Kia ora, e te whānau

What a difference a year makes! It has been such a good start to the year and it’s been great to see students’ faces and hear them laughing and enjoying life again. It has certainly made me remember how grim everything was this time last year. So we’re making the most of normality and reveling in the uneventful.

Our thoughts have been with everyone who is suffering post Cyclone Gabrielle. We have a number of good contacts at Napier Girls’ High School so we are going to work with them to provide support for students who have been significantly affected. They have set up a welfare fund so we will be having a Blue & White (NGHS colours) non uniform day on Thursday 2 March. We will collect cash donations at school on the day through wānanga classes, but payment can also be made to the Wellington Girls' College bank account: 03-0518-0027013-02 or 002 Ref=daughter's name and Cyclone.

Any donations paid into the bank account will be receipted for tax purposes, but cash on the day is usually anonymous, so if the receipt is important we’d strongly recommend using internet banking.

We were delighted with the 2022 NCEA results. After three years of Covid and such a badly disrupted year for so many people last year, we weren’t sure where the results would land. So we were delighted when we saw them. This data includes every student on the roll in each year group, regardless of whether they attempted any credits, or in some cases, even attended a class last year because they were so unwell.

We also heard on 8 February that our students gained 15 Scholarships. These are completely optional exams and students take Scholarship classes in their own time, often because they enjoy the work and want to test themselves, not for any financial gain. We were delighted for these students and held a function for them and their parents before most headed off to university.

Congratulations to all of our students with their results - the graphs are in this newsletter. 

There are a few things to alert you to as the year gets under way:

• Please don’t drop off or pick up students near the school in random places in either Murphy or Pipitea St. We’ve had trouble with school buses being blocked by parent cars in Murphy St, so please stop closer to New World. And Pipitea St is so narrow you can only use the 5 minute parks just past the school

• Last year we surveyed parents about Parent interviews. 286 people responded (that’s high). The findings are included in this Newsletter - and our decisions for 2023 have been designed based on these. So there will be one interview per year open to all and then another by invitation later in the year; they’ll all be online and they’ll be in the afternoon from 1.30 - 4.30 with subject teachers

• Please check the dates section for important dates this year. Some of these have changed since the end of last year so it’s worth checking again

• Just before Christmas, the Ministry of Education told us they were delaying the demolition of Tower block, because it would have caused significant issues for us trying to work in Pipitea at the same time. They will continue to do the interior strip out and will come back in August to start on some of the external work, but the major work will begin on 31 October. They have started the process of finding an alternate venue for our students to sit their NCEA exams - the students have been told this and we’ll keep them informed as we find out more

• With the recent change in the weather it’s probably worth checking students have uniform jackets, shoes and jerseys or cardigans ready to be worn. Let’s hope things warm up again but just in case….

Ngā manaakitanga

Julia Davidson

PRINCIPAL