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Kia ora e te whanau
Today you are enjoying a day with your children while us staff members of St Peter’s College focus on wellbeing and catching up on the educational changes that are coming our way. To name some of the ones that will directly impact our teachers and students, there is a new curriculum refresh across all subject areas, beginning with the History curriculum with the incorporation of more local and national histories this year. There is a review of NCEA underway with many changes already being signalled, we have Treaty of Waitangi obligations and new Wellbeing, Relationship and Sexuality guidelines. The Education Review office (ERO) have also begun their new evaluation partnership work with us this year. Our evaluative partner is Mrs Christine Gold, and we look forward to sharing with you soon what our agreed focus for academic improvement will be over the next few years. We hope this long weekend is spent in peace and is a time for all families to connect, speak about their greatest concerns with each other and come back to work and school on Tuesday refreshed. We are now embarking on winter, a time of hibernation and short days. Children and adults are tired, and silly behaviours and mistakes are sometimes made. We understand this and we are here to support our young people on their journey to adulthood, but we do this expecting all interactions to be entered into respectfully and the dignity and Mana of all people is upheld. Thank you to those of you who responded to the survey on the school ball recently and after further consultation with our staff I have decided that our senior ball will be for year 12’s and 13’s only going forward, with year 13’s only having the privilege of bringing an outside ball partner. Students can attend two balls here during their time at school and hopefully this minimises some of the financial and social pressures we have been witnessing. The words of Christ in the story of the loaves and the fishes where He tells His disciples, "Bring them here to me" and “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted,” reminds us to bring what we have. These words are so relevant to our St Peter’s community – bring what you have. Being concerned about the needs of others is different from doing something about it. While we may feel that we may not have much to bring, if we hold back and keep what we have to ourselves, who knows what opportunities – maybe even miracles - may be stopped from happening! Enrolments for 2022 are currently coming in, once again we are in a privileged position to have more enquiries than we can fill. Our enrolment policy is on our website and clearly states that St Peter’s College is a Catholic school for Catholic families. We strive to provide a holistic education of excellence in all areas whether academic, spiritual, sporting or cultural. To do this well we need our families to commit to 7 years of education here from Year 7 to Year 13. We are not an intermediate school that serves as a training ground for non-Catholic boarding schools in Dunedin. The concept of “enrolling the family,” which is central to our approach at the College, means that each family is asked to bring what they have and to add it to what other families bring. This is community. This happens in many ways and collectively makes a significant difference. Every contribution, big or small, matters – nothing is wasted. It is so heartening to see so many events at the College which show this in action: Our families coming to the Whanau conferences and the Year 7 & 8 student led conferences and showing a genuine interest and concern for their child’s education and wellbeing.
Thank you to the St Peter’s community for what you bring and do! Charity fulfils the Law. Tara Quinney Principal
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