The last couple of weeks have highlighted how a community and its school are inseparable. The A&P Show was an outstanding day! The entire community together and celebrating who they are and what they do. Then the three way conferences last Thursday had a huge turnout with almost all parents making arrangements to catch up with how the learning is going for their son or daughter.

Recently there was an article in the North Canterbury News where I said …

“In education there are many catch phrases and trends that make us question what a good school looks like. It can create uncertainty in what a high quality education might be for our sons or daughters. One thing that stays constant is that we all want a school that meets the needs of our children, our family and our community. It is also a certainty that each child, whanau and community are unique. Therefore education is obviously not a “one way fits all” process. Schools should seek out the passions, interests and needs of their students and go about providing for those particular students. This will not be the same across schools and so schools should look different.”

I sincerely believe this. As a community school we need to reflect the unique character of our community. We are not an inner city school of 1000+ students, nor do we want to be. We cannot offer the range of teacher taught courses, or the city based experiences. The flip side of that is that they cannot offer what we can. Our situation provides the opportunity to have a very personalized schooling experience. Our students can easily access the dynamic rural environment that North Canterbury offers. Our school is supported by a community of people (and organizations) that have a vested interest in helping our school to improve.

So, from the school I would sincerely like to thank you all for being so supportive of your kids learning. Thank you also for not only being supportive of the school, but for contributing to a strong community.

Kind Regards

Blair