NEWSLETTER 1/2013 Issue date: 8 March 2013

The Principal’s News Tena Koutou Katoa. Talofa lava Warm greetings to you all

As I sit writing to you, I can barely believe that we are already into week six of the first term of 2013.

To the families of our many new students, welcome to your extended St Cath’s family. It is a privilege to have you and your daughter with us. At St Catherine’s it is very important to us that we have a three-way dialogue established between us, so that we can all be part of ensuring that your daughter reaches her personal excellence and develops her gifts to her full potential. In one of Catherine McAuley’s letters she said “a good beginning is of great importance” and so it was at the beginning of the term that the staff gathered in Liturgy to reflect on the coming year particularly in light of the Mercy charisms of Respect, Compassion, Care for the Poor, Service and with an emphasis in 2013 on Justice. We then moved on to two days of Professional Development around educational matters that will most support your daughter’s learning in 2013. Students have been busy in their classrooms but also with - Athletics day, our Academic Mass, Ash Wednesday Liturgy, three days of Year 13 Retreat, and Year 10 camp.

EARTHQUAKE STRENGTHENING We are now 100% earthquake proof! The project was completed on time over the December/January break. Many thanks to those members of both the Board of Trustees and the Board of Proprietors for making this happen for us.

STAFFING We welcome to our staff four new teachers: Ms Rebecca Jones – Food Technology

Mrs Joneen Rodgers – Senior Digital Technology

Ms Antoinette Cor - Year 9 French

Mr Whetu Henry - Year 9 Māori

We are extremely pleased to have new staff of this calibre and know they will make a positive impact on the College.

INTRODUCING ST CATHERINE’S COMMUNITY HUI St Catherine’s College staff and students welcome our parents and caregivers to our new Community Hui. We will gather in ethnic groups, once a term, to share our learning, our success stories and concerns. Each Hui will be student led and will give staff, parents and students an opportunity to gather together firstly within our cultural groups and then to share some kai with the full St Catherine’s community. I look forward to seeing you all there. This term’s Hui will be on March 20

th from 5.30 –

6.30. Please see the attached flyer in this Newsletter or the website for further details about the evening.

SUSTAINED SILENT READING This initiative continues this year with most days having a dedicated 15 minute period of silent reading. Educational research shows us that regular reading improves literacy and vocabulary. All girls are required to have reading material at school each day.

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT This year as a staff we will be involved in three new Ministry professional learning and development contracts.

Positive Behaviour for Learning – School Wide is a framework that supports schools to create a culture where positive behaviour and learning thrive.

Gifted and Talented Education – the programme has a specific focus on gifted Maori and Pacifica students, gifted students who have special education needs, gifted students who are under-achieving currently and gifted students from low socio -economic backgrounds.

My FRIENDS Youth programme – a Ministry pilot as part of the Year 9 Health curriculum. The programme aims to build amotional resilience in young people.

Each of these initiatives will involve consultation with our parent community, so watch this space!

2013 SCHOOL TRUSTEES ELECTIONS Being a school trustee is an important role that needs people with a range of skills and experiences, who believe in making a positive difference to our children’s learning. Please consider nominating yourself or someone you

know by filling out a nomination form (available from the College office). A flyer explaining the role of Board Trustees is enclosed with this newsletter. Interested people are invited to attend the next Board meeting on 4 April 2013, to be held in the McAuley Centre, St Catherine’s College, commencing at 5.30pm to see how the Board operates and ask any questions. Please contact Mike Thompson, Chairperson at thompson@xtra.co.nz or Chris Perry, Board Secretary at chris.perry@scc.school.nz if interested.

COLLEGE NEWSLETTERS Finally, in the future, we are very keen to communicate with you electronically. The College Newsletters will be available to all parents on our website (www.stcatherinescollege.school.nz/need to know/newsletters) and will only be posted out to parents who do not have access to a computer. If you wish to have a copy mailed to you, please complete the form on the last page of this newsletter and either mail it back to the college or ask your daughter to drop it off to our office, by 31 March. And remember………My door is always open.

