Comments from the Principal

Greetings

The first few days of term one have been special in many ways. I was privileged to spend time in the company of our Year 13 students and staff at the Year 13 Retreat in Edendale. I am certainly confident that these young men and women are going to be very good ambassadors for our college and wonderful role models for our youngest students. These same students received their leadership badges on Wednesday at our Opening Mass, celebrated by Bishop Colin Campbell. We were very pleased to have Fr Damian, Fr Aidan Cunningham and Fr Liam (visiting from Ireland) assisting Bishop Colin on the altar. Thank you to all the parents who attended this Mass; it is always a very special one for us as we welcome our new students and their families, and our leaders are commissioned for the new school year. Thank you to Brendan Terry (DRS) and his team who coordinated this special occasion.

Waimumu Field Days

Next week, St Peter’s College and Rosmini Boarding House will have a site at the Waimumu Field Days. Please encourage any families you may know who are considering St Peter’s as a secondary school option for their children, to visit us for a chat. Because the field days are an important event on the Southland calendar, we will be closing next Thursday at 12:50pm (end of period 4). Any children who need to remain behind to wait for buses may stay in the library where they will be supervised (please inform the office if you need this to happen). Our staff work hard to prepare effective lessons for a full class of students and therefore we ask that parents take their children to the Field Days in the time we have set aside on Thursday afternoon and ensure that your children are at school for the rest of the three days.

Ash Wednesday

Next week sees the Lenten season begin. We will be having a Liturgy on Wednesday morning in the school hall to commemorate Ash Wednesday, the first day of the forty days of Lent. As always parents are welcome to join us for this at 8:45am. Lent is forty-six days long but generally we don’t count the Sundays, which brings it back to forty days that represent the time Jesus spent in the wilderness, enduring the temptation of Satan and preparing to begin his ministry.
50th Anniversary Celebrations
We are looking forward to St Peter’s 50th next January, 2019. Organisation is well underway, but we would love to hear from anyone who would like to lend a hand – big or small - to make this a fantastic reunion weekend. If this sounds like you and you can spare a few hours during the coming year, please let the office know and someone from the committee will contact you.
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Dates for Your Calendar
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This year we have changed the timing of our annual Work Day. Please note that this will be held on the 7th March. All students are expected to contribute to this day, so this is advanced notice to start thinking about this.
Our Year 7-10 Whanau Evening will be held on Monday evening March 12th, 6:30 – 8:30pm. We are pleased to let you know that John Parsons (cybersafety and internet expert) will be part of this evening which also includes an information session and a meet and greet with your child’s learning tutor and form teacher. I encourage everyone with children in years 7-10 to attend this important evening.
Enjoy your weekend,

Nga mihi
 
​Kate Nicholson

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