Firstly, I just want to say how proud John Paul II is of Ruby Tui, not only for representing NZ at the Olympics but coming home with a Gold Medal. An amazing performance from a former student, and one we can all look up to.

Thank you to all of the Yr 11-13 families who came to our recent student/parent/teacher conversations - which followed on from school reports last term. We had an excellent turnout, and I was very impressed seeing the students leading these conversations. I also enjoyed meeting up with many parents for the first time.

Last Friday we hosted the West Coast Science Fair. Congratulations to all of the students who entered their fabulous science boards and participated. John Paul II can be very proud of our excellent results. It was great to see the following JPII students feature in the placings:

Best Overall: Cameron Klempel (Year 9) - Tessallations.
Senior: Jasmine Paneda & Riley Lindsay - Lasers.
Year 10: Runner Up – Kyra Johnson - Growing plants on Mars.
Year 9: 1st – Cameron Klempel - Tessellations.
Runner Up – Mark Morrison & Isaac Wallis - Laminated Wood.

A big thank you to the Science department for encouraging and supporting the students in their research, and to Mr Steggles for being on the organising committee, and leading the day held here at JPII.

We have a number of students attending the Catholic School's Jubilate in Christchurch today. They will be attending Mass and then performing at a concert tonight. Good luck to these students, and well done for representing our school along with St Patrick's.

I have enjoyed getting around some JPII netball games over the last week, I witnessed some tough competition along the way. Well done to the players involved in the WCSS Senior Netball tournament, and thank you to the coaches and referees who support our tamariki.

It was also great to see one of our young students acknowledged by the West Coast Basketball Association, for his dedication to refereeing, well done to Jack Byrne in Year 11, you are a fabulous ambassador for our school.

Please be aware the school will be closed on Wednesday 11th August for an Accord Day (Teacher Only Day) that the Ministry of Education has given to all secondary schools to work on the NCEA changes.

It has been a very entertaining and busy week. It was neat getting to meet some of our parents and caregivers from JPII, and I welcome you all to please come and make yourselves known to me.

Nga mihi nui

Angela Sloane