Mary Curran Principal Congratulations to the following students who were awarded Academic Blacks at our Academic Mass on 12 February this year. What a wonderful achievement.

Academic Blacks 2012 were awarded to: Year 9 Kathryn Prince

Jasmine Arora Gabrielle Hamilton

1st

academic black 1

st academic black

1st

academic black

Year 10 Charyne Sundgren (2) Madeleine Reese (2)

2nd

academic black 2

nd academic black

Year 11 Caitlin de Reeper Sian Gregan Hannah King Rebecca Moriarty Kate Ostapowicz Joanna Rubi Julia Ryan

1st

academic black 1

st academic black

1st

academic black 1

st academic black

1st

academic black 1

st academic black

1st

academic black

Year 12 Gabrielle Armstrong-Scott Georgia Bellve Sophie Halliday Karishma Patel Liana Roberts-Letiu Cassie Sutherland

2nd

academic black 2

nd academic black

2nd

academic black 2

nd academic black

2nd

academic black 1

st academic black

Full colours 2012 (i.e. 3 or more blacks) were awarded to: Year 11 Ella Jansen

Nera Tautau Full colours Full colours

Year 12 Jean Kozyniak 4th

academic black

Year 13 Anne Isaac Grace Jansen Maggie Kozyniak

4th

academic black 5

th academic black

4th

academic black

Congratulations also to our College Leaders for 2013:

St Catherine’s College Leaders 2013

CAPTAINS

Head Girl Sophie Halliday Deputy Head Girl Karishma Patel

BOT Representative Kezia Thompson

Community Captain Georgia Bellve

Cultural Captain Allie Bell

International Captain Homasa David

Spirit Captain Lagi Aukusitino

Sport Captain Jean Kozyniak

HOUSE CAPTAINS

House Captain St Anne’s Rachel Tuma’ai

St Bernadette’s Evelen Zaia

St Joan’s Hannah-Rose Skjellerup

St Theresa’s Linda Shemaon

WHANAU LEADERS

Whanau Leader St Anne’s 1 Shanya Godinet-Foalima

St Anne’s 2 Michaela Jensen

St Anne’s 3 Nanawe Ishaya

St Bernadette’s 1 Aman Deep Ramela

St Bernadette’s 2 Ninwa Pato

St Bernadette’s 3 Sammy Allen

St Joan’s 1 Caela Heke

St Joan’s 2 Charlotte Kells-Stanton

St Joan’s 3 Neekita Melesala

St Theresa’s 1 Cassie Sutherland

St Theresa’s 2 Rosanna Williams

St Theresa’s 3 Kate Ostapowicz

SENIOR LEADERS

Name Area of Responsibility Kaysee Savali Petala Elama

Multicultural Club

Khodi Simeona Mercy Crew

Julie Vidal Community Hui

Shanya Godinet-Foalima Mentoring Liaison

Caela H eke Art

Pearl Carty Environment

Petula McPhee Music

Joanah Ngan-Woo Event Supporters Club

Director of RE

I thank all parents and families who have supported our students in their Lenten gifting to charity. Our Lenten fundraising money is donated to Caritas, the Catholic Aid Agency, and they will use the money to assist a number of ventures in the Pacific region. If you are interested in where the money is going, please visit the Caritas website http://www.caritas.org.nz/ and click on the Lenten tab. We are also collecting Easter eggs for sick and needy children in Wellington. Please encourage your daughter to bring an Easter treat to school. These will be distributed to places such as Wellington Hospital Children’s Ward, Ronald McDonald House and St Vincent de Paul. Please ensure your daughter has access to a Bible at home and encourage her to read. Many translations of the Bible are available online, including translations in your own languages. Any reading of Scripture is a chance to become more filled with the grace of God. Finally, be sure to go to Church during the Easter break. There are many services during Passion Week and I encourage you to take your daughters to some of these.

