Kia ora te whānau. In the days following the publication of our last Newsletter, we heard that two of our long serving staff had been appointed to new schools. Both are leaving at the end of term and I did not want to wait until next term, once they had left, for you to hear officially about this - and I also wanted a chance to farewell them properly.

Melissa Denzler started here as Deputy Principal in 2013, coming to us from Wainuiomata High School. Next term she will start at Wellington East Girls’ College as their Deputy Principal Wellbeing.

Melissa has been a pivotal member of the senior team at WGC, working hard to develop our Wellbeing focus and driving much of the change in this area.  She has also been hugely involved with the development of our school values, the move to wānanga classes and recently in the development of our culturally responsive practice.  Melissa has always been an active supporter of the whānau and fono groups, Kapa haka and Tu Tangata. She has also taught in the English department.

We will really miss Melissa’s professionalism, her commitment to her students and the fun she brings to everything she does. It has been a pleasure to work with her and we shall miss her enormously - but we also know that we will see her often and the ties between our two schools will be even stronger as a result of her move.

We hope to appoint Melissa’s successor by mid May, with a view to that person starting at the beginning of Term 3. 

Melissa’s parting comments:

Kia ora koutou

After 8 wonderful years at WGC, I am moving on to a new school, Wellington East Girls’ College, to work with the senior leadership team there.  It has been a real privilege to be a part of this school and its community.  Our students are incredible young people, and our staff work so hard for them.   I am incredibly proud of the Wellbeing focus at WGC.  Our school values of manaakitanga, manawaroa, ngākau pono and whakarangatira reinforce what is important to us as a community.  When we live these values, I believe we will shape a better, more equitable and kinder future for us all.  Look after yourselves and others.

Kia hora te marino, kia whakapapa pounamu te moana, kia terete kārohirohi i mua i tō huarahi
(May peace be widespread, may the sea glisten like greenstone, and may the shimmer of light guide you on your way)

Bridget Shaw  has been Assistant HOD in the Visual Art department for 17 years.  A painting specialist, Bridget was also a Dean for 5 years.

Bridget has been appointed to a position at New Plymouth Girls’ High School, the school she attended and an area she has wanted to return to for a while.  Art jobs do not come up very often in Taranaki, so while we are incredibly sorry to see her go we are also extremely excited for her that she is able to return home and NPGHS are thrilled to have appointed such a stunning teacher.

We know that her classes will miss her enormously; they are always such incredibly focussed work spaces, with Bridget in her lovely apron, talking to each student about their work and their next steps.  Many of you will have seen the results of that teaching at our annual Art folio exhibitions - along with the exceptional NCEA and Scholarship results her students have achieved.

Bridget has also been a lovely colleague; helping with sets for school shows, our PPTA branch, sharing her wonderful cooking skills and helping with the social committee.

Thank you for all the work you have put in over the last 17 years Bridget. We so appreciate it and we wish you every success as you head home.

We are very fortunate to have an Art specialist, Miriam Noble, who can take Bridget’s classes next term while we appoint her replacement. 

Bridget’s parting comments:

After many happy years teaching at WGC, I have made the difficult but exciting decision to move to my home town of New Plymouth.  I actually made the decision over Christmas of 2019, but then had to wait out the crazy year that was 2020, for an Art teaching job to become available. I am thrilled to have been offered a job at New Plymouth Girls' High School, and will be moving house over the Term 1 holidays.

My very big sadness about leaving WGC are the wonderful relationships I have built up over the past 17 years with colleagues and students, past and present, and I will really miss my 2021 Year 9,10,11,12 AND13 classes, as well as my lovely Wānanga class, 10SHB.

WGC has been a superb place to work, with an abundance of really excellent staff who always go out of their way to help and support our ākonga.  I would like to thank Julia Davidson for being so supportive in helping me get a foot in the door of NPGHS, and I would especially like to acknowledge Jayne Labrum, the HOD of Visual Art, for being a wonderful work mate and HOD - we have made a great duo over the years, with our strengths complimenting each other perfectly.

Farewell to the WGC community - it feels very odd to be leaving, but I also look to the future with excitement.

Ngā Mihi - Melissa and Bridget.

Julia Davidson
Principal