Kia ora whānau

It is great to see so many parents/whānau/students at our midyear learning conferences. We are wanting to provide you with information about your child’s learning progress, goals and involvement in school life at Heaton in a timely, meaningful and straightforward way. Last year, we changed to reporting to you electronically and it is now time to seek feedback about what you like about this new way and what you feel needs improving. An electronic survey will be sent to you before the end of the term and we would greatly appreciate as much feedback as possible.

We had a very successful Book Fair last week, organised and led by Jane Boniface, our Learning Resource Centre Coordinator. It is a great shame that the young adults’ selection did not get to us till that last day of the Book Fair. Despite this, over $4000 was raised with a proportion of this being used to purchase more books for our students. Thank you to Jane, our PTA for the hot chocolates and biscuits, our Heaton team and the participation of so many of our students and community.

Last week, our Kapa haka gave a very impressive first performance for the year. The Kapa haka leaders did a great job as the MCs and I know the group appreciated the support from so many whānau who attended. Thank you to Chrissy Calder, Janiene Hill and Sonny and Tui, our tutors. We look forward to hearing more from this amazing group.

Unfortunately I have been unwell this week and missed attending our morning tea and get together for our Muslim families. Well done to our students who contributed to this important occasion, our teachers who were involved and to Cathy Mundy for all her hard work and organisation.

We have a new Board of Trustees with 3 of our existing members being re-elected, Bridget Frame, Craig South and Jules Harris and 2 new members, Rebecca Wilson and Shane Dixon. Gaye Roberts remains as the staff representative. Thank you to all of you for your commitment and energy for this very important role. Thank you also to the applicants who missed out on being elected this time. This is a very exciting time to be part of the Heaton Board as the rebuild/refurbishment is gathering momentum. More of this in the weeks to follow…..

Ngā mihi

Andrea Knight, Principal