Kia ora koutou, nei ra te mihi, maioha ki a koutou katoa. Hello everyone, special greetings to you all.

I am pleased to be able to inform you that after candidate selection and interviews, the 3 permanent vacancies in our Junior School have been filled. The two tagged positions have gone to Pip Anderson and Joe Entwistle and the non-tagged position to Elizabeth Crampton. Of course many of you will know Pip and Joe who are currently holding long-term relieving positions in our school, while Elizabeth comes to us from St Joseph’s in Papanui, having taught a number of years at Isleworth School prior to that. I know that you will join me in welcoming Pip, Joe and Elizabeth to their full time positions at Christ the King and we look forward to working with them in the future.

As we stated earlier in the term, we want events and ceremonies for the children and wider school community to proceed and we are trying to work this as best we can, given the current COVID restrictions. The Junior School production is going ahead under the same seating arrangements as Superstan, however our Excellence Assembly, Prizegiving, End of Year Mass and Year 8 Leavers Dinner will all be held under the new traffic-light system, with new restrictions in place. We will keep you informed on the organisation surrounding these events on HERO, as soon as we have made decisions based on the COVID protocols.

The Junior School are busily rehearsing for the nativity play entitled “It’s A Miracle,” which is a real favourite time in our school. The nativity theme, with a new story line every year always ensures that we are celebrating Christmas in a way that our Catholic faith allows us to. Again, we apologise for the restricted seating, and ask for your understanding on this matter.

Thank you for your response to the Parent Council raffle over the past few weeks. COVID restrictions have made fund-raising difficult this year, however the raffle was a great way to continue raising funds that the Parent Council will use to help furbish our new building. Please consider joining the Parent Council next year, their efforts are focused on school improvement for the children and helping our school community.

Big thank to Hannah Antaran and Avie Tonido for the design of the Superstan programme cover.

Nga mihi