Jenny O’Brien, Director of Religious Studies

Deputy Principal (Curriculum) BYOD You will be aware that we have not yet implemented bring your own devices. This is due to delays in the arrival of the new mac computers for the maclab and a faulty wireless switch in the library for which we are awaiting a replacement part. The second shipment of macs will arrive on the 11

th March.

Senior Art, Design and Music students who all use mac computers take priority over other users at the moment and our technical support can only offer us our designated hours per week. As soon as we have a date of implementation, letters will be sent home asking for devices to be sent into school if your daughter wishes to access our wireless network. The device will be checked for viruses and will have an individual password for the wireless network. This is not compulsory. Devices that have their own data plans (not using wifi) can still be used in class. All students have access to our school network via the computer labs and the library.

Please accept my apologies if you have purchased a device and have been waiting to use it with our wireless network.

Results We compare our results with other girls’ schools in our decile band as well as all girls’ schools in New Zealand. 2012 Results SCC % Girls 4-7% Girls National %

Level 1 92 82 87

Level 2 90 87 90

Level 3 72 81 84

University Entrance

57 72 78

The above table tells a success story about our NCEA results from last year at Level 1 and 2. The targets that we set were 85% for Level 1 and 70% for Level 2. We were well above those targets and above the percentage in comparable schools. A big congratulations to all our Level 1 and Level 2 students. Despite some well-deserved individual success in Level 3 and UE, results overall at this level were below the set targets . As a school we need to make sure our senior students remain focussed on academic success. Research shows that students who finish Year 13 with Level 3 and University Entrance have a distinct advantage over other school leavers in the job market. Our advice to all students, especially seniors, is to:

Attend all lessons

Take ownership of your learning

Complete all assessments especially internally assessed ones

Ask for help if you need it.

Mandy Page Deputy Principal (Curriculum)

Deputy Principal (Pastoral) UNIFORM

Winter uniform Wearing of winter uniform is optional after Easter until the holidays (i.e. 4 April until 19 April) and compulsory from the beginning of Term 2 (Tuesday, 7 May). Girls should wear: Long-sleeved white shirt that buttons to the neck College tie Black tights Regulation black lace-up shoes

College blazer to wear to and from school every day.

[Long-sleeved winter blouses are available now from our uniform shop at $35 each, ties $20 each, good quality 50 denier tights are now at a special price of $10.] As you know, we have high standards for our uniform and most girls, most of the time, wear it with pride and represent us well. There are a few bad habits slipping in, though, and I wish to draw your attention to them so that we are “singing from the same page”.

Jewellery The rule is no necklaces, no bracelets and no rings. Earrings are limited to ONE small earring in each ear. NO OTHER PIERCINGS SHOULD BE VISIBLE. This includes nose or lip piercings – any girl with a stud in her nose or lip will be required to take it out and leave it out. There are no exceptions to this. Girls should not have piercings done which require healing time during the school year.

Shoes Standard school shoes are black, leather lace-ups. Canvas type sports shoes of any colour are not permitted. Please help your daughter to be organised so that she wears the correct shoes every day.

Nail polish It is concerning how many girls come to school with nail polish on. This is not permitted. Valuable time and resources are being wasted as we ask girls to remove it at school. Please encourage your daughters to leave home nail-polish-free. We are frequently praised for the way our girls present on the street. It doesn’t just happen! It takes a concerted effort from staff insisting on our standards. Please help us with this by checking your daughter’s uniform and helping her to get it right.

Chewing Gum St Catherine’s College is a chewing-gum-free zone: students are not to chew gum while they are at school or are in school uniform. As you would understand, chewing gum is frequently disposed of inappropriately. We have just paid over $600.00 to have the hall floor professionally cleaned to remove, among other things, chewing gum. We are disappointed that already there are traces of chewing gum on the floor again. We ask you to support us by insisting that your daughter does not chew gum at all while at school or in uniform.

