Tēnā koutou katoa. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the students, staff, parents, and community for a very warm welcome to the area.

Kaiapoi’s strong focus on positive relationships has been highly evident in a busy term for both staff and students.

Term 3 certainly has been a very exciting one. As a new principal at Kaiapoi High School, it is very pleasing to see our students successfully engaged in a massive range of events. In fact, there are so many events happening that it has been impossible to attend and support them all.

On this note, it is important to celebrate the positive engagements of our rangatahi (youth). We are currently seeing our nation's media focus on numerous reports of a small number of our nation’s rangatahi that are making poor decisions in their communities and schools. At a recent meeting of principals, this trend was discussed and two of the key factors that were discussed as preventatives were good relationships with positive adult role models and being involved in clubs/teams.

From my short time here, it is very evident that Kaiapoi High students are very lucky on both these fronts. I have been highly impressed by the proactiveness of the Board, the dedication and care from staff, and the engagement of the students in every facet of school life.

Like all in schools, people don’t always make wise decisions. So it is good to see that when it does go wrong, our school community does not accept this and works hard on all fronts to confront and address problem behaviour if it arises. In assemblies, we have discussed strategies for how the 98% of our tauira (students) who are making positive decisions can actively (or passively) discourage the behaviours that we don’t want to see in our school. As the whakatuakī (proverb) says - ‘He waka eke noa, we’re all in this together’.

So, welcome to our newsletter where we celebrate a fantastic term. Congratulations to the massive number of students who have lived the school values of respect, integrity, community, and excellence. They have pushed themselves to engage beyond expectations and on numerous occasions have shown that Kaiapoi has the talent, grit, and nous to achieve outstanding successes locally, regionally, and in national arenas.

We hope you enjoy this newsletter and have a great term break. Kia tino pai tō rā whakatā roa.

Jason Reid, Principal