St+Mary's+Tauranga

__St Mary's Tauranga__

We have been exploring our school values. We have consulted our parent community with a questionnaire based on suggestions from a MOE brochure.

This was also used to engage our school PTA group at their monthly meeting. One parent was a staff member at Aquinas - our local Catholic college. She suggested we look at their values set. We could be linked if similar. They refer to these as their touchstones. They are: Scholarship, Prayer, Truth, Family, Joy and Service.

The questionnaire was used again to engage the BOT at their monthly meeting. Our parish priest is helping us explore the Gospel values at our next staff meeting. This was an exceptionally good meeting. We came away with a set of values that connect to -with our school. Our crest contains the Latin words meaning Mercy and Faith. Truth came through as a strong value. Learning as a strengtha nd direction was our fourth. We settled as one with these four and their extended meanings. So.... **Mission** **Statement** ** “Child with Spirit” ** St Mary’s Catholic School is dedicated to ensuring all students learn and live Christian moral values and spirituality in the Catholic tradition, develop full academic potential while being exposed to a diversity of cultural experiences in a caring environment.
 * Truth: ** Incorporating integrity, honesty, discernment, reflection, responsibility
 * Mercy: ** Incorporating compassion, love, respect self and others, tolerance, forgiveness, mind and body, health, relationship, morality, charity, sportsmanship, leadership, equity, equality, kindness, caring, inclusiveness, humility, self efficacy, politeness, empathy, self esteem, diversity, courage
 * Faith: ** Incorporating prayer, hope, joy, witness, communio, family, community, belonging, trust, creation, common good, ownership
 * Wisdom: ** Incorporating perseverance, resilience, excellence, cooperation, inspiration, creativity, sustainability, transformation, learning, commitment, guardianship, sharing, self sufficiency, effort, pride, independent, enjoyable learning, purposeful learning, curiosity, communication, adaptability, confidence, innovativeness

CONSULTATION DOCUMENT We are now looking into our __School Vision__. Consultation is required. I am using the 'Preparing to lead Curriculum Change: Vision, principles and Values booklet to guide my actions. Over the next month it is our intention to raise awareness and update our school’s direction for the future. We require your help with your consideration and thoughts. The following is our present Vision Statement and our School Values followed by the Ministry of Education Revised Curriculum Vision statement.
 * School Direction **

St Mary’s will be a welcoming, learning community where we live by the teachings and values in the Catholic tradition. We will:
 * School Vision Statement (2004 – revisited 5 years)**
 * develop a passion for learning,
 * be a place of safety and security,
 * be a place of innovation, creativity and fun,
 * strive for excellence,
 * offer opportunities for learning for all children,
 * foster a culture of moral sensitivity and self discipline, and
 * express care and compassion for those in the school and wider community.

Truth Mercy Faith Wisdom
 * St Mary’s School Values (2008) **

Young people who will be confident, connected, actively involved, lifelong learners.
 * Ministry of Education Vision Statement **

At our recent parent meeting our guest speaker, Mark Treadwell, may have had you thinking more about where we are going. We have been talking about our KnowledgeNET and Personalising Learning techniques. The question is one of relevance and the future. After the two statements are some questions to elicit your thoughts. Please talk to another parent about these discussion starters and the put pen to paper so that your thoughts are considered when we make our changes. We will provide an ‘on line’ survey using the St Mary’s website in the near future, so you the parents can fully participate in forming our vision.
 * Discussion: **
 * 1) How do we want our school to be in the future? How different might it be from how the school was five years ago?
 * 1) What characteristics will our school need for our students to feel confident, connected, lifelong learners who are actively involved in school life?
 * 1) Does the vision statement that we currently have set the direction for the way we want our school to be?