Chris Jarratt Deputy Principal (Pastoral)

English Dept

NCEA Results: English Department teachers were thrilled with our 2012 results, especially in Level One. Our wonderful students achieved fantastic external examination results and a large number of students achieved subject endorsements. Congratulations to Ella Jansen and Hannah King, who achieved Excellent endorsements in Level One English, and to Antonette Antigo, Mikaela Calvert, Caitlin de Reeper, Christina Fitu, Nicole Juan, Jordyn McLean, Brianna McIlraith, Rebecca Moriarty, Kate Ostapowicz, Tyler Raemaki, Aman Deep Ramela, Joanna Rubi, Caradine Sangalang, Khanya Scheck, Lauren Small and Rosanna Williams, who achieved Merit endorsements in Level One English. Overall, our students achieved a 79% pass rate in AS1.1 – Responding to Written Text; 91% pass rate in AS1.2 – Responding to Visual Text; and 93% pass rate in AS1.3 – Responding to Unfamiliar Texts. Fantastic efforts, girls! In Level Two, congratulations go to Ella Fisher, Jean Kozyniak, Karishma Patel and Liana Roberts-Letiu, who achieved Excellence endorsements in English, and to Anuilagi Aukusitino, Georgia Bellve, Gemma Cornish, Sophie Halliday, Caela Heke, Michaela Jensen, Charlotte Kells-Stanton, Jordan Lee, Kaysee Savali, Khodi Simeona, Cassie Sutherland and Julie Vidal, who achieved Merit endorsements in Level Two English. In Level Three, congratulations to Grace Jansen on achieving a New Zealand Scholarship in English and an Excellence endorsement in Level Three English, and to Fatima Al-maery, Roxanne Buchanan and Maggie Kozyniak, who achieved Merit endorsements in Level Three English.

Year 9: We welcome our new Year 9 students to English. By now the classes have completed their first unit for the year on Diary-writing and are beginning a unit on Poetry. All classes in English offer a differentiated programme, and your daughter should be working at a level which is manageable for her, but also offers the opportunity to stretch herself. If you have concerns about your daughter’s progress, please do not hesitate to contact her classroom teacher in the first instance, or Kathy Ryan, the Head of English.

Homework programmes: In Years 10, 11 and 12 this year, students will be enrolled in an on-line homework programme called Livewire Learning. The resources for this programme have now arrived in the school and students will be introduced to the programme over the next couple of weeks. Students will be set specific work to do on this programme, but they can also work at their own pace and revise previous work to build their basic English vocabulary and grammar

skills. They will also be issued books that accompany this programme. Working at the programme very regularly will help your daughters to become increasingly confident in using accurate English terminology and in identifying language techniques. Aside from the on-line programme, students at all levels in the school are given regular classroom homework, and they should also be maintaining a regular personal reading programme, which forms part of their NCEA assessments in Years 11 and 12.

English staff for 2012: Year 9: Mrs Jarratt (9BG), Ms Walsh (9CL), Ms Lorenzen (9MY), Ms Smith (9LE), Mr Kaulback (9 Drama)

Year 10: Ms Walsh (10BG), Mr Kaulback (10CL), Ms Smith (10LE) Year 11- Mr Kaulback (11 Eng), Mrs Ryan (11 Eng), Mrs Jarratt (11 Lit)

Year 12: Mr Kaulback (12 Eng), Mrs Ryan (12 Eng), Ms Walsh (12 Lit)

Year 13: Mrs Ryan (13 Eng), Ms Walsh (13 Lit)

Any concerns about your daughter’s progress should be made to the classroom teacher in the first instance, but please feel free to contact Kathy Ryan, HOD English, if you wish to enquire about the English programmes or opportunities in English for your daughter – 939 8988 ext812.

