Kia ora, e te whānau

Thank you to everyone today for your calm and sensible behaviour as we dealt with a serious assault. We will be in touch with both families over the break and hope to have a resolution before term starts. We appreciate that everyone deals with situations like this in different ways, so the staff are ready to support students next term if they have any concerns. Please be reassured that everyone is safe and we’re really grateful for the very quick action from the Police, Ambulance and Ministry of Education staff. 

Term Two is always fast and furious and this year was no exception. I hope you had a restful Matariki last weekend and had a chance to stop and reflect on the year past and the year ahead. We are already planning for 2025, so we’ve been doing quite a bit of reflecting in the last few weeks and, as always, there will be some changes coming for 2025, although nothing quite as major as this year.

I’m really grateful to the parents who came along to the parent forum sessions in recent weeks. Parents are randomly invited to these so it is always interesting to hear what they say and what their concerns are. It’s also nice to read the positive comments as well of course, but it’s the ‘What could WGC do better’ section that we take particular note of, especially where there are common themes across a couple or all sessions, as there were this year. 

Here is the feedback from the sessions: Year 9; Year 10/11; Year 12/13:

The comments in italics are my answers to questions that we talked about on the night. I haven’t included a couple of comments that were about specific departments - I have talked to the relevant HODs instead so that they are aware of them.

The common themes this year were about a need for greater consistency from staff in some areas;  parents wanting more information or in some cases better communication; Parent teacher interviews; and lots of questions about property.

We will survey all parents about parent teacher interviews again later this year - what we do now is based on 2022 parent feedback and things have changed again since then, so you can expect to be asked some time next term. 

It was interesting that the answer to many of the questions that were asked were already on the website. It is worth having a look if you aren’t sure about something - it is searchable. Or you can always ask your child - they probably know the answer, even if they aren’t always keen to share it with you! They can also show you what is on their Google classroom - you can’t be added to that, but it’s where key work is uploaded in each subject.

It was good to have great feedback on the parent seminar in June about managing students’ online lives. I’ve heard plenty of people made changes that night!

Our next parent seminar is on Wednesday 4 September with Dr Judith Locke, author of The Bonsai student, which I know many of you have read. This will be at Wellington College again and Judith‘s focus is on Building resilient teenagers. Put it in your diary now - she is fabulous. It’s from 7 - 8.30pm with tea and coffee available from 6.30pm. This is NOT for students - believe me you won’t want them hearing her tips and spoiling the surprise factor when you implement them! 

Judith is also doing a session for our staff that morning. To make the most of this opportunity. ALL students will have a late late start that day. So no P1 classes/25th period sessions for anyone, we’ll start teaching P2 at 10.25am. This means the staff can have 90 minutes with Judith to begin the day. 

As the term ends I want to farewell Paul Holmes (Asst HOD Science) who leaves after 15 years to move to Hutt Intermediate; Jenny Platford (Counsellor) who is going to St Peter’s, Cambridge and Laura Gardner (English) who is taking leave for two months. We wish them all well as they head to their new adventures.

It’s been great to see so many families at sport, the Fia Fia night and productions recently. There are lots more opportunities to engage next term as we get into planning for 2025. I look forward to seeing you at them.

Ngā manaakitanga

Julia