18/06/2023
Friday 30th June
Friday is going to be a very special day for our school community, and we want you to be a part of it with us. It costs nothing at all. Just you being here and celebrating with us all. We look forward to having you with us.
10:00am - 11:00am - Multicultural Mass in the Parish Hall. This mass is a special mass for the school as it will reflect and celebrate our cultural diversity and who we are as a community at this time.
We welcome you all to attend this special mass with us and re-join our community that is faith based. Michael McCabe will be presiding the mass with Archbishop Paul Martin.
12:00 noon - Multicultural Performance - join us and help to celebrate our special cultural identity as our beautiful children perform with songs and actions reflecting their cultural backgrounds.
It will be an uplifting performance that is quietly growing by the day as the children grow in confidence.
12:30pm Multicultural Feast - this is for our whole community. That means all of you who once attended with your whānau. Come from work and have lunch with us at school. Come and try foods from our community. It looks like we will have enough kai for at least 500 people. We have our Pasifika community, Filipino and Māori communities represented at this stage.
What a great time to really engage in our school and reconnect with your old school friends over food with our children and their whānau.
Saturday 1st July
Saturday will be another day to show off our wealth and grow here at school. Come and wander the property, have a cup of coffee, some hot chips, and a sausage or two. All provided at a small cost by SMF (St Mary’s Friends). This group is our parent funding team who support new learning and provide resources for all of our tamariki.
10:00am - 2:00pm - School and classroom walk around. See the new developments, walk through your old classrooms, and look at the displays taking you back in time to when you were at school, before and after. Enjoy this wonderful walk through with a coffee and some food from the SMF team.
There will be the tug of war rope on the raised lawn - time for some good old house rivalry to be reignited. A quiet basketball game, a bit of Touch Rugby or even a gentle game of Netball are all available. Get a team together with friends and have a friendly challenge. I am up for it if your tired bodies are…challenge has been placed!
Our senior students will be here with you as you reminisce, sharing their stories and answering any curly questions you have. They also look forward to hearing about your experiences and old war stories.
5:00pm - Pre dinner drinks in the Parish Hall
6:00pm - Dinner in the Parish Hall
Ticketed Event (scroll to the bottom of the page to purchase your dinner tickets)
It is going to be a cracker of an evening. We have special guests Archbishop Paul Martin who will say Grace and Father Michael McCabe who will toast absent friends. Mr Terry Sloan who will keep us entertained with stories and anecdotes as he MC’s the evening. Mr Clive Sullivan, the first Lay Principal of St Mary’s School as we know it now will share a few key moments in his time here as Principal as well.
DJ Bex Gardiner will keep the mood swinging to a good beat throughout the evening and a dance floor will allow some sweet moves to be made.
Agnes Takacs from Lamirana Photography will be taking informal and decade shots at the 150th Jubilee Dinner, along with photos at Sundays Mass and the opening of the Lenora Freeth Centre.
Roxanne from RB catering will feed us in style and Nat from Event rent will have us eating in a setting like we are fine dining at the Ritz.
All is planned and ready to roll.
All we need now is you!
Thanks to Roxanne we have been able to extend the selling of Tickets to next Friday 23rd June. Loads of tickets have been sold this week and we wanted to make sure all people wanting to attend had the opportunity to.
Friday 23rd June is the last day as we need to confirm numbers for catering.
Sunday 2nd July
What a day this will be. We will have our children attending Mass with you all in their fantastic uniforms with voices that are one of God’s many gifts the children will help us all to raise the roof.
Archbishop Paul Martin will preside over the mass with Father Michael McCabe by his side. Current and ex-pupils will be involved right through this special 150th Jubilee Mass.
Following the Mass, we will formally open the Freeth Whanau Room (Old Little Theatre) and also the Lenora Freeth Outdoor Play Space followed by a nice catered morning tea. Food a plenty as we acknowledge people might be a little peckish by then.
10:00am - 11:00am - Jubilee Mass in St Mary’s Church
11:15am - 11:30am - Opening of the Freeth Whanau Room and the Lenora Freeth Outdoor Play Space
11:30am onwards - food and drink in the Freeth Whanau Room
As you can see it is a fun filled and packed 3 days. Showcasing our wonderful kura and its history. History you have all been a part of and will always have had an influence on.
It is a special and blessed time for us as a school community.
We welcome you all with open arms and cannot wait to share this wonderful experience with you all.
Click this link to book your dinner tickets
You are all invited to celebrate 150 years of Schooling at St Mary’s School, Blenheim
