This week's focus was on our Catholic Character through the celebration of Shrove Tuesday, and the Lenten liturgy for Ash Wednesday. Tuesday saw the Catholic Mission team make several hundred pancakes and pikelets for the school, and hold a hotly contested pancake race. Congratulations to Saints house for the win - though I hear there are protests in the offing! This week we observed Ash Wednesday through purple ribbons instead of ashes to symbolise our commitment to Jesus Christ during the Lenten season. It's lovely seeing these ribbons still on students' wrists today.

We have been working hard on the strategic plan to set the direction for JPII for the next two-three years. This has been emailed to all parents, students, and staff, and is with Ngati Waewae for review. We have incorporated the feedback from the consultation process in term four 2023 to create a plan that is aspirational for our learners and inline with the National Education Learning Priorities. You can find out more about these here. Welcome feedback on the goals by email to office@johnpaul.ac.nz by 9am on Friday 23 February.

We have made the decision to move to fortnightly school newsletters. Many secondary schools report once or twice termly only and have a higher readership than we do with weekly newsletters. We want to ensure that your newsletter is informative and useful, so your next newsletter will be emailed to you on Friday 1 March. We will update you about the school's 2023 NCEA achievement in that edition.

We hope to see as many of our Year 9 families as possible for the staff-family picnic next Wednesday evening at JPII. We've been rained off today and we're hoping for a stunning West Coast day on Wednesday 21st February from 5:30-7:30pm. Bring a picnic, fish 'n' chips, or something for the bbq, and meet our staff and families.

Wishing you all a safe and enjoyable weekend.

Yours in Christ
Renee Hutchinson
Principal