I want to congratulate our students and staff on the NCEA and scholarship results which they achieved in 2021 despite yet another COVID affected year and a Term 3 lockdown right before the final examination season.

Our scholarship winners were Aimee Didierjean (PE/Health), Hermione Bowles (Media Studies), Georgia Fitzpatrick (Painting), Abigail Murphy (Design and Visual Communication), Jazmin Garvey (English), Mia Cochrane (PE/Health), and Hannah Brookes (Technology). Congratulations also to our teaching staff Mr Bilsbury, Ms Rae, Mrs Bierque, Mr Frier, Ms Dyne and Mrs Buckley. Fantastic effort by all!

Overall NCEA results (still being finalised by NZQA so may rise further) are NCEA Level 1 90%, NCEA Level 2 95%, NCEA Level 3 92% and UE 76%. Our staff and students worked very hard last year to achieve these results so well done to everyone. This year will again be critical for students to work consistently through the year so they have strong derived grades stored away should we face disruption due to COVID.

Currently our focus is to give our students as much normality and face to face teaching and learning as possible while we watch the omicron cases rise. School has started well with a very happy feel, settled classes and students and generally warm if wet weather enabling students to get a breather outside at breaks without their masks. It has been lovely watching the enthusiasm of our year 9s engaging in orientation scavenger hunts and activities, finding a whole range of places, art works, pieces of history and locations as they familarise themselves with the school. It is nice to know yet another generation of young people are becoming part of the long history of the school dating back to 1879.

One senior student said to me “Empowered women empower women” and I thought this is an excellent summary of the mission of the school. It must have been a challenging venture back at the founding and we are not there yet with gender equity so this is the place to continue that legacy and give our girls and young people bright futures.

Ngā mihi

Christine O’Neill