Ms Hutchinson with her mother Denyse who came from Hamilton to support her daughter. by Madeleine Castle

Kia ora koutou katoa

It has been an amazing week of celebration at John Paul II.

On Wednesday, we celebrated our school’s Feast Day on Pope St John Paul II’s birthday. This also marked the special occasion of the Sacrament of Confirmation for Merv Ellis and me, along with our students Emily Berry, Samantha Fahey, Flynn Swinburn, Rosara Delury-Gorrie, Kyra Johnson and Charlotte Jamieson. It was a beautiful mass and Mrs Pope and the Catholic Character team excelled themselves. 

On a personal note, it was a privilege to share this day with my mum, Denyse, who flew down from Hamilton for the event. She was so impressed with our students and their fantastic positive attitudes and smart uniforms! 

 Thank you to all those who came to mass to support their family members and friends who were making their confirmation. Being together for the first time since February 2020 for a whole school mass made it all the more special indeed.

Our student leadership did a superb job after mass, putting on house activities and running the Shave for a Cure event. Our brave students and teachers sacrificed their locks, raising over $5,000 for leukemia and blood cancer research. Poor Mr Steggles took one for the team when his challenged the students reach $5000 for donations then he would shave his head. It was an incredible last-minute push to get the money over the line, with some $100 donations coming in and students producing $$$ to see him in the hairdresser’s chair. Thanks to Tasha Murphy, (Pyper's mum) from  and Mayor Tania Gibson for shearing(!) their time and expertise for this excellent cause. For photos, take a look at our Instagram page @jpii.hs

Our first XV acquitted themselves well at the game against Grey High on Wednesday afternoon, playing hard and fair, but narrowly losing the game. It is such a highlight to see our students excelling both in and out of the classroom. Matty Molloy in my Year 11 English class was a boss on the field. Eddy Motu, fresh from Fiji, made his debut for the team and made a great impact on the game. It was great to see Connor Rae as the waterboy and Max Mirfin as a touch judge contributing to the game. Big congratulations to Jasmine Dodemaide for her debut as our new Sports Coordinator, and to Emily Berry for coaching our team on the day. Follow our sports page on Instagram @johnpaul_sports

To cap off an already awesome day, Susan Smith’s Year 10 Drama class had their opening performance of Adolph’s Girls on Wednesday night. It was a stunning performance of an important play, with rich themes around prejudice and ignorance, power and control. There were moments where the audience audibly gasped. Congratulations to the cast for their powerful performances and thank you to the audience for their support. Here’s hoping for another full house tonight!

Next week we have the Year 10 cohort out on camp at Boyle River. They are set to have a fantastic time and we will report back in an upcoming newsletter about their camp experience.

Last week we published the link to a survey about what you would like to see in a fortnightly snapshot report. We are so grateful to the people who have responded and wish to keep the survey live for another week. We will publish the results for you in next week’s newsletter. If you still wish to contribute your ideas, please follow the link https://forms.office.com/r/M3J2J9wYiC and let us know.

Ngā mihi nui

Renée Hutchinson

Principal