Comments from the Principal

​Kia ora tatou
On Monday, a group of St Peter’s College students and staff enjoyed the opportunity to spend time at St Mary’s celebrating Mercy Day. Some of our kapahaka group welcomed Sacred Heart (Invercargill), St Thomas Aquinas (Winton) and St Patrick’s (Nightcaps) primary schools with a mihi whakatau on behalf of our two Gore schools. I am sure that former Sisters of Mercy who gave so much to the Southland area would have loved seeing these Mercy schools celebrating Mass together and enjoying each other’s company on this day of celebration, and we were fortunate to have Sr Maria Goretti with us on the day.  Meanwhile back at school, our students raised money for KidsCan and enjoyed a mufti day, sausage sizzle and ice block treat as our celebration of Mercy Day.
Please calendar Wednesday, November 7th in your diaries. The Board of Trustees and our leadership team will be running an evening of visioning, consultation and education for parents and whanau, students and interested community members, as we prepare our strategic vision for the next 5 years and beyond. As you will know, education, its purpose and its outcomes, are rapidly changing and when our current year 7 students graduate from St Peter’s College in 2025, we need to be sure we have prepared them as well as we can for what is ahead of them in their careers – whether in Gore or internationally. We value the collective wisdom and knowledge of our school community and would love to see you all here for this evening event.
Well done to the SMAC Maths teams from year 7 – 10 who went to Invercargill for this annual competition. This is always a strong competition. Results will be published next term.
It has been a busy term of learning, sport and culture, with many students achieving well in their extra-curricular area of enjoyment. There are quite a few students heading away to various representative sports tournaments during the holidays and we wish them all well and safe travels. For our seniors, the practice exams that are used for derived grades are rapidly approaching. Parents, please ensure that your sons and daughters are well prepared for these exams. This year, they are certainly a real ‘practice run’ before NCEA externals begin, with some classes only having five periods between the practice exams and the real thing. Being well prepared with holiday study is certainly going to pay off this year!
​







Have a wonderful holiday,
Nga mihi nui

​Kate Nicholson

---