Kia ora koutou. Talofa. Kia Orana. Malo e lelei. Bula vinaka. Fakaalofa atu. Namaste. Kumusta. Haere mai ki Te Kura Te Huruhuru Ao o Horomaka. Warm greetings to the Hornby High School community.

It’s possibly something you don’t think much about, or something that you take for granted, assuming that the answer is obvious, but what is the purpose of education?

Some think it’s to get us a job. If you think a little more about that, then you end up with the idea that we are not human beings, we are ‘economic units’, prepared by schools for business and the economy to ‘use’. I don’t much like that idea. If you are interested, you can read some material I wrote about this here.

You see, I believe that our purpose is to help our rangatahi to be fully human, to be prepared just that little bit more to lead fulfilling lives. Yes, a part of that is earning a living, but if we think that is all there is to this thing called life, then we are missing so much, because we are so much more than that.

A big piece of that work for kura is to open doors for our young people. Sometimes those doors are already ajar, and we just need to nudge them open, sometimes it takes an enormous ‘heave’ to get the door open. Whatever we do, it is absolutely essential that we don't close doors for our young people. We have worked hard to build our students' confidence in themselves, to become the ‘risk takers’ that our vision for creative excellence demands. That is complex work, and in part demands the support, the nurturing, of every student's sense of culture and belonging, of language and connection. It means that students have self belief. And in that regard it has been gratifying to see more students aspiring to university study, not because that is a measure of success, but because for those students it is a good pathway. Indeed just last week we received a notification that Griffin Tozer, Hornby alumnae, has just graduated with a Masters degree in Architecture.

So this last weekend I took the opportunity to catch up with five of our recent leavers who are studying at Otago University. You could feel the aspiration in the room as we met, and I feel so proud to be able to say that they are Hornby High School alumnae.

Catching up with them was also driven by our genuine sense of manaaki, of caring. This reflects something that most students and staff comment on, and that is that it feels as if we are all whānau at Hornby High School. We look after each other. I had the genuine feeling that these young people are thriving, enjoying life's challenges, and determined to be the best versions of themselves that they can be. It was a proud moment for me as Principal.

I’ll be taking the opportunity this year to catch up with more alumni wherever they are, whatever they are doing. We care about them and their ongoing journeys. Paraphrasing Whāea Chris Mclaren (as I love to do), ‘kindness and caring, manaaki, are always in fashion’.

Please make sure you follow us on Facebook for the latest and most up to date news https://www.facebook.com/hornbyhighschool/ , and on our website www.hornby.school.nz . You can also follow my thinking our education journey at Hornby High School, and more generally, on my blog at https://whakataukihewakaekenoa.blogspot.co.nz/

Kia tau te mauri

Robin Sutton

Tumuaki