A massive congratulations to the 65 spectacular students who represented our school on the Showquest stage at Mercury Baypark. They gave an immense amount of time, energy, and creativity to bring this showcase to life, beautifully weaving together the core themes of our school and celebrating the rich diversity of cultures that make up our community. Their dedication throughout the term has been inspiring, with countless hours poured into rehearsals, including weekends. All that hard work paid off - our students truly shone on stage.

An event of this scale involves many people, and we are incredibly grateful to our wonderful parent helpers who supported us with the costumes, makeup, choreography, and logistical coordination. Also, a huge thank you to our dedicated teachers, Mrs Whitlock, Miss O’Neill, and Mrs Kenny, for their tireless leadership and energy, and to Mr Warnock for crafting our fantastic props.

https://showquest.smugmug.com/2026/10-Bay-of-Plenty-Day-1/ST-MARYS-CATHOLIC-SCHOOL-TAURANGA

A huge well done to all of our students who participated in the Western Bay Cross Country last week. Distance running demands a unique kind of grit, and the incredible effort on display was a result of weeks of dedicated training and practice. Pushing through the fatigue and finding that extra energy takes great determination, and all the runners should be incredibly proud of their achievement.

A special congratulations to the students who placed in the top tier of their races and have officially qualified for the Bay of Plenty (BOP) Championships, which will be held in the last week of term.

In Week 8 we warmly welcomed 30 new children and staff member Shona McMillan 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, staff and their families into our school community.

Father Arnold led our liturgy and prayed a special blessing over our children. We prayed for Mary’s continued love and protection over all of us and especially our new students and their whānau. As part of the liturgy, each of our children received a miraculous medal which is a symbol of our connection to Mary, the Patron Saint of our school.

We would like to say a big thank you to our school community who were able to join us at our recent School Parish Mass. It is a true joy to come together as a school and parish where we unite with Jesus and one another in faith and love.

Through these moments, we continue to build a strong and supportive community centered on Christ. May we always walk together with Jesus, growing in gratitude and love.

“Together with Jesus we love, learn and serve in the Cluny Spirit”

We also continue to enjoy celebrating our weekly Class Masses in our beautiful Cluny Chapel. We always feel very blessed to have our families, Cluny Sisters, and parishioners join us for these special celebrations as we come together as a community to celebrate and share in the Eucharist.

After Mass, it is always a special time as our priests, families and students gather to share morning tea together. We continue to be so grateful to Father Arnold, Father Isaac and our Cluny Sisters, who so generously celebrate Mass with us each week and continue to nurture the faith life of our students, staff and school community.

These children had their Aroha tickets drawn from our box at this week’s liturgy after being recognised for showing Mercy / Aroha to others.

Recently, we have seen many wonderful examples of Aroha across our school community. Students have been opening doors for adults, warmly greeting visitors in the office, caring for our younger learners, helping our Tika teachers set up the play and sandpit areas each morning, and celebrating the success of others at the Chess Tournament. These are just a few examples - the list is endless.

Thank you to all of our students who continue to show Aroha through their everyday actions and help make St Mary’s such a caring and welcoming place.

Next Friday, 3rd July, on the last day of term, we will join Catholic schools across the country in supporting YCC Day by holding a non-uniform (mufti) day. Check out the Caritas Video Here

YCC day is a special day when Caritas partners with Catholic schools across Aotearoa New Zealand to stand in solidarity, raising funds and awareness for a selected focus school in need. This year's focus school is Takuilau College in Tonga.

We kindly ask each of our students to bring a gold coin donation. To help live out our school value of Aroha we encourage our students to “Do a Little Good” at home to earn their coin - putting our school vision and values into action by helping others.

Hi, we’re Max and Jack Lehner and our Dad is working with Hawkins to build the new courthouse in Tauranga.

Hawkins asked Whakapono to do some art work to go on the hoarding that surrounds the crane at the building site. Our art will be on display at the Community Open Day on Saturday the 15th August at the new Courthouse construction site. You are all welcome.

Whānau Cochrane’s painting represents different ways to show aroha in our community and beyond.

Whānau Meehan painted our famous landmark, Mauao, looking across Te Awanui from Tauranga city through a frame of Pohutukawa branches - showing how connected Tauranga and the Mount are.

Whānau Armstrong has painted the crane that is on the Courthouse building site. It’s called “Tāne Tōtika” and represents Tāne Mahuta with strong roots and reaching for the sky, separating Ranginui and Papatūānuku.

