SCC Newsletter
Friday 14 August
Kia ora whānau of St Catherine’s College,
Tomorrow it is the Feast of the Assumption; the taking of Mary, the mother of Jesus, into Heaven. We honour Mary for her life of devotion and love. It is also a time to honour all the women who give so much to nurture and love us in our lives. Yesterday, our school Mass had to be cancelled, under Alert Level 2. However our prayers have been for the place of all women in our lives, and for our families and communities who are once again challenged by this virus.
Please click on the link for the Assumption Liturgy created by our St Catherine’s College Year 12’s.
The Government’s announcement of a return to Alert Level 2 status has gone smoothly here at St Catherine’s. We have shared relevant information about health and safety practices in and around school, and ensured there are plenty of provisions for sanitising and cleaning etc. If you visit school for any reason it is important that, for contact tracing purposes, the NZ Covid Tracer app is actioned or you must enter your details on our hard copy register. The Ministry of Health is sharing information about the NZ COVID Tracer app so we can all protect ourselves. You can find a range of information about NZ COVID Tracer on their website, including instructions on how to update the app if you don’t have automatic updates enabled on your phone.
The Prime Minister’s announcement late this afternoon about the Covid 19 Alert Level Status has a direct bearing on school. Today staff and students have prepared for the possible return to Level 3 and online learning once again. Under Level 3 school will remain open for students of essential workers, if they cannot remain at home. A document will be shared with you all for this information to be gathered.
Next Monday we will send an email to you with information on the Health and Physical Education, including Sexuality, programme at St Catherine’s. We seek your views on all that is in the programme. It would be great to have as much feedback as possible on this important area of growth and development.
We welcome two new staff members; Miss Tessa Murphy, a past student, who returns as teacher of Science, and Ms Marama Te Kira who is teaching junior Te Reo Māori.
Congratulations to -
May Chadwick, Yr 11, and her friend who are supreme winners in the 2020 Roxy Short Film Competition! May composed the music and her friend did the animation. The film is titled 'Maske'.
Mariana Sola, Yr 11, who was a national finalist in the GirlBoss Edge Justice Challenge. Mariana submitted an essay on strategies to improve Pasifika and Māori education outcomes.
Itinerant Music Concert performers: 17 students performed in an early evening concert displaying their talents across a range of instruments - special thanks to our itinerant music teachers for their passionate support of our students.
Head Girls Loredana Unsworth and Anahera Pohe for organising Purple Power Week - focusing on the empowerment of young women.
Sports update from our Sports Coordinator, Anna Ward
Our sports teams have started off enthusiastically after the first COVID break. Several competitions have run already with more to come.
Five of our netball players completed the College Sport Wellington Umpiring Course which was held at the ASB Centre. This allows them to umpire our games on a Saturday.
Our Junior A netball team started the season comfortably winning each game. This gained the team a promotion for the second half of the season, where they now play at the ASB Centre. This team also competed last week in the College Sport Wellington Junior Netball Tournament where they did St Catherine’s proud - a good reflection of their hard work and dedicated coaching.
We had a small team of two juniors entered into the College Sport Wellington Badminton Championships. It was enjoyable to watch our players being so motivated.
The College Sport Wellington Cross Country Running Championships were held out at Harcourt Park in Upper Hutt in near perfect running conditions. Our sole competitor Edie Kozyniak ran strong and placed 9th in her grade.
A big thank you to all our students who are involving themselves in a sport and especially to our helpers who we couldn’t live without.
It is very disappointing that our PolyClub has been thwarted again, because of Alert Level 2, with the cancellation of TuTagata Vaka o le Pasifika at Wellington College next Tuesday. They have been practising with great passion. We will continue to keep an eye out for performance opportunities.
We are excited to bring a careers event with a focus on Trades & Technology to St Catherine’s College for Year 9-13 students and local Year 7 & 8 girls from contributing schools.
Event Details:
Wednesday 2nd September 11.15am – 1.00pm at St Catherine’s College Hall & Studio 1
Speaker Panel of Industry representatives will open the event with their career experiences and highlights
Students then rotate around the stands and engage with industry and tertiary providers to find out about study programmes, how to enter courses, trades and different pathway options
We are grateful to the following companies, individuals, industry organisations and tertiary providers for their support, and to the Ministry of Education for sponsoring our event:
Transpower, BECA, Hutt Plumbing & Gas, Defence Careers, Yoobee, BCITO, Massey Design & Technology, Victoria University Engineering & Building Science, Computer Science & School of Design Innovation, Weltec & Whitireia, Kelly Henderson, Suli Parshottam, Joanah Ngan Woo, Warren Dion Smith, Cordon Bleu Cooking School, Elite Beauty, Primary ITO & Horticulture NZ, Firth NZ & Fletcher Construction, and Weta Digital
St Catherine’s College parents are welcome to join us.
At staff prayer/reflection this morning, Mrs Kathy Ryan, shared this beautiful prayer,
Comfort us with your love, O God.
Wrap us up in your strong embrace,
Shelter us from the storm, O Lord
Envelop us in your tender care
By day we pour out our heartbreak to you,
By night we give you our racing thoughts
In you we will not be afraid
For you hold us strong, you hold us safe.
Calm our fearful hearts O God
And still our anxious minds.
For all our lives are found in you
All our being is given to you
And all our hope begins in you,
Through Jesus’ name,
Amen
Ngā mihi nui
Steve
Principal