Kia ora whānau

You will have seen from the community notice sent out by the Board of Trustees last week, that I am resigning effective from the end of Term 2, 2022. This seems a long way away but I wanted to give the BOT plenty of time to select a new Principal. By being here at the beginning of 2022, I will be available to help settle new students and whānau into Heaton. Also I am keen to see the Rebuild/refurbishment of the school started and on track for a successful outcome. In the future I plan to work as an educational psychologist. After working as a teacher for several years, I completed my postgraduate qualification in educational psychology and worked for a number of years in this role in Dunedin, Gisborne and Christchurch. While I will greatly miss everything about our wonderful school especially the staff, students and whānau, I am excited about returning to my “roots.” Lastly I want to assure you that I will work my hardest for our students, staff and you as Principal of Heaton till the second I walk out the door at the end of Term 2 next year.

I am so impressed by the way students and staff have coped with significant events in the school calendar being cancelled yet again this year. Where we can, we have tried to adapt or change events that are under our control so that students have the most opportunities possible. The recent Year 7 and Year 8 Athletics Days were a good example of this.

Well done to the Heaton Girls’ 1st XI Cricket team for a very successful season, Future Problem Solving teams, the Scape workshop, Tuesday afternoon Summer sports tournament, students who have been very successful in external exams and our talented speech makers in the Rotary competition.

There will be two Pantomine performances later in the term. We are exploring live streaming Year 7 and Year 8 Prizegiving ceremonies this year. More information will follow about both of these events.

At this time of year, we work hard for every student to have a positive and enjoyable finish to the year. Expectations and responsibilities are made clear to students as it takes all of us to create a happy, respectful and inclusive culture. Most of our students are doing a fabulous job.

Ngā mihi

Andrea Knight, Principal