Our belief in, and our relationship with Jesus is at the heart of who we are as a Catholic School.
Catholic education is above all a question of communicating with Christ, of helping to form Christ in the lives of others.' - St Pope John Paul II, 1979
'First and foremost every Catholic educational institution is a place to encounter the living God who in Jesus Christ reveals his transforming love and truth' - Pope Benedict XVI, 2008'Catholic education gives soul to world’. - Pope Francis, 2018.
'First and foremost every Catholic educational institution is a place to encounter the living God who in Jesus Christ reveals his transforming love and truth' - Pope Benedict XVI, 2008'Catholic education gives soul to world’. - Pope Francis, 2018.
We believe that our school has to be a sacred place where everyone in our community - parents/whanau, students and staff are encouraged to deepen their relationship with Jesus by the way we live our lives.
We are encouraged to see Jesus in all we meet. We are encouraged to pray and know that Jesus is the reason that makes our school different from all of the other schools in Taumarunui. This is our Special Catholic Character.
Prayer is central to what we do, our school day starts with prayer, our staff pray together, we encourage our students into a life of prayer.
Our Special Catholic Character defines the quality of our relationships. It reminds us that when there is conflict, that we need to return to the sacredness that is in all of us and acknowledge that, although we can all mistakes, it is important to take responsibility, to forgive the other and ourselves and then to move on. It is the 'putting right the counts.'
We are known as a State Integrated school, part of the State Integrated school system in New Zealand of which the Catholic church represents the largest group of schools.
Prior to 1975, Catholic schools were private entities that had formed in communities by parish communities who desired a catholic education for their children and so 'built' the schools and actively sort religious orders to staff their schools.
At St Patrick's the community encouraged the Sisters of St Joseph of the Scared Heart, 'the Brown Joes', an Australian based order founded by St Mary of the Cross MacKillop who became Australia's first Saint in 2016. This order of sisters worked with poor children and families and followed the workers into Taumarunui actually down the main trunk line. The charisma of the Josephites is very much part of the school's ethos in echoing Mary MacKillop's words' 'never see a need without doing something about it.'
With the passing of the Private Schools Conditional Integration Act in 1975, the then private 'church' schools had the opportunity to enter the state education system which allowed schools who entered, access to state funding while maintaining their 'Catholic identity.' Each school has their own integration agreement with the government and within this agreement allows for the church to retain ownership of the buildings and its Catholic character while being able to access funding nearly on the same footing as state schools relating to curriculum.
We are encouraged to see Jesus in all we meet. We are encouraged to pray and know that Jesus is the reason that makes our school different from all of the other schools in Taumarunui. This is our Special Catholic Character.
Prayer is central to what we do, our school day starts with prayer, our staff pray together, we encourage our students into a life of prayer.
Our Special Catholic Character defines the quality of our relationships. It reminds us that when there is conflict, that we need to return to the sacredness that is in all of us and acknowledge that, although we can all mistakes, it is important to take responsibility, to forgive the other and ourselves and then to move on. It is the 'putting right the counts.'
We are known as a State Integrated school, part of the State Integrated school system in New Zealand of which the Catholic church represents the largest group of schools.
Prior to 1975, Catholic schools were private entities that had formed in communities by parish communities who desired a catholic education for their children and so 'built' the schools and actively sort religious orders to staff their schools.
At St Patrick's the community encouraged the Sisters of St Joseph of the Scared Heart, 'the Brown Joes', an Australian based order founded by St Mary of the Cross MacKillop who became Australia's first Saint in 2016. This order of sisters worked with poor children and families and followed the workers into Taumarunui actually down the main trunk line. The charisma of the Josephites is very much part of the school's ethos in echoing Mary MacKillop's words' 'never see a need without doing something about it.'
With the passing of the Private Schools Conditional Integration Act in 1975, the then private 'church' schools had the opportunity to enter the state education system which allowed schools who entered, access to state funding while maintaining their 'Catholic identity.' Each school has their own integration agreement with the government and within this agreement allows for the church to retain ownership of the buildings and its Catholic character while being able to access funding nearly on the same footing as state schools relating to curriculum.
