WelCom August 2020
Mary Kleinsman-Powell, Principal/DRS
During the Covid-19 lockdown weeks, St Mary’s School in Foxton stayed connected with families through phone calls, emails, Chromebook [laptop] deliveries and resource parcels. Facebook kept us powerfully connected with the posting of schoolwide prayer.
We embraced ‘Welcome to Online Learning’ with our main platform and the interactive, innovative ‘Seesaw’. Our staff worked tirelessly putting together engaging activities for the children. These included our smiling videos and tutorials as well as localised learning, such as setting up a prayer table or spiritual corner with Easter, Anzac Day and Mother’s Day activities, a favourite toy hunt, two-metre challenges,
and more.
All this achieved a human element to the digital world while keeping our staff together through Zoom meetings and blogs so that they too felt connected. The value of whanaungatanga (powerful connections) and aroha (love) that we are still experiencing in an adapting environment means we continue to be unified as a school and a community.
Kia tau te Rangimarie!
Anzac Day, 25 April 2021, National Day of Remembrance
WelCom April 2021 Te Rā o ANZAC, 25 o Paenga-whāwhā 2021, He Rā Whakamaharatanga a Motu New Zealand-sponsored peace talks between Bougainville groups and at times the Papua New Guinea…
Pope’s peace pilgrimage to Iraq
WelCom April 2021 Last month Pope Francis defied security fears and the Covid-19 pandemic to visit Iraq, one of the world’s oldest and most persecuted Christian communities. His trip was…
Cardinal apologises to abuse survivors
WelCom April 2021 The Catholic Church in Aotearoa New Zealand has made a formal apology to victims and survivors of abuse committed by priests and other Church figures. Cardinal John…