Tena koutou katoa. It's hard to believe that we have already reached the penultimate week of the term.

Term 1 has absolutely flown by and has been filled with many highlights. These have included; a mihi whakatau to welcome all new staff and students, swimming sports at school, zone and Canterbury level, Meet the Teacher Conferences, a whanau morning, Canterbury Duathlon, Walk and Wheel Wednesday, Years 5&6 camps to Arthur's Pass, a special performance by NZ Opera and the introduction of the Mana Ake programme. 

As part of our school-wide focus on Our Place in the World, the students have been involved in a number of activities such as a "celebrating cultures day" (Ahuriri and Huritini), designing safe spaces (Ōrongomai), mapping our local area (Ōtāwhito) and exploring the connections between our community and the wider world  (Ōtumatua). This has been a very engaging topic for the children and given the recent tragic events, has been an extremely opportune context to reinforce the importance of community and the need to celebrate the diversity that exists within our world. 

I would like to thank all of the parents, children and teachers who gave up their Sunday morning last weekend to help out at our working bee. It was awesome to see the famous Halswell community spirit in action. We had a fantastic turnout and managed to get a lot of planting and weeding done around the school. I would particularly like to acknowledge Associate Principal Rob Naysmith for organising the working bee, parent Craig Pauling for his support with the plants and landscaping plan and the PTA for providing a sausage sizzle for all of the hard workers! 

I would once again like to encourage anyone who might be interested in standing for the Board at the June elections to make contact with either myself or Board Chair Trevor Campbell to discuss what is involved. 

The New Zealand Trustees Association (NZSTA) is holding an information evening at Hornby High School on Thursday 11 April at 6pm. If you would like to attend please RSVP to lshelley@nzsta.org.nz

Our next Board meeting is taking place on Tuesday 9 April at 5pm. This is a public meeting and visitors are warmly invited to attend. If you would like to come along please contact the office. More information will be coming out about Board elections and the nomination process early next term so watch this space. 

Finally, I hope everyone has a fabulous time at tomorrow night's disco. Thanks again to the PTA for helping to organise this event. The proceeds from this disco will go towards purchasing new uniforms for our Kapa Haka group - something I'm sure you will all agree is a very worthy cause. 

Have a great weekend.

Stuart Cameron

Principal