We’ve had several highlights over the past week, beginning with the Year 11 Formal at Larnach Castle. I can’t remember how many of these I’ve been to but I’m always impressed with the format of meeting with parents at Bishopscourt, bussing to the castle, where the fires are roaring and the students are greeted with a glass of punch and a non-stop supper, followed by dancing and later dessert. It provides a perfect transition from school dances to the excitement of formals for our students and, unlike days gone by, they are welcome to attend with or without a partner. The girls looked stunning and it was lovely to see them and the partners up dancing for much of the night, rather than crowding in the corridor to have their photos taken with as many people as possible. I think it was the most enjoyable of all the Year 11 Formals I have attended over the years. 

On Sunday and Monday Columba and John McGlashan hosted the annual winter exchange with STAC, which is recorded elsewhere in this newsletter. We all felt for Ms Becinskas and the Senior Drama students, who set off by bus at 5am on Tuesday to experience professional theatre at the Court in Christchurch, then returned later that day. Pasifika Language week has been celebrated with special events each day organised by our Tiakaka Prefect, Elloise Cameron, including a lunchtime movie session, a kahoot, a costume day and bake sale, which raised over $400.00 for a Pasifika project. This is probably a good opportunity to record the history of the large tapa cloth hanging at the back of Constance Hall. It was given to my father in 1938 at the end of his six week stay in Samoa on his way to New Zealand. Unfortunately he cut it in half at some stage and sent half of it to my cousin for his Art Gallery in Munich, and the other half now hangs at the back of the Hall. Today’s chapel service also featured a Pasifika theme. I commend Elloise and our team of prefects, who show real initiative in planning and organising such events for our students.

Unfortunately highlights are often interspersed with sadness, and we were sorry to learn of the passing earlier this week of a former boarding student, Mrs Eunice Marsh, who together with her late husband, Graeme Marsh, was a generous benefactor to Columba College and the wider Dunedin community. Columba will be represented at her funeral and we plan to plant a tree at a later date in memory of Graeme (who passed away last year) and Eunice Marsh, to acknowledge the many contributions they and their family have made to our school, including a very significant donation to the Marsh Sports Centre. Meanwhile our thoughts are with the Marsh family as they grieve the loss of their mother, grandmother and great grandmother.

On Friday we are trialing a new format for reporting to caregivers of students in the Middle School with our Whānau Conferences. The aim is to involve students in analysing their learning for the first half year and reporting with their whānau teacher to their caregivers. We acknowledge now that this has not been well received by many of our boarding and working parents, and stress that this has been an experiment and that there will be the traditional Meet-the-Teacher sessions early in Term 3. We will return to that format in future, but at the moment have been having to work within PPTA constraints. It has been reassuring to hear positive feedback from parents who were able to attend and I thank Ms Armstrong for the huge effort she and our teachers have put into organising the conference day and the supporting programme.