A message from our Tumuaki, Daniel Bennett, to wrap up Term One.

Kia Ora Whanau and Caregivers, 

We hope this newsletter finds you well. 

A huge congratulations to Cayden Steffener in Year 13 for being chosen to attend Young Navigators, a Young Enterprise Scheme Conference where students can experience business at a fast pace and compete in a business challenge against other students.

Cayden is one of 36 students chosen from the 5000 students across New Zealand who are competing in the Young Enterprise Scheme this year. Well done to Cayden for achieving this and to Mrs Lana Purdon, our Business Studies teacher, for providing these opportunities to our students. 

Vision for the School

As a school, it is really important we have a vision for the future that we can aspire towards that will guide future decision making. As such, Leadership and Teachers have had a chance to reflect on a draft vision, which has been adjusted accordingly. I would likewise value your feedback, via email, on the following draft statement. The Horizon Vision is:

"To be a collaborative, innovative learning community that upholds standards of excellence to develop  passionate, life-long learners with an integrated faith"

Formation

Next term we’ll be continuing our Formation unit on our school value of Aroha by considering ‘Love in action.’ This will include a service project where students actively demonstrate love to an organisation of their choice in the community. If you own or know of a business, church, charity or other organisation that serves our community and would like to connect with Horizon students to help them cultivate a heart of service and active aroha, please email Simeon@Horizon.school.nz 

Parking & Buses 

This is a brief reminder to please drop off and pick up all students from the top gravel car park adjacent to the church, unless you have younger children or are physically unable to escort them through to the school grounds. Additionally, further to our last update, we are still working on a plan for the buses to drop students off in the top car park. However, we may need to delay the implementation to ensure the best outcome with the resources available. More information will be provided next term.

Communication with Teachers 

One of the areas we are focusing on is how we approach communication. We follow the Matthew 18 Principle, which encourages addressing concerns directly with the person involved. If any issues arise, we ask that you first contact the classroom teacher for classroom-related matters, rather than a school leader.

Farewelling Staff

While many of you may already be aware, Mr Roushan Johnson will be finishing with us at the end of this term. We also bid farewell to our talented Teacher Aide, Miss Molly Foster, as she departs this week to pursue her music career in Europe. We would like to thank both Roushan and Molly for their dedication and commitment to our school and wish them all the very best in their future endeavors.

Have a great week ahead and we wish you all the best for the upcoming school break.

Ngā mihi nui,

Daniel Bennett