School life is very busy at the moment and we are celebrating Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. Our kapahaka and Māori students put on an outstanding concert in the auditorium on Wednesday and our whānau committee have run a range of activities centred around te reo.

Staff study of the language has increased and students are noticing increased incorporation of te reo in the classroom, which is fantastic to hear. Well done to all our staff!

We extend congratulations to our new Board of Trustees (see article in this newsletter) and thanks the other nominees who stood for service. I am sure this new Board will do a great job governing the school through the next three years. This is going to include the extensive rebuild which will start next year.

All our seniors are in examinations at the moment. This has been a significant logistical exercise with over 300 reader/writer sessions to be organised and “housed”. Every space, nook and cranny in the school is being utilised. Best wishes to all our students through their examinations, which form important preparation for the external NZQA examinations in November and are important for derived grade evidence.

There are significant congratulations to go out. We are very excited and proud of two of our sports teams who have won national titles – our top hockey team winning the Federation cup (national secondary girls’ championship) during winter tournament and our 1st XV rugby team winning through to share the national trophy in a nail biting game against Manukura School last weekend.

The final was a tough competitive game and the team gave their all. It was a fair reflection of the game that the tied result meant the title was shared with Manukura, who we extend congratulations to as well.

In a similar vein but in the cultural arena, here is the link to hear Estella Wallace's composition Ka mate te reo i te reaka kotahi broadcast nationally on Radio New Zealand Concert. It has been picked up by RNZ as part of Te Wiki o te Reo Maori and aired on 13 September. Her piece is about it taking one generation to lose a reo and three generations to get it back.   https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/live/concert

It is always uplifting to be able to be with the girls at an event or in a concert or just meeting up. It reminds me again and again what fabulous young people we have in our school, how talented they are in all their myriad of ways and how much fun they are to be with.

Ngā mihi