Kathy Ryan Senior Dean & HoD English Science Dept

USO – Unlimited Science Opportunities ‘Uso fesosoani I le isi uso’ Although this programme is aimed at Māori and Pasifika students, it is not exclusive and any students are welcome to come along. Students do not need to sign up, and they do not need to commit to coming every week. Just turn up on Tuesday afternoons from 3:30 to 4:30pm in the Biology Lab. [Note from Miss Hill: A small group of both juniors and seniors attended our last session and shared a fabulous chocolate cake made for the occasion by Mrs Rapira-Davies. (We had healthy apples as well…..)]

Teachers and Uso Matua are there to help with homework

Laptops are available

Afternoon tea is supplied

Information is presented each week about different job opportunities with guest speakers coming in several times a term

If you would like to know more about this programme, please e-mail Rebecca Rapira-Davies on bec@scc.school.nz or call her on 021 883973. We look forward to seeing more of your daughters attending this group. We have some speakers arranged to come later on in the term.

Biology/Chemistry trip to Pauatahanui Inlet Thursday 7th March

This was a cross-curricular trip to collect data for 2 practice internal assessments - looking at the density of mud crabs from the head of the inlet to the sea, and comparing it with any salinity gradient that might occur. On Monday the chemistry students will titrate their water samples and feed their data back to the biology students. It was a stunning day, and everyone had a memorable time - especially struggling through thick sticky mud to get to the shoreline! Well done to the students whose behaviour and participation were exemplary.

Liz Hill Rebecca Rapira-Davies HoD Science Science

French Dept

2012 Exam Successes Congratulations to the following students who gained Excellence endorsements in French. They will be presented with Certificates of Excellence from the NZ Association of Language Teachers:

Level 1: Caitlin de Reeper Ella Jansen Hannah King Julia Ryan Level 2: Sophie Halliday Joanah Ngan-Woo James Berry (St Pats) Felix Bornholdt (St Pats) Timothy Helbano (St Pats) James Ramsay (St Pats) Level 3: Anne Isaac

The following students gained Merit endorsements in French: Level 1: Emily van Voornveld

Level 2: Kezia Thompson Julie Vidal

School website……French addition Anne Isaac has created a 5 minute clip featuring French students in the classroom. (www.stcatherinescollege.school.nz/subjects/french)

Language Perfect and Exam Success Every senior student has a logon to this fabulous vocabulary learning website. Please encourage your daughter to learn the prescribed exam vocabulary by spending 20-30 minutes each night (2-3 hours weekly) on it. Our current champions: Alatauai Sasa with a phenominal 2851 points; Martha Mallon not far behind on 2506 points.

French Exchange News Welcome to Camille Goubet and Cécile Pieters from our partner school, Lycée Robespierre in Arras. Cécile Pieters Camille Goubet

We are here in New Zealand for three months. We arrived in Wellington on 16 February from Arras. We came to learn English and experience New Zealand culture. It is winter in France at the moment so it is really hot here for us. School is really different; for example, in France we have a school canteen and we finish at 6pm. Enjoy their blog: http://alautreboutdumonde.skyrock.com

Thanks to the families of Tabatha Billington and Amy Campbell for hosting Camille and Cécile.

Sian Gregan and Nera Tautau

We were in France last year for an exchange from August until January this year. We stayed in Arras, a city in the North of France with host families and attended a local college, Lycée Robespierre which has a relationship with our school. This is the fourth year of this exchange. It is an amazing experience and we would definitely recommend it. Not only did we vastly improve our French, but we gained confidence, independence and made many life-long friends on the other side of the world. We are both planning to go back once we finish school at St Caths.

Applications for the 2013 French exchange Senior French students wishing to apply for our August 2013 to January 2014 exchange should see Ms MacIver for an application form. Applications close on: Monday, 18 March 2013.

Finally, we welcome Antoinette Cor who is teaching one of our two Year 9 French classes. We are both really enjoying working with the Year 9 students and we hope they will get a lot of pleasure out of mastering French.

