We had a great time running Student Council this year with Kennedy Dailey (Middle School Prefect) and Caitlin O’Brien (Citizenship Prefect), creating a safe forum for students to come together to share their concerns and organise fundraisers. It was a valuable opportunity to learn students’ opinions of operations around the school and the changes they thought would be beneficial.

One of our ongoing projects this year was the Neonatal Trust Scent Hearts Project - this involved sewing cotton hearts that are swapped between parents and premature babies to maintain a bond, 48 were made to create 24 support packs for NZ families. A huge thank-you to Miss Hillier and the Columba Sewing Club for all of their assistance with this.

We also held a bake sale fundraiser for CanTeen NZ in Term 2, with students on the Council helping to raise $251 to support the charity and its work for young people living with cancer.

Early in Term 1, we also encouraged Columba to opt into the NZ Schools Free Period Product initiative to acquire free sanitary products for students, with these now accessible in our main school bathrooms. Another project we have undertaken this year has been updating our charging stations around the school; excitingly, there are now updated chargers in all stations for new laptops.

We would also to extend a huge thank-you to Mr Hudson (the Caretaker), Mrs Piebenga, Mrs Harris, Mrs Duthie, Mrs Wafer, Ms Hope, Ms McKnight, the Finance Department and other members of staff as well as our Student Council members for all of their help and support this year with running the Council and assisting us with our projects.