Greetings from St Bede’s

It’s hard to believe how different the weather is today to what we had last weekend. We thank you for your understanding on our decision to close the school on Monday. The main thought behind this decision was of course the safety of our staff and students, not only here at school, but making the journey to and from school. Our thoughts and prayers are with those who were affected by the flooding.

Last Friday at Feast Day Mass, Fr Mark Walls SM spoke about how St Bede’s is a better school now than it was 50 years ago and how it will be a better school in 50 years’ time than it is now. This was not a criticism, but applauding the fact that we as a school are committed to progress. One such area of progress is The Centre of Wellbeing (CoW), which was established in 2020. This is a centre that promotes mental health and wellbeing throughout the College community and provides specialist support and resourcing to students and their whanau who are going through personal hardship or challenge. The centre has a College Psychologist and two guidance counsellors available. The CoW will host the first Community Education Seminar on 10 June, focusing on the topic of ‘Teen Sleep’ and look forward to making these seminars a regular feature of the College calendar and providing further opportunities for whanau and community to engage with student wellbeing throughout the year.

Last weekend, our Community Office on behalf of the St Bede’s Old Boys’ Association hosted the 1964 1st XV Rugby Reunion. It was a great reunion and I was regaled with stories from their time here, not only on the Rugby field, but also in school and as Boarders. On Saturday afternoon, they had a great time as spectators watching our present 1st XV beat St Andrew’s College 35-8.

Coming up next Friday, we have our Senior Choir competing in the Big Sing regionals at the Town Hall. They were a guest choir at a Choral Evening at Cashmere High School last week, giving them the opportunity to sing on stage together and we wish them all the best for next Friday.

Enjoy the long weekend this Queen’s Birthday weekend.

Until next week,

J. G. Boyle