Kia ora koutou

I think all of us, teachers, students and whānau alike, will be pleased to see the end of what has been a very disruptive term, especially for our Years 9 - 13. There have, however, been many positive points, and with the announcement of our new Principal, Mrs Charissa Nicol, Columba can look forward to an exciting future, building on its many strengths. Today will be her last Chapel Service and we thank her for the wonderful messages she has delivered and for empowering our Chapel Prefects and senior students to lead the services. From my point of view, it has been interesting coming in to cover the period of Mrs Duthie’s sabbatical leave, with a bonus term added on while Mrs Nicol completes current projects and prepares to take the helm at the start of Term 4. One thing I have tried to focus on is restoring some of the old traditions, which had fallen by the wayside as the school concentrated on the challenges of Covid and delivering on-line learning programmes. We have re-instated the form group donation of books to the Library at the Book Week Assembly, and the weekly contributions to the Presbyterian Support Food Bank, finishing this term with the whole school donation of 2,700 cans for Octacan. We’ve also had the historic artefacts rehung in Braemar and Girton, that we inherited from the original Girton Ladies’ College and Braemar House School when they amalgamated to form Columba College in 1915. Dunedin is fortunate that its early settlers valued girls’ education and set about making it available to as many as possible, with Otago Girls’ High School going back to 1871 and laying claim to being the oldest girls’ secondary school in the Southern Hemisphere. Girton was founded in 1886 and Braemar House School soon afterwards, so it’s important that we honour our roots alongside moving through Columba’s second century.

Finally, I would like to commend the Years 12 and 13 students on their very successful Formal last Saturday. The students looked stunning and it was a thoroughly pleasant evening. I wish all our school community a safe and relaxing holiday break in preparation for the very busy term ahead.

Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa.