Reflections of Term 3 - Acting Principal Andrea Griffin

It has been my privilege to be Acting Principal for the past few weeks as Phil Holstein has been having some long awaited-for surgery.  As I was writing my report for the Board of Trustees, I reflected on what a roller-coaster of a term this has been.  It reminded me of the ancient saying, 'There is nothing permanent except change'.

We have seen many changes in our way of life and our approach to learning.  As a team, we have been looking at how and what we can learn from our 'at home' teaching and learning experiences.  We have been listening to our students and the feedback from parents to help guide our future planning.

In among our ups and downs of Covid-19 preparation we have had teams of teachers and leaders working on planning for some new building. We are the last school to benefit from the Canterbury earthquake rebuild and are excited about a new Science and technology block, some court and swimming pool refurbishment and a new learning support and library building in the first phase of this project.

Life changed for all of us on the 15th March last year.  This term we saw the trial of the mosque shooter.  At this time we remembered our student that was killed -Haziq Mohd Tarmizi. We remembered and acknowledged Haziq’s family during the week of sentencing in the Christchurch High Court. Flowers and messages were sent from the school. Haziq’s family were made special guests at the Orchestral Showcase. Gabriel’s Oboe was played in memory of Haziq and a recording was made and given to the family.

What does not change are the continued successes of Burnside students. Winter tournament was a week where some teams played, some teams hoped to play and some teams didn't play.  Keeping up with the constant change has been head-spinning.  I was, however, able to congratulate 11 different teams in my Board report. In addition to this we had over 50 students acknowledged for their successes this term. 

I am proud to be a part of a school where so many students succeed in such a wide array of activities.

Change is always upon us but what does not change is the way that students respect and honour our vision of 'personal excellence and care for others'.

Ngā mihi nui

Andrea Griffin