atsupport

Our students from the Music Department participated in the annual Auckland Schools Jazz Band competition, held at the Point Chevalier RSA. The competition is organised by the Auckland Jazz and Blues Club, Stephen Morton-Jones and Peter McGregor Music Bass Shop and is open to all schools across Auckland.

On Tuesday morning, Sancta Maria College welcomed a group of Chinese students who have come from Shanghai Jincai Experimental Junior Middle School. It is a school located in Pudong New District, Shanghai, China with a roll of approximately 1,300 students. From there, we have 31 students visiting who are a similar age to our Year 7 & 8 students, and who are going to stay at Sancta Maria College for 1 week.

Thanks to the efforts of Dr Laux and the kind donations of Bunnings, Sancta Maria College received a selection of plants to present to the future butterfly residents of our butterfly garden.

The trip began when the group met early in the morning at Auckland Airport. The group consisted of seventeen students accompanied by Mrs Amber Stevens, Mr Ben Bacon and Mr Omar Tamayo. Each one of them yearning to get out of the cold winter of Auckland to the eternally warm summer paradise that is Samoa. As the flight neared its end, with child-like wonder in their eyes, the students peeped out to find angelic blue waters sprinkled with lush green islands. All the burdens, stress and worries accumulated from the past term began to melt away as Samoa unveiled itself and wrapped them in a blanket of warmth. Nothing could prepare the group for the remarkable things they were about to witness.

An inspiring and uplifting gathering of young Maori girls, committee members, volunteers and Police mentors gathered for an afternoon tea as apart of the Te Te Huringa o Te Tai Nga Wahine programme.

As part of the Year 13 PE Studies course, Mrs. Heffernan, Mrs Holmes, Mr Bacon and Mr Camp took two Year 13 classes to Tongariro National Park. The two classes completed many activities where they were assessed on risk, in being able to apply safety management skills in the outdoors as part of their NCEA Level 3 course. The week consisted of blue skies, sunny weather and snow – students and teachers all returning with happy smiles.

Year 11 student, fifteen-year-old Letisia Fifita, is to be commended for making it into the Auckland U16 Touch Rugby team. For Letisia, touch is in her genes! It runs in her family with her brother playing and her dad being an amazing coach! That is why seven years ago when Letisia picked up the ball, she fell in love with the sport.

Although there are some wins and some losses, we are proud of the Sancta Maria teams because they always try their hardest. Goals scored followed by loud applause from the supporters. 8C played two games this Saturday, winning both.

Sancta Maria netball club faced some difficult games this weekend with teams achieving mixed results at Howick Pakuranga netball club (HPNC). All teams gave their all but some opponents were more difficult than anticipated! Great levels of teamwork, support, encouragement and enthusiasm were shown out on the court with the girls working together against tough opposition.