Tēnā koutou katoa

Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou

Starting with our NCEA celebrations assembly. We had fantastic results for our school in 2020 - they were amazing! We are very proud of everyone who received Excellence and Merit results in 2020, especially in such a challenging year. These students epitomise our school motto - “Whāea te iti kahurangi - strive for success.” They have put in the hard yards - ka pai!

On Friday evening I went to the Open Mic night at the Nest, 34 Tainui Street. The Nest is managed by Bronte Roper and is a community creative space. I got to see a few performers From Grey High and I was very impressed. There is a lot of creative talent here at Grey High. Thanks so much to our Head of Arts Marty McDonald for supporting this venture and Arts at our school.

On Wednesday night I am going to the MSA’s (Military Service Academy) parents information evening. I am very much looking forward to meeting the parents, spending more time with these students, and hearing about their induction week in Burnham Camp and the plans for the rest of the year. A big thank you to Kiri Russell our Kaitakawaenga (Home-School Partnership Promoter) for all of her organisation of the event and Brett “Staff” Lomey and Alex Gillam for working so hard with our MSA young people. Another shout out to Whaea Erin Connolly and her team of students for making what I know will be a delicious meal for all of us.

On Thursday we have our Physics Socio-Scientific Issue Debate led by Kent Gallagher, our Physics teacher. This is run as a debate between the West Coast Schools and the topic of the Debate is “Given that fossil fuels can no longer be used, should the world use nuclear power generation as a clean green renewable power source?"

Kent also videos these debates and gives them to the English department so that the students can be assessed for the English Level 3 Speech assessment. This is a great way to work flexibly within NCEA.

We have two new teachers starting in Term 2. Susan Nuttall who is taking over from Petrus Steyn in the technology department. Petrus has been a fantastic colleague and member of the technology department. We wish Petrus the best of luck at his new school in Rangiora and we know that he will do an amazing job over there. We also have Sian Utton joining us in the Media and English department. We look forward to working with both of them and for the students and community to get to know them.

Please read about Anzac Day and how we will commemorate this day at Grey High and with the Greymouth Community.

Finally from me, have a great holiday, keep safe and we look forward to seeing everyone on Monday 3rd May.

“Whāea te iti kahurangi - strive for success”

Ngā mihi nui

Samantha Mortimer

Principal