Maureen MacIver HoD Languages

Technology Dept

Digital Design & Technology On Friday the 22

nd of February The Digital

Design and Media students had the opportunity to attend the Digital Media Careers day at Te Papa. This was a chance for students to interact and chat with real designers, filmmakers and software engineers in the industry. We heard about a day at the Google office in Sydney, all about life at Weta Digital, watched short films by the Media Design School staff and students, and got to take part in the concept creation of a game character where students were able to apply their existing knowledge of the design process. All of this followed by free entry into the Game Masters Exhibition. What a great way to get a taste of things to come and life outside of school!

Mrs Rodgers & Ms Gould (Teachers of Digital Design + Technology)

Year 9 Food Technology Breakfast Boost

St Catherine’s Year 9 Food Technology students are currently working on their breakfast boost unit. Students are working in groups to plan and prepare nutritious, quick, low-cost, breakfast outcomes that appeal to teenagers. The students have come up with many innovative ideas for breakfast concepts and next

week they will begin taste testing their products. It has been fantastic seeing the students’ food preparation skills develop as we create delicious breakfast meals.

Miss Jones (Teacher – Food Technology)

Materials The Year 9 Materials (Textiles) class started the term by sewing on paper, without thread in the machine, until they gained confidence and control and now everyone can thread a machine. They have been very busy designing and making their own pincushions to use in class. They have had many creative ideas, making every pincushion unique. Their new project is to design and

make an article which could be used at home. Again ideas are coming thick and fast – from cushions, potholders and bags to quilts, soft toys and wall hangings etc. This really is a “ fun class”.

Mrs Diane Sweet (Teacher Materials)

History Dept Holocaust and History in the Holy Land

From the 15-30 January, I participated in a series of educational lectures at Yad Vashem International School for Holocaust Studies in Jerusalem, Israel. This was an amazing and worthwhile trip. The group of 24 educators from across New Zealand attended various lectures on Jewish history and religion, as well as multiple talks on the Holocaust from various angles, including history, art, literature and music. We also looked at topics on the Final Solution, Nazi Ideology and Holocaust Denial. The quality of the lectures was incredible, and not only was I given more depth on topics I already knew a bit about, but I was introduced to new information that I had never heard of before.

We also had the opportunity to get first-hand testimonies from Holocaust survivors. We heard from seven survivors

in total, including the best friend of Anna Frank, two Jews saved by Oskar Schindler and a woman who survived the Warsaw Uprising, Auschwitz Camp and a death march to Bergen-Belsen.

Yad Vashem also gave us the opportunity to go on various trips around Israel itself. The group did a tour of the Old City of Jerusalem, the Israel Museum, Bethlehem, Tel Aviv and Jaffa. We also went to Masada, the Dead Sea and on a tour of the Golan Heights. The Holocaust Museum at

Yad Vashem is an amazing and powerful place to visit and I highly recommend it.

For me, the thing that came out of this trip was that not only does the Holocaust need to be taught in schools, but also that it is an event that needs to be taught in its entirety and on its own; it is an event that cannot be compared or contrasted against any other. On top of this, it is the stories. The Holocaust is best told through stories. We can always teach the facts, but hearing real stories and the emotion, strength and inspiration attached to them, is the best way to really understand this terrible event.

This trip allowed me to get a real and more in-depth understanding of this topic and the Middle East. The people I met, the networks I made, the things I learnt, the resources I encountered, the places I saw and the experiences I had have truly made this a once in a life time opportunity - all experiences I plan to utilise in the classroom.

Brad Evelyn (TIC History and Classical Studies)

Geography Dept We are busy raising money to get our Year 12 and 13 students to Samoa in the July holidays. Our fabulous mulch supplies are ongoing. 40 litre bags of good clean mulch for $5 a bag. Buy 4 and you get one free and we deliver free. If you have any

gardening, cleaning, stocktake or other jobs, please email me and I will come and give a simple quote: gill.willis@scc.school.nz. We will also be selling fake fur dog and cat blankets for $30 and $20 and couch throws for $100 . ALL ARE BACKED WITH POLAR FLEECE.

