First up today I would like to draw your attention to the AGM of our PTA on Monday 13 March in Cafe 101 at 6pm.

The PTA is a great team of people who are focused on providing opportunities for parents to engage with the school and each other and to raise funds to provide additional resources for students at school so they benefit right now.

The team has already been busy this year providing a coffee welcome on the first morning of school for the parents of our new Year 9 students. They also provided fantastic catering support for the Year 9 parent orientation and social evening which attracted several hundred parents, not to mention second hand uniform sales during January. There is a cybersafety parent evening coming up shortly this month and mid year the PTA organises and runs balls for our senior students.

The PTA committee is experiencing some retirements this year and is keen to recruit new menbers. It is a great way to meet other parents, have some fun and the work is shared out across members so the load is not onerous. If you are interested come along to the AGM, or if unable to attend but keen to join, let us know on PrincipalsEA@cghs.school.nz and we will pass this onto the PTA.

Thank you for parental support regarding the lockdown practice today. Staff and students did a brilliant job folllowing the procedure which is important for safety in a whole range of scenarios.

It was nice to see our Year 13 leaders building on the house spirit generated at House Sports Day at assembly this week. The House Leaders led a very energetic jump jam and singing competition at great volume and students had a lot of fun getting involved - as did some staff too! Activities like this build whanaungatanga and particularly help our new students build a sense of belonging to the school.

School is settled. Students are working hard in class while still enjoying the events above. Year 9 are out on camps and Biology and Geography field trips are heading off. Summer sport is well subscribed and the national secondary school summer tournament week is only a couple of weeks away. Term 1 will be over before we know it!

Ngā mihi

Christine O'Neill, Principal