Each student in Whānau Oates has painted a symbol of what is special to them.

Mr Barthow worked with Whānau Kenny and Whānau Tanner and they’ve created a tree of hands, showing that we all work together in the community to let our lights shine.

Our artworks are going to be sealed by Dulux Paints to protect them from the weather because they’re going to be on display until the new Courthouse opens in two years time.

We want to thank Hawkins Construction for this amazing opportunity, our teachers for helping us learn new painting techniques, Dulux for providing the paint, and especially our dad for making this happen for Whakapono and St Mary’s.

Our school chess community put on a spectacular display of strategy, focus, and determination at the recent tournament. Players battled through intense rounds, delivering unforgettable individual performances, thrilling team matchups, and excellent awards. We had 26 children participating in the tournament. For some of them, it was their very first time competing, yet they brought home outstanding results!

2nd Place: St Mary's Tauranga A — 20½ points (Tie-Break: 48.6006). Powered by an outstanding individual tournament from Sang.
3rd Place: St Mary's Tauranga B — 16½ points (Tie-Break: 38.1801). Kept in the medal ranks thanks to heavy-hitting points from Darrin.

What a fantastic run of events our athletes have had recently! We are incredibly proud of all our students who gave their absolute best, got stuck in, showed true grit, and embraced the challenging conditions with big smiles.

Stage 1: South Cluster Results

Our journey started at Waipuna Park for the South Cluster Cross Country, where our students represented the school with immense determination and sportsmanship.

A massive congratulations to our cluster podium finishers:

Year 4 Girls: Jade (3rd)
Year 5 Girls: Mabel (3rd)
Year 5 Boys: Jackson (1st), Jed (2nd)
Year 6 Girls: Madeleine (1st), Charlotte (2nd)
Year 6 Boys: Rocco (1st)

Because they placed in the Top 7 at cluster level, an incredible 11 runners qualified to move forward to the Western Bay of Plenty (WBOP) Inter-school Primary Cross Country Championships:

Year 4 Girls: Jade (3rd), Annaliese (5th)
Year 5 Girls: Mabel (1st), Rafa (5th), Ritakanawhai (7th)
Year 5 Boys: Jackson (1st), Jed (2nd), George (4th)
Year 6 Girls: Madeleine (1st), Charlotte (2nd)
Year 6 Boys: Rocco (1st)

Stage 2: Heading to the Bay of Plenty (BOP) Finals!

Following those stellar WBOP performances, a special congratulations goes out to the following four outstanding athletes from St Mary's who placed in the top tier of their regional races and have officially qualified for the full Bay of Plenty (BOP) Championships:

Rocco (Year 6 Boys) – Finished 3rd overall!
Madeleine (Year 6 Girls) – Finished 5th overall!
Jade (Year 4 Girls) – Finished 7th overall!
Jed (Year 5 Boys) – Finished 8th overall!

These four students will be heading back to Waipuna Park on Tuesday, 30th June to represent our school at the ultimate BOP XC Champs stage.

Thank you to all the parents, supporters, and cheers from the sidelines. All the best to our final four—go team!

A huge congratulations to Kobe, George, and Jackson for their fantastic performance at the recent tournament hosted at Summerhill Estate! The boys played some incredible shots and finished an impressive fourth overall in the Primary School division.

They combined for a brilliant final score of just 6 over par, beating the rain and missing out on qualification for the Bay of Plenty Event by a mere single stroke. The boys were thrilled with how they played, and we are incredibly proud of their teamwork and sportsmanship. Well done, boys!

Our Year 5 & 6 basketballers recently took to the courts at Mercury Baypark to represent St Mary’s Catholic School in the highly anticipated TCBA Primary World Cup. Playing under the banner of Poland, our students showed incredible determination, teamwork, and school pride across all of their matchups. They faced tough competition but never let their heads drop, showcasing fantastic skill and grit.

A special congratulations goes out to Ritekanawhai, who was awarded the prestigious Best & Fairest individual medal for the Poland team! Ritekanawhai stood out to tournament officials for demonstrating exceptional sportsmanship, a positive attitude, and outstanding effort on the court.

Thank you to all of our amazing coaches, managers, and parents who came along to support, cheer, and transport the players. We can’t wait to see these young athletes continue to grow in the local winter leagues!