Comments from the Principal

Kia ora and welcome back to Term Two.
 
I am sure that all our families were very grateful for the great weather and for family togetherness as well as a little downtime over the two week break. Of course, as we reminded the students on the final day of term one with a Good Friday liturgy and then again this Monday with a Resurrection liturgy, Easter is about a lot more than holidays and chocolate. I know many of our families celebrated the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, in churches across the country.  Let us continue to remember that we are part of a much larger faith community around the world and draw on the strength and comfort that this provides.

Lord God,
At the beginning of this new term teach us to be your hands and feet.
At the beginning of this new term teach us to love as you love us.
At the beginning of this new term teach us to pray for those in need.
So that we may show our faith in action and deed.
Amen

Term Two is a very important one academically. Curriculum is well underway, and the importance of ensuring seniors are on track for NCEA and UE success is on everyone’s mind. Therefore, ensuring that homework, study, assessments and learning attitudes are consistently practiced by all students from years 7 – 13, needs to be a focus for parents, students and staff. Our learning tutors and subject teachers are always happy to have a conversation about your son or daughter’s progress, so please feel free to contact them.  There is an opportunity to meet with your child’s teachers on the 16th May when we have our whanau conferencing in the school hall. I suggest that it will be very important to have an in-depth, face to face conversation about progress and next steps, and the information discussed will build on the fortnightly ATL information you have been receiving this year. Please treat this opportunity with the importance it deserves and we look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible. Year 7&8 parents can also attend this conferencing if you wish to make appointments with your child’s ‘specialist’ subjects -  you will also have the opportunity to spend a longer period of time with homeroom teachers at the 7&8 conferencing in week 5.
 
We have had busy staff and student groups during the holidays. We welcomed back the Year 12 Vietnam history group; Gold Duke of Ed students completed another significant tramp with the support of staff, and our Kapa Haka group will return from their North Island Hikoi this afternoon. All of these opportunities for students are organized by staff wanting to extend our students’ understanding of the world and of themselves, and to provide experiences outside of the classroom to build on curriculum knowledge and personal capabilities. I am very grateful to the staff who spend months organizing these trips and then give up their own family time and holiday leave to run them.  I am sure that our school community realizes how fortunate we are to have staff in our school willing to do this for your children. I assure you this is not the case in all schools!
 
Year 10s have been told of the opportunity to apply for a leadership role as Junior House Leader. If you feel your child would benefit from this role, please encourage them to pick up an application form from the front office. These applications close next Friday.  Similarly, we know that some of our students are doing wonderful things in their own time – please consider nominating them for a Gore Youth Award, for which the nomination forms and criteria can be found on the Gore District Council website. These also close next Friday, 10th May.
 
We wish all our students who begin winter sports this week all the very best for a fruitful season built on great attitude and commitment, and thank you to all those parents who support us by offering their time to be coaches and managers of teams. We really appreciate it.
 
Have a wonderful weekend and stay safe if you are duckshooting!
 
Warm regards,


Kate Nicholson
​Principal