Dear Parents and Caregivers, The end of the school year is finally upon us. It has been a fantastic year full of teaching and learning, sports events and cultural activities.

As our school continues to grow - we have 220 Year 9 enrolments - I am thankful that we were one of the first to rebuild under the greater Christchurch school rebuild. It would have been difficult to manage the increase in student numbers with our previous buildings, and it has been great for our students to have a place where they can socialise and relax during those cold and wet winter months. No more standing in doorways and huddling in corridors. I want to thank the Ministry of Education for providing our school with both Karetu and Tawera, and our new Gym Hiwa i te rangi. The final piece of the puzzle is to be completed over the holidays with air cooling going into the blocks, a new car park and the installation of our cricket nets. We are also very fortunate to have Pete Graham working one day a week at school next year, enhancing our older buildings and grounds.

We farewell a small number of staff at the end of the year:

· Kristie Cook, our Database Manager, is leaving to head up to the beautiful Marlborough Sounds

· Simone Te Kani is heading back up North to have her baby

· Mathew Popkin is planning to head overseas for a while, but we will see him around school doing some relief until he leaves

· Jeff Brown re-joined the Police

· Sarah Sweet, our International Manager, is moving to Wanaka with her family.

We were very fortunate to have a large pool of applicants for the positions we advertised this year. North Canterbury seems to be high on the list of desired places to be, and we are fully staffed, having appointed:

· From The Graduate School and University of Canterbury:

- James Foley (English)

- Naomi Scholten (English/Spanish)

- Louise Johnson (HAPE)

- Alexandra McKubre-Jordens (Technology)

· Ron James comes from Gisborne Girls' High School (Chemistry)

· Simon Fairbrother came from Christchurch Boys' High School during Term Four this year (Physics)

· Sarah Yardley comes from Catholic Cathedral College (Learning Support Co-ordinator)

· Andy McFarlane joins us as a new counsellor from the Police

· Kristie Dutton is our new International Director and worked in the past as the Principal's PA at Ashburton College

· Zoe Cosgrove takes up the role of Database Manager, having experience in multiple database environments, including Te Papa.

It is really pleasing to have our staffing sorted for next year, and to see the high calibre of the applications for these roles.

We also have a number of new roles in the school for next year, including:

· Maori and Pasifika Academic Dean (Matua Remi)

· NCEA support for those at risk (Nick McGillivray)

· Tracking our Years 9 and 10 cohort in literacy and numeracy (Hamish Johnston)

· Gifted and talented mentor (Alisha Smith)

· Two new Deans: Sam Creed and Ryan Anderson.

At this time of the year, all we can say to our senior students is that we hope that you get the grades that you deserve. As I said in my prizegiving speech, the harder you work, the luckier you get. Let’s not also forget that one of our core values is Excellence. This does not mean achieving excellence, but rather that you tried your best…gave it your all, no matter what the outcome.

I hope that you have a safe and merry Christmas break, and I look forward to seeing you all in the New Year!

Nga Mihi Nui

Bruce Kearney - Principal