Tēnā koutou e te Whānau

It was a real pleasure to welcome so many families to Halswell School at the mihi whakatau on 21 October. As this was our first mihi whakatau of the year, we had a very large group of people in attendance. It was wonderful to be able to welcome our new whānau to Halswell School formally.

Following on from this, we are also delighted to be able to welcome our parent community back to our first full school assembly of 2022, taking place at 9.15 am on Friday (4 November) in the Hall.  The assembly will feature items from Ahuriri, Huriritni and Ōrongomai, so we are expecting a big crowd! We look forward to seeing you there to help celebrate all of the amazing learning taking place around our school this term.

Congratulations to all of the Years 5-8 students who took part in last week's Athletics Day at Ngā Puna Wai. Despite the less-than-ideal weather conditions, manawanuitanga was demonstrated in abundance as the children gave each event their best efforts. The highlight for me was watching the perseverance and determination shown by our children in the long distances races during the final event of the day.  It was great to hear these efforts being acknowledged by the spectators in the stands. I want to thank Michael Ruffell and the Years 5-8 teachers for all of the hard work they put into organising this successful event. Good luck to the athletes who have qualified for the Lincoln Zone Athletics Championships on Friday. 

Finally, I want to wish music specialist Madeleine Gillman and our choir all the very best for their Christchurch Schools Music Festival performance at the Town Hall tomorrow night. This is another major event that has been on hiatus due to Covid-19 restrictions. Tomorrow night's event will be particularly special as it hasn't been held in front of a live audience since 2019. The Christchurch Schools Music Festival is always a highlight of the Term 4 calendar, and I know that our students will do us proud on the big stage!

Ngā mihi nui

Stuart cameron

Principal