Nau mai haere mai.

Another couple of very busy weeks has flown by at East Otago High School.

Last week saw our Year 7 and 8 students participating in their respective camps.

Ms McLachlan and her team of teachers and parents had a great time in Herbert participating in a wide variety of activities to enable the Year 7 students to grow as a group and form new friendships with students from a number of contributing primary schools.

Mr Walker and his team took the Year 8 students to Oamaru where they experienced a number of really neat activities right on our very own doors step including Penguin watching, Caving, Abseiling, Swimming and a number of walks.

On Tuesday we had our annual Athletics day. Initially it was very overcast with slight precipitation which threatened to put a real dampener on the day. Luckily the rain held off and it heated up over the course of the day with excellent participation and support of each other across the day. A big thank you to Roz Croucher and her team of parent help for a smooth running of the day.

Our Year 12 and 13 students went to Oamaru on Wednesday the 24th of February to participate in the RYDA (Road Safety Education Programme) event. Students took part in a number of workshops exploring how to keep themselves safe on the road as they begin their journeys as young drivers. It was great to receive feedback about how well mannered and attentive our students were.

This week has seen the beginning of our B Block renovations. This is an exciting building project for the school with this space being upgraded to a 21st century learning space which will open up the Library space with an attached learning street, break out rooms and three brand new teaching spaces for our senior students. The expected completion date is the 28th of May. It has taken a huge effort from our property manager, Gary Johnston, Librarian, Rae Howland and a myriad of other helpers to box up all the resources and place these in storage until completion. While this will present us with some challenges in the coming weeks with teaching spaces, the end result will be well worth it.

With week four just about completed it is important that our students are now getting into the routine of school and are developing positive study habits. The start of the year can be very messy with a number of trips and events that our students are a part of and while these opportunities are an important part of the fabric of the school so too are gaining academic qualifications.

Nga mihi nui

Marcus Cooper