Congratulations to the following students who have been selected for Year 10 Junior House Leaders:
Pictured from the left: Hannah Crowley (Finlay), Hannah O’Connor and Laura Perkins (Pompallier) Bethany Coghlan (Finlay), Lucy Wilson (Rosmini), Kiera Davis and Jayden Stevenson (McAuley) and Ben Aynsley (Rosmini)
 

Happy Easter and Blessings of the Easter season to all our families and wider college community.
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Last Saturday night’s Senior Ball was a joy to behold. The stadium looked magnificent, the students looked impeccable and the food, music and ambience was excellent. Thank you to the Deputy Head Students, Charlotte Cuttance and Flynn Goodger, who led a strong band of organisers to make this evening a success. There are many photos on the school Facebook page and within this newsletter. My personal thank you must go to the Netball Committee who organised the successful Ball Parade prior to the Ball, and to the PTFA and parents who helped out at the venue on the night, and prior to the Ball whether that was in tutoring ballroom dancing lessons or helping with the creation of table settings. I appreciate the time you gave to help everyone enjoy the evening to the fullest.

We farewelled our intrepid travelers this morning – a group of fifteen year 9 to 11 students accompanied by Mr Ronny Kotkamp and Mrs Louise Grogan – as they wing their way to Europe. This is a very special overseas tour for our College as the group experience first-hand the origins of our College. They will visit Rome and experience the surreal Catholic experience of being in the Vatican City. They then travel north to Calvario and stay in the same monastery that Antonio Rosmini lived for many years. A trip to England will allow them to experience school life at Ratcliffe College, a Rosminian college in Leicester that is often called the ‘mothership’ of the Rosminian Order in England.  The group will also visit Dublin to see the origins of the Mercy Order at Baggot Street where Catherine McAuley first established her order of nuns dedicated to mercy action for the poor and vulnerable, particularly women and children. This will be a wonderful experience for these young people and I am sure it will enrich their understanding of the charisms of St Peter’s College.

St Edmund’s Christian Brothers’ College Under-15 Rugby Team visited from Ipswich in Queensland, Australia during the week. We were very happy to host this team and play them in rugby, which is becoming a regular fixture on our calendar. The touring side was treated to a wonderful welcome – Haka and Waiata - by our ever-growing Kapa Haka group, and they enjoyed the billeting experience with so many of our generous families. Unfortunately for us, they gained their third win of their tour before leaving to face St Kevin’s College the next day.
Enjoy the Easter period and time spent with family and friends and maybe even Ed Sheeran for many!
See you all back at school next Wednesday after a well-deserved break.

‘Good Friday’ by Joy Cowley
We do not call in bad Friday
Although, for the One who lived and died
The torture of that day
There would have been nothing good about it.
It was death by dishonor,
Death by a pain so severe
That it filled all the spaces of thinking,
Wrenching forth the cry,
“My God! My God! What have you forsaken me!”

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​A huge congratulations to Joshua Kotkamp (Year 11) who has been selected into the Southland United Football team. This is a selection of the top football players in the 14th and 15th Grades in Southland. They will be playing in an Otago/Southland competition which will include teams from Southland, Central Otago, North Otago and Dunedin. Along with playing for this team Joshua has also been selected into the Southern United Academy which is the new Talent Development Programme (TDP) in the Football South region replacing the previous FTC programme. The SU Academy Programme is led by Football South. This puts Joshua in the top 24 players in his age group for the Football South region (Timaru to Invercargill). This will be quite a commitment as practices start this weekend in Wanaka and will be all over the region from Invercargill to as far north as Timaru. All this training will lead to the National Age Group Tournament in December 2018.  A fantastic achievement Joshua!  We look forward to hearing about your future achievements.

​Recently Year 9 student MacLean Sharp competed at the South Island Secondary Schools Duathlon/Triathlon Championships in Oamaru.  Competing in the U14 Boys Triathlon he performed fantastically well and finished third.  Congratulations MacLean on an awesome effort!
 

Church of the Blessed Sacrament - Holy Week
Monday, 26th March                 
Chrism Mass, 7pm (at this Mass the Priests of the Southland area will renew their Priestly vows and        Bishop Colin will bless the Chrism, the Oil Catechumens and the Oil of the Sick used in the Sacraments.
Thursday, 29th March             
Holy Thursday Mass, 7pm
Friday, 30th March                 
Good Friday, ‘Way of Cross’ starts at the Clock Town, 11am
‘The Commemoration of the Passion’  Liturgy at Church of the Blessed Sacrament Church, 3pm
Saturday, 31st March
Easter Vigil, 8pm
Sunday, 1st April
Mass 8:30am at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament
Mass 10am at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament
Mass 10:30am, Balfour
 

Kia ora te whanau
 
In the calendar of the Catholic Church, we are entering Holy Week beginning with Palm (or Passion) Sunday this weekend. Holy Week is a solemn time leading up to Holy Thursday and Good Friday, followed by the celebrations of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday, which is considered a time of ‘re-birth’ or renewal within the Catholic Church.  To help prepare for this ‘renewal’, the Sacrament of Reconciliation will be offered to all students in the Chapel on Tuesday, and RE classes will also have their own reconciliation liturgies.

It is great to read of the achievements of so many of our students in the newsletter this week. While the results are what we read about, often the amount of work, resilience and dedication needed to achieve those results are less highlighted. Congratulations to the students and parents who have been involved in making this happen. We also wish all the best to the students heading to Timaru for the South Island Secondary School Athletics this weekend.
I have been away at the SPANZ Conference (Secondary Principals Association of NZ) this week, and was fortunate to hear some high-quality speakers. Interestingly, and in what was a complete coincidence, they all made mention of the lack of resilience and high rates of anxiety in the young people of our world today and quoted similar research that is of real concern. We are very lucky to still live in a part of the world where our children can know the value of play, they can explore the environment and our everyday surroundings, and where a strong work ethic and having part time jobs is still considered character building. Balance is the key word as always, and it is important that we, as parents, model ‘downtime’ – without digital devices! – to our children. We are not always good at doing this, and as a generation where being ‘busy’ is seen as a sign of importance, this role modelling hasn’t necessarily happened. With the Easter break not far away, I hope you get the opportunity to role-model downtime and go back to what may be considered ‘old fashioned’ family time doing things slowly together with plenty of face to face communication.
Come along and see our wonderful students in the Ball Parade tomorrow evening in the Hall. The Ball Committee have done a wonderful job this year and I am sure they will feel proud of their efforts tomorrow night when they get the chance to enjoy the fruits of their labour at the Town and Country Stadium.
 
Faith Fact for Holy Week
Palm Sunday
We know the story of palms being laid on the ground as Jesus entered Jerusalem. The beginning of the Holy Week journey to Easter. But what were these palms. They most likely were date palm fronds or leaves. Putting these leaves on the ground was an ancient way of honouring a person. In Europe there was a similar custom with any kind of leaf or branch. Here down south we do not grow palms so we use a conifer branch. In England in olden times a gentleman may lay his coat on the ground before an important woman so shoes would not get dirty. Often a similar laying down of an offering happens during a Powhiri in New Zealand. A way of showing much respect. The Palm leaves resemble this sentiment.  If Jesus had been in New Zealand we would have used flax or any other leafy tree branch to lay before him to honour is him.

Students in Mathematics classes on Wednesday, March 14th were treated to a one-off lesson related to Pi Day – a day that is celebrated worldwide to acknowledge the special mathematical number, Pi. This number is represented by the Greek letter π  and is approximated by 3.14159. Students learned about the language associated with π, the relationship found in a circle between the circumference and radius as well as the interesting fact that π is a number that goes on and on, with no pattern to its digits, so it can create the most interesting visual displays.
Carolyn Hunter – HELA Mathematics