This week I have been reflecting on the quality of perseverance and how impressed I am with how our students and staff continue to challenge themselves in these now not so unprecedented times.

What we do know is that perseverance is a quality that goes hand in hand with success. It is the ability to keep going, even when faced with adversity, setbacks, or moments of doubt. It is what allows us to rise above the difficulties we encounter and continue moving forward. Last term, we experienced a sharp increase in covid and other illnesses, requiring us to learn from home for a week. We are all having to adapt to the challenge of home learning due to industrial action. Despite these setbacks, our students continue to manage themselves and their workloads with grace and determination.

This week I attended the Secondary Principal’s conference in New Plymouth where I had the opportunity to hear from some inspiring educators and thinkers. What struck me most was the keynote address by Prof Yong Zhao who talked about the future of education in the age of smart machines and AI. If we continue to do what we have always done, we are setting our students up for failure. The world they live in now and in the future is so different from the social and technological landscape our own schooling prepared (or didn’t prepare) us for. There is scope and opportunity for education in NZ to take a more personalised and effective approach that fosters curiosity and creativity which in turn will not see groups of people made redundant by smart machines and AI technologies.

I would like to thank our amazing Pathways Navigator, Jasmine Fitzgerald, for all her mahi in bringing the Trades Taster at TPP to our students. They got a lot out of it, and we can see the innovations happening in the trades space that will serve them well in their future careers. You can read more about it in this newsletter.

Year 11 learners will have the opportunity to sit the NCEA literacy and numeracy co-requisites in the coming weeks. I encourage students and parents to ensure that they can log into the NZQA site where the tests are hosted. You’ll find further details in this newsletter, too.

Thanks to DRS Dr Joanie Roberson for her work in getting a parish youth group up and running at JPII. There were 10 students who participated and we are confident that number will grow. We would love to see more families joining us for Sunday Mass and sharing the Good News.

We wish you all a safe, relaxing and enjoyable long weekend.

Ngā mihi nui

Renée Hutchinson

Principal