders placed before this date will be delivered to the school for your child to bring home. You can check the delivery cut-off date when you log in.

Don't forget to complete the sibling request form here! Helpful tip: click on the plus sign to add more children.

A massive congratulations to our incredible riders—Carson, Charlotte, and Kobe—who absolutely smashed it at the WBOP Primary Schools Mountain Biking event last week!

Faced with the brilliant tracks at Summerhill MTB Park, our riders showed incredible determination, skill, and team spirit across the Cross Country, Technical Skill Testing, and Relay disciplines.

We are thrilled to celebrate some outstanding results:

⭐ St Mary's placed 4th overall in the highly competitive Mixed Team Division for the Schools Relay!
⭐ Charlotte took out a spectacular 2nd Place in the Year 6 Girls division!

Whether conquering the 1.5km XC laps, pushing through the 30m climbs, or cheering each other on, these three represented St Marys with pride.

A huge thank you to the organisers for putting on such a fantastic event on Wednesday 16th September, and to all the parents and supporters who cheered our team on.

Way to go, team! Keep riding hard! 👏

You are warmly invited to attend the St Mary’s Catholic School PTA Annual General Meeting (AGM) and regular monthly meeting.

Our Parent Teacher Association plays a vital role in fostering community spirit, organising social activities, and raising crucial funds for school resources. Whether you can offer regular support or simply want to see how you can help at occasional events, your presence and voice make a meaningful difference to our tamariki.

Meeting Details:

Date: Wednesday, 14th October
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: School Staffroom

All parents and caregivers are automatic members of our school community and are welcome to attend. Joining the committee is a wonderful way to connect with other families, stay updated on school happenings, and live out our school's Catholic character in service of our children.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Warm regards,

The St Mary’s School PTA Committee
Email: pta@stmarystga.school.nz

The information below has been provided by the Public Health Nurse Service for Communicable Disease to help our families understand whooping cough, recognise the symptoms and know what steps to take.

What is whooping cough?

Whooping cough is an infectious disease caused by bacteria and is spread through the community by coughing and sneezing, in the same way as colds and influenza. Young children, especially babies under six months, can become very ill from whooping cough. Older children and adults get whooping cough too, which if not diagnosed and treated, may spread to young children.

What are the symptoms?

Whooping cough starts with a runny nose and dry cough. The cough gets worse over the next few weeks, often developing into very long coughing attacks. In babies and children these coughing attacks may end with a ‘whoop’ sound when breathing in, or end with vomiting.

What should be done to help prevent whooping cough?

Immunisation is the best prevention - Parents should ensure that their children are up to date with their free routine childhood immunisations which include the immunisations against whooping cough. Children are further protected with booster vaccinations at four years and 11 years of age.
Whooping cough immunisation is also recommended and free for women during pregnancy from 16 weeks gestation as this helps protect their baby from getting whooping cough when they are very young and before they can get their own routine immunisations starting at six weeks of age.
A free dose of Pertussis vaccine (which also covers Tetanus and Diphtheria) is recommended for adults at age 45 and 65 years.
Good hand hygiene is always beneficial, and it is important to remember to cover your cough and not to cough on, or near, babies.

If anyone has symptoms of whooping cough they should stay away from work/school and see their doctor for assessment and advice.

If you are diagnosed with whooping cough you need to remain away from work/school/Kura until:

You have completed two days of the antibiotic Azithromycin, or
Five days of other appropriate antibiotics (including Erythromycin), or
Three weeks from onset of cough if no antibiotics given.

Further information on whooping cough: Whooping Cough | KidsHealth NZ

Please see the attached guidance from Health New Zealand for further information.