We have been very lucky to have Jessika from College Riffles visit us over the past few weeks giving the children the opportunity to take part in Rippa Rugby training sessions. Rippa rugby is a very popular sport in New Zealand and is a great way for children to learn ball handling and running skills, hand eye coordination and team building skills.  The children have enjoyed these sessions, and it has been great seeing them having fun and growing in confidence in their ability.

On Thursday 21st, we supported Down Syndrome Day.  The purpose of this day is to start a conversation about Down Syndrome.  We had a wonderful assortment of shoes and socks in support of this day.

St Patrick's Day was celebrated with a green themed Mufti Day, with students and staff getting in the the spirit of the day with an array of creative and fun costumes! A gold coin donation was collected, with  funds donated to the Caritas Lenten appeal.

After a few years absence, the Life Education Van and Educator visited Mt Carmel School, delighting the Children. The aim of the mobile unit is to educate and empower children to make healthy choices. The Children enjoyed sessions leaning about food and nutrition, physical safety, relationship building and of course meeting Harold.

To celebrate Chinese New Year, the children have been taking part in a variety of activities including creating a life size Dragon, making Chinese Lanterns, learning how to use chop sticks, story telling and creating  Dragon artwork
Xīnnián kuàilè!

Mt Carmel Year 4 and 5 students recently enjoyed an exciting day at Mairangi Bay to learn about beach safety.

The lifeguards from Surf Lifesaving New Zealand passionately explained the importance of swimming between the flags, how to identify a rip and what to do if you ever get caught in one. They also went over some important sun safety tips. The students loved being shown the life-saving equipment, especially the IRB!  Not surprisingly, the highlight of the day was spending the afternoon in the sea boogie boarding and participating in water confidence activities.

Hopefully, our Year 4 and 5 students are now better educated about  how to recognise and avoid potential hazards to enable them to stay safe.

As part of the Christmas festivities, the Junior School Celebrated the Feast of St Nicholas by taking part in the Sinterklaas tradition. According to the tradition, good children are given a small gift by St Nicholas on 6th December which is placed in a shoe or sock that is left out the previous night.  The Junior School children have enjoyed learning about other Christmas traditions, and were very excited to open their shoe/sock when they arrived at school in the morning to see what surprises were inside!

The first days in November mark two special feast days in the Catholic Church; the feast of All Saints on November 1 and the feast of All Souls on November 2.  To give our Mt Carmel students the opportunity to celebrate All Saints Day, the children participated in a dress up day.  The children learnt more about our many wonderful heavenly friends and got to choose a saint that appealed to them to dress up as that saint for the day.

What a wonderful show!  Our whole school production of 'The Best of Broadway' was a fabulous showcase of our talented students, and the enthusiasm on the children's faces was clear for all to see.  A video recording link of the show will be available soon.   To view our photos click on the images below.