We have come to the end of a long and productive term and the children and their teachers will relish a well-earned break so that they come back refreshed and renewed all ready for “full steam ahead” in Term 4! The children have had so many experiences and opportunities for learning, including many sports events, visits to Art Galleries, all sorts of learning about enterprise and how to be enterprising, the Olympics, The Sacraments and Church Strands in Religious Education, further developing their writing skills, ICAS Competitions, Chess Club, Cross Country, Netball, Basketball, Hockey, Cricket, Soccer, Rippa Rugby, Kids for Kids Concert, McAuley Family Mass, Junior Liturgies, Zooming in the Library, to name but a few! Thank you to all our teachers and support staff who work so hard to ensure that our children get the very best opportunities for living and learning. Thank you to our parents for supporting us all the way.

This week we have all been learning more about the origins of our school and also about the Mercy Charism, upon which our school values of Tika, Pono, Aroha, Manaakitanga and Tapu  are based.

“In Christian theology, a charism (in Greek: χαρίσμα; plural: charismata) in general denotes any good gift that flows from God‘s love to others.” Wikipedia

Charism is a gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church, communicated through a particular person who gathers disciples around him or her and with whom he or she translates a bold vision into action. Charism is a living passion for whatever dimension of the life of Christ is missing now – peace, truth, mercy … It is the heart of the founder/foundress (in our case, Catherine McAuley) that was aglow at one period of history, beating on in us in another day and age. It is ever changing … it is where the reign of God is needed most. It develops from age to age and dies from age to age … and then grows up in a new way. Our school was founded by the Mercy Sisters in 1893, and today, 119 years later, we aim to continue the Mercy approach to believing, listening, praying and living.

We started our week on Monday morning with school prayers focused on Mercy Week,  led by our Year 6 students. On Wednesday we held Market Day at which our students were the business people. The proceeds from their enterprises (over $2000.00 was raised) were donated to charities. Each class selected the charity they wished to donate to. This connected well to our Mercy Values of tika-justice, pono -truth (honesty) and aroha-compassion. On Friday, we celebrated Mercy Day Mass and we were please to have two of our Mercy Sisters present with us.

“Be cheerful and happy, giving life to those around you. “ Catherine McAuley

Happy and safe holidays for all!

Phil O’Connell-Cooper                             Principal