Message from the Principal

Tēnā koutou e te Avonhead whānau

With only a week to go, that is almost Term 1 done for 2024. Even though it has been a slightly longer term (11 weeks), it seems to have flown by with a few public holidays, the day-to-day busyness of school and a number of events and activities talking place to close out the term.

Last Friday, we held our first Mix and Mingle evening for the year. We had a wonderful turn out and the celebration of our Filipino community was fantastic. Thank you to everyone who came along and a very special thank you to our Filipino whānau who put on a memorable evening.

On Tuesday last week, our Year 5 and 6 team enjoyed taking part in Top Team. This is always fun and gets the students working together, whilst also engaging in exciting activities. On Wednesday, we had 11 students participate in the Canterbury Primary School's Swimming Sports at the Selwyn Aquatic Centre. This is the top level for swimming in Canterbury and we were so proud of all the participants who represented Avonhead extremely well. On the same day we also took part in the inaugural Year 7 and 8 FlagFootballtournamentatMarshlandDomain. With only a couple of weeks to prepare we had a very pleasing result, coming in 2nd place. Well done to the team for showing our values of excellence and respect.

Last weekend was a longer one than usual due to Easter falling in the school term this year. We hope everyone had a lovely long weekend and managed to relax, enjoy some family time and not over indulge on too much chocolate.

Some students may have noticed a new addition in our library. We had a very thoughtful donation of a large wooden dinosaur from one of our junior families. It has been a great source of conversation and has brought up some wonderful discussion points around dinosaurs since it arrived.

This week, we had a number of Year 5 and 6 students take part in the North West Touch Tournament at English Park. We entered two teams in the competition. Our A Team came 6th in their division and our B Team came 4th. Well done to all of our touch players and a big thank you to the staff and parents who helped out on the day.

On Thursday our Year 7 and 8 Team went over to Quail Island as part of our school wide theme of ‘Kaitiakitanga - Guardianship of the Land’. It was a great way to reinforce what they have been covering during class lessons. Next week, they head off to Travis Wetlands to further extend their learning.

Make sure you keep an eye on our calendar as we have a very busy final week with Korfball, League and Hockey tournaments taking place, lunch with the Principal for those lucky enough to have their name drawn out of the Avonhead Attitude awards at Assembly, our first Musical Soiree of 2024 and the Year 7 and 8 wetlands excursions.

Just a reminder that the school pool closes for the season next week on Thursday 11 April. If you have a pool key, could these please be returned to the school office so we can process your bond refund. Once again a big thank you to all of the parent helpers who volunteered to assist with the pool checks over the summer break.

I will send a very short final newsletter next week with some updates happening over the holiday break and Term 2.

Ngā mihi nui,

Micah Hocquard

Principal

"Whāia e koe te iti kahurangi ki te tūohu koe, me he maungateitei" - Pursue excellence – should you stumble, let it be to a lofty mountain