Hero photograph
Duke of Edinburgh Hillary Award students doing a beach/street clean up as part of their Service section
 
Photo by GHS

From the Principal: Week 6, Term 1.

Samantha Mortimer —

Tēnā koutou katoa

Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou

Kia ora koutou

I hope that this finds you and all of your whānau well. We have been working hard to try and ensure that all of our students have amazing experiences while they are at school even in these difficult times.

Electives every Tuesday morning have been going really well. It was perfect timing to start it this year especially as we haven’t been able to do all of our usual activities. A special thanks to Lauren Evans who has worked really hard with all of our teachers and students around electives but also other engagement and attendance initiatives.

We have had many supportive emails and discussions with parents and the community about our school recently and we really appreciate them as they definitely give us a boost.

I also received this email last week which was really great. The students riding a unicycle are part of our Duke of Edinburgh electives class trying out new things!

Cam Dickey practising his unicycling skills for his Duke of Edinburgh elective — Image by: GHS

Greetings Sam

I was recently in Greymouth doing some research on the late great Ted Kehoe, a remarkable man who broadcasted on conservation issues and Maori and pakeha history for 16 years from 1940-1956.He was also head of commerce at greyhigh for nearly 30 years.

Your staff were so good. Elaine set it all up splendidly and then Sue at the library was helpfulness and professionalism personified.

I was also very impressed with the general spirit of the school. On the way in, there were half a dozen kids trying to ride a unicycle and having great fun falling off it and then getting the next hapless student to try it. I was researching in the library and there was a class there and the teachers were just great. They had control of the class but in a very positive way, the kids were responding well and I thought: "Jeez this is so much better than Wellington College which I attended in the late 1960s!

Okay I am just a casual observer but I came away feeling it would be great to be a kid growing up here despite all the doom and gloom of the wider world.

So well done to you and your staff. I don't impress easily but I certainly was last Tuesday and I tell everybody I meet what a positive impression of the school I got.

Best regards

Harry Broad, retired Wellington

I would also like to thank all of our community for having to deal with so many changes at school. We are trying to give you as much notice as possible with any changes and as I started to write this on Saturday 5th March I am not sure if school will look the same by next Saturday.

Firstly, I want you all to know that we will always keep the health and wellbeing of our students and our staff at the centre of our decisions. Secondly, that our students’ learning is very important to us and we will endeavour to do our best to support them wherever we can until we are all able to be back at school.