Tēnā koutou katoa

Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou

Thank you to everyone who attended our junior parents evening on Thursday night. It was great to see so many of you there and meet a number of you too. Thanks to everyone who came up and introduced themselves to me. If you were not able to make the evening or still need to talk to one of our staff members please call the school office to make appointments.

Community is one of our school values and on Saturday morning I went to the Westland Recreation Centre to watch the netball grading. It is a great example of our students and staff building strong, positive relationships in our community by working hard on the courts as well as coaching and managing teams. I know how much dedication and hard work coaching and managing teams takes, so thanks to all of you out there - staff, students and parents!

On Saturday night I got to experience a real sense of belonging when I was fortunate enough to be invited to a Passover meal which was a really fun and interesting experience. It took me back to my first year of teaching in Manchester in the UK where I taught a year 7 Religious Education class alongside my other classes. Here we covered the major religions in the world. When I taught Judaism we investigated the Passover story and I personally learnt a lot but Saturday reminded me of how great learning is when you actually get to experience things for real! This is one of the reasons why I am very supportive of our teachers creating opportunities for real life learning in their classes.

My third Community event of the week was going to the Pounamu Pathway vision meeting on Tuesday. This is a very exciting opportunity for us on the Coast. The project is working with Weta workshops and CerebralFix to create 4 different interactive yet connected world class visitor destinations. They will create jobs and lots of opportunities for our community which is fantastic. I also learnt a great deal about our local histories from people in the community.

Check out the link

https://www.westcoast.co.nz/news/Weta-Workshop-Pounamu-pathway/

Finally, I really hope that you have a great Easter break and all of you find opportunities to enjoy time with family and friends.

“Whāea te iti kahurangi - strive for success”

Ngā mihi nui

Samantha Mortimer

Principal