Gill Willis HoD Geography

Music Dept

Music Lessons The Music Department is a busy place! Now that instrumental and vocal lessons have begun and extra-curricular activities have started up there is hardly a moment’s silence. If your daughter is having instrumental or vocal lessons then please encourage her to take responsibility for her own learning and do the following:

Keep all of her music in a clear-file

Regularly check her lesson time as they often change

Turn up to her lesson on time

Have the correct equipment for her lesson (music folder & instrument)

Bring her instrument home after each lesson

Practise her instrument (or singing) every day

Extra-Curricular Music Your daughter may be involved in one of the following extra-curricular activities this year:

Guitar Ensemble This group rehearses every Monday and is directed by Clyde Clemett. This group is usually made up of senior Music students.

String Ensemble This group rehearses every Wednesday and is directed by our string tutor, Heather Miller. This group caters for a wide variety of playing abilities.

Barbershop Chorus This group rehearses every Tuesday lunchtime and is directed by Bernadette Takacs. Anyone who likes to sing is welcome to join this group.

Barbershop Quartet This group rehearses every Wednesday lunchtime and is directed by Bernadette Takacs. This is an invitation only group.

Belles Voix This group rehearses every Tuesday after school and is directed by Amy Jennings. This is an auditioned choir.

Jazz Band This group rehearses every Friday lunchtime and is directed by Richard Thai. This group is for more experienced players.

Amy Jennings HoD Music

International Students

Saki and Rena came from Sapporo Otani Jr High School, Japan. They enjoy studying with us and experiencing the Kiwi life-style. They are leaving on 28 March.

Saki & Rena, Year 10

Manami & Maho, Year 11 Yuri Year 9; Reika & Aya Year 10

Manami is from Osaka Yuhigaoka High School, Japan and she would like to work hard so that she can improve her spoken English. Maho is from Morioka High School, Japan. They all have settled down at school very well and they appreciated your warm welcome. They have visited many Wellington sightseeing places and loved what they saw.

At Weta Workshop

At Te Papa

Yurie & Trish at Game Masters

After the Beehive Guided Tour

We are buddies and friends!

The 2013 Mayoral International Student Welcoming Event was held in the Wellington City Council Chambers on 27 February. Manami and Maho have met many students from colleges all over the Wellington region and enjoyed the Kapa Haka group’s performance. Maho represented our school performing a hongi.

Megan Kim International Student Coordinator

Star and Gateway

What is STAR? Secondary Tertiary Alignment Resource is available for our Year 11-13 students. The resource is available to cater for learning needs that are not met in the school curriculum. Most courses are attended during Terms 1&2 as Terms 3&4 are kept clear for assessments. Therefore bookings for courses need to be made very early in the year. Your daughter may request to attend a course or you may speak with me about your daughter’s needs. My contact details are below.

Gateway To the parents/guardians of our Gateway students, The year has started off well with our First Aid and KiwiHost courses now completed. A two day Health and

Safety course will run on the Tuesday and Thursday before Easter. Skills gained from these courses prepare the students well for their Gateway work placement. You may like to ask your daughter about her time on these courses and her ideas for future employment. I am currently looking for employers who can offer our students a work placement. So far this term six students are with The Warehouse gaining retail experience on their Red Shirts in Schools programme, and one student is working in the fashion industry. Please contact me with any questions you may have.

Ellen Castle Gateway & STAR Coordinator 939 8988 ext. 830 Email: ellen.castle@scc.school.nz

