Tena koutou ki te whanau o te Cathedral Grammar School

I hope you have had a great fortnight. Your child(ren) has/have settled well into the new term and are engaged in wonderful learning opportunties across the school.

I am proud to work in a school that places children at the heart of all we do, focuses on positive relationships and continually seeks to improve, evolve and adapt. Another new initiative Miss Dowgray has introduced is Jump Jam. This is a fun dance/movement to music programme which can either be an in-school activity on its own or something we can aspire to be fantastic at and win national competitions! We have had great interest with a Y5 team, Y6&7 team and a Y8 team been put together, with a view to entering the 'first year' competition here in Christchurch. Many thanks to Mrs Botting, Miss Folster and Miss Ashworth and Ms Libby for coaching the teams.

I am working with our Head Leaders to rejuvenate our fortnightly 'Principal's Assembly' for the Prep Schools. We have agreed that they need to be more student centred, more interesting, engaging and fun, and a celebration of learning. We have also talked about introducing a whole school assembly once or twice per term. Some other options such as a Y4-6 assembly and a separate one targeted at the needs of our Y7&8 pupils is also being floated as an idea. Our aim is for parents to attend these assemblies like they do for our Junior School assembly. It is great to be including student voice into this process, allow them to take ownership and accountability and continue to encourage a growth mindset. 

As we aspire to nurture, know and grow your child(ren) each and every day, our focus is their hearts as well as their heads. At today's Principal's Assembly we watched this video https://www.facebook.com/JayShettyIW/videos/1995740577407064/ 

Maybe a conversation around the dinner table could be about this video? What were the key messages? What did your child take away from this? How might they think or act as a result? What does it mean for them as a student at school? How does our school support or not support this thinking? What does it mean for you as a family? It is Assessment Week next week, so it is pertinent. Of course it will mean different things to different people and families, the gems are in the conversations that follow.

We also talked about our expectation around wearing caps and hats to and from school each day. The pupils were able to articulate superbly why this was important and have committed to collectively improving their accountability with this. We would value your support with this when they leave the house in the morning and step out of the car.

Nga mihi

Scott