The children took great pride in preparing the vegetable soup for our Matariki celebration, held in July.

The preparation of these vegetables links back to
Te Whāriki strand Well-Being
Children experience an environment where health is promoted; Children learn how to respect and care for themselves and others because everyone is precious to god.
As well as Te Whāriki strand Exploration
The child learns through active exploration of the environment; They gain confidence in and control of their bodies.

We love having a dress up day in the school holidays!

At St Mary’s Preschool we enjoy supporting our families with celebrations from their culture.

We have an Irish family in our centre, and we look forward to celebrating St Patrick’s Day with them.
St Patrick was the Catholic Patron Saint of Ireland, he was a missionary who helped to bring Christianity to Ireland.

Today is Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the season of Lent. It is a time when many Christians prepare themselves for Easter by observing a period of fasting, repentance, sacrifice and self discipline. For many this means either giving up something or taking on something, both with the intent of bringing ourselves closer to God.

The ashes remind us to turn our heart towards God.

We are very blessed to have a family in our centre, who also run the Youth Group at the Star of the Sea Marlborough parish.
Mieke kindly offered to perform a liturgy for us this morning, placing ashes on our heads, with the phrase “Jesus loves you”. Thank you Mieke for your lovely words.
A liturgy is a time where we all come together to share the word of Jesus Christ our saviour and to give thanks.

Mieke and her children also kindly decorated love hearts for us to give to one another to share our kind hearts

Even with the awful rain, thunder and lightning, we had a wonderful time on our float for the Marlborough 4 Fun Christmas Parade.
Thank you to Freddie H’s parents for loaning us the hay for the day, and to Central Express Limited for the use of the truck for the day. You guys rock!

And of course, our amazing families who turned up on the day despite the weather, to walk with us, you guys are incredible. I love our preschool community.