Kia ora parents, caregivers and whānau

Welcome back everyone, to the last term of the year. This is a very busy term, and we all hope we remain in Level 1 so we can enjoy the events which are lined up. 

We look forward to seeing parents of senior students at our end of year prizegiving, which will be held in the Christchurch Boys’ High School auditorium on a much earlier date than usual, Wednesday 4th November. The Year 13 Leavers’ function is earlier also, Saturday 31st October and senior classes finish on Friday 6th November, in order to be ready for external NZQA examinations.

This week and into the next, our seniors are sitting school examinations in readiness for their externals. Internal assessments were all completed by the end of last term. It is important that our students set aside a quiet space and time for study, which I know they will have been doing, and take a small break between school examination study and external examination study. 

You can provide support by encouraging them to plan their time well, balancing study and relaxation. Help them to understand that the time involved is a small sacrifice for long term opportunity, and also to keep the examination process in perspective. Most students will have worked hard not only for this year, but throughout the past years at school and that will serve them well. Many already have a significant number and quality of credits accumulated. Encourage them to seek personal excellence in learning but also to understand that they are at a very early point in life and many more opportunities for success will be ahead of them.

As a staff, we are busy teaching and marking; planning staffing, timetables and classes for next year; welcoming and testing new students for Year 9, 2021; planning celebration and awards assemblies and end of year functions, and selecting next year’s leaders.

At the same time, the work around our vision and junior curriculum change continues. Our focus is on delivering an education which increases engagement and relational culture and equips our students for a bi-cultural and multi-cultural Aotearoa. This doesn’t mean we give away excellence in learning, instead it calls on us to deliver it as a given with so much more, as we provide a holistic education for our young people. 

Streaming in the junior school is part of the review, as robust research shows it does not enhance achievement and it is discriminatory to many. We destine our students at Year 9 based on mathematics and language tests to a category of ability without regard to multiple intelligences, gifts and talents. At senior level subjects have specific prerequisites which ensure students entering a subject are ready to achieve in it, but let’s allow our junior students to grow and flourish and not pre-determine who they might be and what they might achieve at the age of 13. They should all have the opportunity to achieve personal excellence from a personalised education in all their classes.

Last Sunday was the International Day of the Girl and we should celebrate our 1250 girls. Some interesting facts:

• Of the 1.1 billion girls in the world, many live in poverty
• 700 million fewer women than men are in work as a result of the COVID crisis
• According to the UN, every 10 minutes an adolescent girls dies by violence
• Around the world girls face sexual violence, trafficking, repressive gender roles, child marriage, female genital mutilation and entire social structures designed to oppress
• UN statistics show globally 25% of 15-19 year old girls are not in education or work

Let us celebrate our girls, develop their many and diverse talents, let them flourish and send them off into life equipped to make a difference to the world.

Ngā mihi nui

Christine O’Neill