Tēnā koutou katoa, Mālō e lelei, Welcome to our August Newsletter.

Term Three continues to be filled with so many action-packed days and student achievements. Congratulations to all those students who have made their MARK this month and thank you to all our staff, parents, whānau and community members who make these achievements possible.

Our Senior Leadership Team and staff continue to investigate, identify and implement ways to promote and support positive change at our College around our students/ rangatahi's learning environment and their opportunities to experience personalised success. We also continue to work towards a more restorative culture at the College where students are ‘in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing’, not because they have to, but because they want to.

As the Principal I will never apologise for having high expectations of our students/ rangatahi and for wanting them to do their best. What I will do, along with our team of staff at the College is to work tirelessly to eliminate barriers, challenges and roadblocks that prevent our students/ rangatahi from being successful. At Katikati College we are continuously advocating for more resourcing and better learning opportunities for your child. The staff and I welcome and strongly encourage you to work in partnership, standing shoulder to shoulder with us to ensure we get our students / rangatahi to achieve personal success

I thought this month I would share with you an address I made to our students/ rangatahi during full school assembly just before Easter. It included plenty of chocolate props! It captures a number of important themes hopefully in a light-hearted way including; the role of the Principal, our expectations for students, the challenges of being a community College and the desire to work in partnership to achieve ‘sweet’ success for our students. Our students are all unique characters, who we value and encourage as well as enable to believe in themselves and their future.

Easter - Principal’s Address

The other day I was asked by one of our students ‘what is it like being a Principal?’

That made me think, what is it like……………….. and to steal a famous quote from Forest Gump, being a Principal is ‘like a box of chocolates,’ you never know what you are going to get in a day!

Some days its a real ‘Picnic’, filled with lots of ‘Bubbly Moments’, plenty of ‘Bounty’ and smelling of ‘Roses’, other days can be a bit ‘Flakey’ and I crave for some ‘Time Out’ as there can be dramas to deal with that are a bit like a ‘Pixie Caramel’, very long-lasting!

I might have to deal with some ‘Big Eggs’ who think they can’t be beaten or some ‘Mini Eggs’  that are just a real crack up. Then there are always a few ‘Kinder Surprises’ that can make you ‘Snicker’ or give your day a real ‘Boost’.

I must admit some days I wish I was far, far away, like on ‘Mars’. Most of the time I am really lucky to be working with real ‘Smarties’ and ‘Perky Nana’s’ and I get to watch our students working enthusiastically on ‘Marvellous Creations’, with great ‘Dreams’ for their futures.

I know how much we are all looking forward to the holidays. These holidays I hope you get time for a really good ‘KitKat’…. I mean break! Spend ‘Moro’ time with your families and whānau, show them plenty of kindness, shower them with love and ‘Kisses’. Because love is something we all need, we all deserve and we all will never get enough of.

No matter what type of chocolate you like or love, Easter is coming and it is a time to celebrate and to be thankful for life and our loved ones.

I ask you now to look to you left and now look to your right, every one of you is special. As the Principal I am thankful to be here at this college with all of you, every one of you. You are all my ‘Favourites’, no matter what flavour you bring to our college, you are an important part of us, you are cared for and you make our ‘box of chocolates’ exciting every day!

Thank you all for a fantastic term, thank you for being in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing. Thank you for doing your best, thank you for working together to make each other better and helping us to demonstrate our college theme Kotahitanga.

The messages in this Principals address are the messages we are constantly sharing with our students. Please if you have any concerns, queries or suggestions about how the College can better support your child’s learning or wellbeing,  use one of the methods below to alert us to this.

Community Suggestions

There is a ‘Community Suggestion Box’ available on our Website for our school community to have their say and communicate their ideas and feedback to the College. These comments will be addressed each month through the Principal’s Comment of each Newsletter.

Please use the Formal Complaints process if you have any issues you would like formally investigated. This includes submitting in writing a description of your concerns to the Principal. They can be emailed to principal@katikaticollege.school.nz

Learning Queries

We strongly encourage our whānau, parents and caregivers to work in partnership with our College to support the learning of our students. To further support this a flow chart to show where Learning Queries should be directed is available https://goo.gl/K3mvWR

In addition, an information sheet about who to go to when parents/whānau have questions about their child’s learning has been produced and shared. Information for all our parents wanting to make Learning Queries is available using this link https://goo.gl/fMvD9L . For our whānau / parents with students in our Whānau Pūmanawa class more information is available using this link https://goo.gl/o8HGEj and for our AIGA and pasifika students please use https://goo.gl/hKTkLY .

May the rest of this term be filled with much learning, laughter and love.

Ngā mihi nui

Carolyn Pentecost

Principal/ Tumuaki

Katikati College