Welcome to the fourth and final term of the year, which will be packed full of activities and end of year celebrations.  As well as all our usual activities we also manage to squeeze in athletics and sports days, orientation days, performance evenings, prize-givings, end of year trips and social activities.  Please make sure you check out our calendar details in this newsletter, so you can plan ahead.

In amongst all this 'busy-ness' it is important to be mindful that our young people need to get enough sleep to ensure they are fully operational.  At the start of each school day, I usually call into classrooms to watch our daily Cactus TV programme with the students.  Frequently, I see students arriving late into class, with little energy and certainly looking like they have not had the recommended 9-11 hours sleep.  As we all know, lack of sleep affects our mood and ability to concentrate, which are not ideal conditions for a day of learning at school.

Hopefully, you all managed to take a breath and make the most of the sunshine over the long weekend.  Fingers crossed that the messy weather will be on the improve from now on allowing us all to enjoy the action-packed weeks ahead.

Ngā mihi nui

Maree Stavert