Kate Nicholson's comments

Thank you, St Peter’s College!!  As this is my final newsletter, I wish to thank all of those who have supported, encouraged and allowed me to learn and grow in my Principal role. 26 years living in Eastern Southland and teaching in three of its schools during that time, has been a significant part of my life and I am very grateful to the community in which we have raised our own family.
 
St Peter’s is a wonderful school. Sometimes, in smaller rural communities, families think that the ‘grass is greener’ elsewhere, or that boarding schools in a bigger centre must be a better option, or that our children may not get the same advantages and opportunities as other schools and towns. Having been in education for a while now, I can assure you this is absolutely not the case. St Peter’s and the Eastern Southland area provide our young people with every opportunity to play a wide range of sports at the highest level, access cultural opportunities and learning, perform on stage in large shows that they may not otherwise even get an audition for in larger centres, and gain an excellent education, with the number of students at St Peter’s gaining qualifications at a higher level than most schools in the country.  The one thing that stands out to me though, is that our young people leave Gore believing that they can make a difference in the world. They don’t expect anyone to hold them back and they continue to set goals and achieve them. So many of us know ex-St Peter’s College ‘high-fliers’ in New Zealand and throughout the world and I am sure this has been the case for them – the glass ceiling doesn’t exist in our community and they continue to believe this wherever they go.
 
Continue to believe in St Peter’s as the best place to bring up and educate our young people - but remember to contribute and play your part in making it so. One person at the top does not make a school community; it is always a team effort and that team is strong right now. I have no doubt that with everyone continuing to pull together it will remain the same. Kia Kaha St Peter’s and farewell.


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