Tēnā koutou e te Whānau

Welcome to the last newsletter for Term 3. This term seems to have flown by and it is hard to believe that we are almost three-quarters of the way through the school year. The removal of the traffic light settings has been a welcome change as we look ahead to term 4 and beyond.

On that note, a reminder that, if for whatever reason your child(ren) will not be returning to Halswell School in 2023, we would appreciate you completing this brief form. This helps our planning process and means that we can move forward with finalising our school structure for next year.

Last night the first official meeting of the new School Board took place. Existing members Rob Dixon, Natasha Buckby, Michelle Bishop and I were delighted to welcome new parent representatives Claire Harris, Sarah Robb and Tania Shuker along with the staff representative Rachel Ono to the Board. This group will have the collective responsibility for governing our school over the next three years. 

One of the first acts of the new Board was to elect a Presiding Member (formally known as Board Chair). Congratulations to Rob Dixon who will continue with this role. I look forward to working with the new Board over the coming months.

I would like to say a huge thank you to our PTA for all of the work they put into organising Saturday night's Quiz. We had a great turnout and it was a fantastic event for bringing our community together after so many delays caused by Covid. 

The Quiz result itself was very close but congratulations must go to the rather ironically named Here for the Beer team, who finished on an impressive 86 points!  

Finally, please note that Halswell School will be closed on Monday (26 September) due to Queen Elizabeth II Memorial Day. I hope you have the opportunity to spend what is a very poignant day of reflection, enjoying some quality time with your family.

Ngā mihi nui 

Stuart Cameron

Principal