Library News 2013 has got off a wonderful start in the Library at St Catherine’s. The 2013 Year 9 students are a wonderful bright-eyed bunch of young women ready to be involved in every aspect of school life and to make the absolute most of their time at school. Many of them have signed up to be student librarians and I am sure they will be committed to running the School Library efficiently and smoothly. It seems the only problem they might have is fitting all their commitments like Mercy Crew, Allsorts Club, sport, music and their library duties into their busy diaries. The phrase ‘carpe diem’ suits these delightful young students. 2013 Student librarians are: Year 9: Bridget Sullivan, Marina Comeskey, Kathryn Serjeantson, Tyler Belke, Jade Yang, Rozary Lazar, Kaye Masmela, Clara Dapitan, Angela Limsiaco, Siobhan Solofuti, Heipua Leota-Mene, Erika Sison, Angelica Ornido, Aurshenna David. Year 10/11/12/13 Nicole Juan, Joanna Rubi, Amy Campbell, Maddy Reese, Jasmine Aurora, Jade Kopua, Julia Ryan, Aman Deep Ramela, Emily Van Voornveld, Ella Jansen, Kera Hill, Homasa David, Anuilagi Aukusitino, Filipa Aukusitino, Tabatha Billington, Clare Sullivan, Camille Goubet. I hope I have listed everyone who has said they want to be involved with the Library. The badges will be arriving soon!! Girls can get out up to 5 books at a time, excluding textbooks. Books are issued for 2 weeks and can be renewed anytime. Popular books are reserved and when they are available they are read out in the daily notices.

Everyone needs to manage their library books as overdue books lose housepoints. Homework Club runs every day after school for an hour except on Friday. Sometimes there is a hot milo in the depths of a winter afternoon. Thanks to a wonderful parent, Louise Brockway, and several Year 9 students who have donated books to the library. So if you are having a clean-up at home and have some young adult books to get rid of we would love to look at them.

Sophie Jolliffe Librarian

Student Librarians: Emily Van Voornveld and Ella Smith

TERM 1 events 2013 11 March, 7pm: Parents Association 14&15 March: PE300 Tramp 15 March: P1-5 Barbershop trip 17 March: Dragon Boat Festival 20 March: Community Hui at St Catherine’s College 20 March: GE300 Trip to Kapiti 26-27 March: Gateway Health and Safely 28 March: Year 11 Volleyball assessment, P1-4 28 March: 2.30pm Easter Liturgy 28 March: Reports posted home 28 March School closes for Easter break, 3.25pm 29 March to 3 April: SCHOOL CLOSED FOR EASTER 4-5 April: Geog200 trip to Taranaki 7 April: DAYLIGHT SAVING ENDS 9 April: Progress conferences – all day 10 April: All day music workshop at Naenae College 11 April: Year 9 Retreat 12 April: Combined Music Workshop 19 April: Jansen Shield 19 April: TERM 1 ENDS Monday, 6 May Teacher Only day – no students at

school on this day TERM 2: Tuesday, 7 May

to Friday, 12 July TERM 3: Monday, 29 July

to Friday, 27 Sept TERM 4: Monday, 14 October

to Wednesday, 11 December

St Catherine’s College Explanation of Fees & Donations 2013

All College parents/caregivers received an explanation of the breakdown of fees and donations in the last newsletter of 2012. Fees to attend a Catholic school are divided into two segments: 1. There is the fee collected by the Catholic Schools Board (located in Hill St.,

Thorndon) currently $780 per year. All students attending Catholic schools need to pay this fee directly to the CSB.

2. The General Donations and Course Costs for your daughter(s) that are collected directly by St Catherine’s College. Every parent/caregiver was sent their daughter(s) lists for 2013 at the end of 2012 (enclosed with the last newsletter of 2012). Copies can also be found on the College Website.

To: St Catherine’s College office

REQUEST TO HAVE THE COLLEGE NEWSLETTER

MAILED TO MY HOME ADDRESS

□ I do not have easy access to a computer to check the college website and would like to

request that the College Newsletter be mailed to me: Name: ____________________________________________________________________ Address: ___________________________________________ Postcode:______ Signature: ___________________________ Date: _______________________

St Catherine’s College PTA Annual General Meeting Monday, 11 March 2013

7pm, in the Staffroom (Marcia Wilson Building)

All parents/caregivers are are warmly welcomed to this meeting.

Come along and support your daughter’s College.