Special Features

Catholic Character

The school is fortunate to receive pastoral and spiritual care from the priests at St Mary's Parish Papakura. While our school celebrates the feast of the Assumption on 15th August as our central more»

The school is fortunate to receive pastoral and spiritual care from the priests at St Mary's Parish Papakura. While our school celebrates the feast of the Assumption on 15th August as our central school and parish feast day we also celebrate one special day in the life of each of our school missionaries: Barbier, Chanel, Pompallier and Xavier. Annually the students organise a school-wide Mission Day that raises funds for children, not only in New Zealand, but also around the world. Regular class Masses and liturgies are also a feature throughout the school term.

At the top of the driveway we have a Garden of Remembrance that records the names of our deceased Parish Priests, parents, students and teachers who have died while being associated with the school. We also have a chapel that is located at the north-west side of the school hall. This chapel was named after Mr. Vincent Welsh, first lay Principal 1975-1998.

Action Learning

Empowering Students To Take Charge Of Their Learning In today's knowledge economy where information is rapidly changing, students must become information literate i e more»

Empowering Students To Take Charge Of Their Learning

In today's knowledge economy where information is rapidly changing, students must become information literate i e they must have the ability to acquire information from a range of sources, think critically and analytically about invalidity and relevance, and use it effectively to meet their needs. At St. Mary's School we are committed to an Action Learning model that empowers students to take control of their learning. Students are taught the specific research skills of mapping, skimming and scanning for information, conducting information searches, using a variety of technologies including the Internet, telephone, facsimile, computers, catalogues and indices through the six critical action learning stages of deciding, finding, using, recording, presenting and evaluating information. Problem solving skills and higher order critical thinking skills are also incorporated throughout this process.

Special Needs

St Mary's School is committed to helping students who have special needs and abilities, and to this end we run the following programmes/modules: Reading Recovery, more»

St Mary's School is committed to helping students who have special needs and abilities, and to this end we run the following programmes/modules: Reading Recovery, Learning Assistance, ESOL, Reading Support and Enrichment. If parents have concerns about their child's education, please convey these to your child s teacher as your information will help us decide what support programmes the school can offer.

ICT

All students have access to a computer where they can publish work, research via the Internet, and send and receive e-mails The school has a minimum of more»

All students have access to a computer where they can publish work, research via the Internet, and send and receive e-mails The school has a minimum of one computer per classroom as well as providing two computer pods. Throughout the year, all students work on our I.C.T. Certification programme that focuses on Word 1 processing, Telecommunications and Database.

Library

Our library is fully automated and students can complete library searches via their own class computer. All students are issued with a barcode and when more»

Our library is fully automated and students can complete library searches via their own class computer. All students are issued with a barcode and when they withdraw books from the library, this is scanned against their name. Each the school selects librarians who work towards receiving their gold, silver and bronze librarian awards. School librarians also help with library displays, locating, researching and issuing for others.

Leadership

While the school is constantly developing opportunities and responsibilities for all students, the school annually appoints a number of students to more»

While the school is constantly developing opportunities and responsibilities for all students, the school annually appoints a number of students to demonstrate leadership in the following areas: student leaders, house captains, school librarians, sick bay monitors, road patrol monitors, wet lunchtime monitors and office lunchtime relievers.

Sports & Outdoors

All students are involved, on a weekly basis, in physical activities, skill sessions and group games/sports, 'the school also encourages students to play weekend sports more»

All students are involved, on a weekly basis, in physical activities, skill sessions and group games/sports, 'the school also encourages students to play weekend sports with a number of our students representing our school in Saturday morning sport. Each year our intermediate students go on a camp, with our Year 5 & 6 students also involved in learning experiences outside the classroom.

Culture

St. Mary's School welcomes students and their families from a variety of cultures and encourages language, song, dance and treasures of students be a visible part of more»

St. Mary's School welcomes students and their families from a variety of cultures and encourages language, song, dance and treasures of students be a visible part of our school community. To this end the Principal meets with members of the various ethnic groups in our school to discuss issues relating to their children's education and ways we can further integrate the celebration of culture within our school.

History

Our School is Born The original sire of about 4 acres was acquired in 1922. Bishop Cleary was Bishop of Auckland at the time, but the purchase was more»

Our School is Born

The original sire of about 4 acres was acquired in 1922. Bishop Cleary was Bishop of Auckland at the time, but the purchase was negotiated by his co-adjutor, Bishop J.M. Listen. Legend has it, that on the one hand Bishop Cleary was far from impressed by the purchase of this land, which in those days must have been a long way from anywhere. On the other hand, it is said, one suspects with hindsight, that there were local folk who felt that the site purchased should have been larger.

When the building of Convent and School was first discussed, a gentleman and two Sisters of Mercy called at the Higgins home in Wellington Street, to see if they could purchase it as a convent for the Sisters. The man, a non-Catholic we think, was buying the building for the Sisters in appreciation for care and attention given him in the Mater Hospital. However, the Mercy Sisters decided Papakura was not the place for them. Shortly afterwards, Father Von Rotter encouraged the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions to consider Papakura, and on 21st May 1954, they arrived to open the new Convent School in Clark Road. Although three classrooms were built, only two were operational in the first year. Sister Charles as Principal taught Standards 3-6, and Sister Margarita the Primers through to Standard 2. In total, eighty five pupils enrolled on opening day. One must also mention Sister Stanislaus, who as community head spent most other time endeavouring to extract musical talent from her pupils.

At the beginning of 1955, with the third classroom now completed, Sister Kieran arrived as infant teacher. In a short time she proved her talents were not confined solely to teaching ABC. Each lunch hour she could be found on the football field coaching rugby. With the arrival of the Sisters, the parish of Papakura reached its maturity.

The stage was now set — A school was born.

We are now approaching our 50th Jubilee, to be celebrated in 2004.

Sister Adrienne
Principal 1963 - 1966

Sister Richard
Principal 1966 - 1968

Sister Catherine
Principal 1969 - 1974

Mr Welsh
Principal 1975 - 1998

Kids Web Sites

Mrs Simpson recently handed out a number of children’s literature websites that could be of interest to you as parents and your children. These websites are as more»

Mrs Simpson recently handed out a number of children’s literature websites that could be of interest to you as parents and your children. These websites are as follows:

www.cool-reads.co.uk
Books for 10 - 15 year old readers that have been reviewed by the same age group

www.myhomellbrary.org
Excellent book plates to download and advice on finding classic children’s literature

www.clfnz.org.nz
This site is for those with a developing interest in New Zealand literature for children

Click the following links for some fun and educational web sites for kids:

Sunday Star-Times NiE Kids

Auckland Zoo

Auckland Meseum

Te Papa