Kia ora whānau

Welcome to Term 2. We have had a great start in Week 1 with a fun and highly engaging Comic Book Week. The whole week included a range of learning activities related to comic books and characters. The parade on Friday, with students and staff dressed up as comic book characters, was fantastic. We are a school that like to dress up! The weather was also very kind to us. Thank you very much to Boss Phanpho for his enthusiasm and energy for this genre of reading and all his organisation which ensured the week was great for everyone.

We held our annual ANZAC remembrance assembly on 7 May. As usual it was a very special and moving occasion. Our ANZAC assemblies have come to be an integral and significant annual event at our school and for our whole community. It is a time when we remember, with gratitude, what men and women in the armed forces have done, the sacrifices they have made, in the past and continue to do, in order to protect and guard our freedom and way of life in Aotearoa New Zealand. Thank you so much to Wing Commander Brett Marshall for his heart felt and very moving speech. Our students were intently engaged as he spoke to them about being strong and kind individuals every day so that we all feel cared for and included. We are very proud of Tayla, a Year 7 student, who played a very beautiful and powerful lament on the bagpipes. Congratulations to Tayla for her outstanding performance which really enhanced this special occasion. Thank you to Sarah Cumming for all the organisation, Janiene Hill for coaching the performance groups, Chrissy Calder for leading the kapa haka group and to everyone else who supported and was involved in this assembly. Thank you to our parents and whānau who took the time to come along and be part of this very important remembrance.

Winter sport starts this week and the intermediate schools' basketball competition started last week. We have more teams competing in both these competitions than any other intermediate school and this is due to the dedication of our sports’ coordinator, Tim Evers, and our fantastic staff and parents/whānau. There have been many trials and ongoing training sessions held before school, in the lunchtimes and after school. This is a huge time commitment from all of these people which we appreciate very much.

This term we welcome Sam Colvin to our team. Sam is teaching Room 7 for the remainder of the year as Abby Nattrass has headed overseas. We thank Abby for her fine teaching and wish her well for the future. We look forward to getting to know Sam and having him as part of our staff. 

Ngā mihi

Andrea Knight, Principal