Kia Ora Parents and Friends of the College,

It has been an exciting few weeks for the Arts at Katikati College. There have been two outstanding events that have really highlighted the talent we have at Katikati College and all of the students involved can feel extremely proud of what they have achieved. As you will see in the newsletter, four students from Katikati College have won the Bay of Plenty Region’s Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Competition. For those of you who are unaware of this event, it is a very competitive and highly regarded Shakespearean competition. Secondary schools from 23 regions throughout New Zealand compete at the National Competition held on Queen’s Birthday Weekend in Wellington. Ethan, Tyler, Micaela and Georgia have done extremely well to be the Bay of Plenty representatives and will no doubt enjoy the opportunity in a few months’ time. What is even more impressive is that this quartet succeeded by directing the show themselves. While other schools employ specialists and devote a huge amount of resources to this competition, our students did it their own way, with their own style and have certainly made an impact. A number of Principals from other schools have contacted me to say what a fine performance the group gave during the competition.

I would also like to congratulate our Arts Captains Micaela Fleming and Tyler Clarke for their work in establishing the Divas and Divos event held last week. A new addition to our Arts calendar, this event has really highlighted the outstanding talent that we have at school. It is great that we have been able to showcase our solo performers who often miss out due to the format of the Talent Quest. What is also very heartening is that this year we have established a Senior Choir. I am very excited about this and this as it is something I have been very keen for our school to have. Many thanks to Mrs Fleming who has been driving this again and also to those senior students who have shown a willingness to ‘give it a go’ and to really enjoy the talents that they have.

Thank you to those people who have completed the survey regarding the ICT use and ‘bring you own device’ implementation that we are looking at. The information that we are receiving is certainly very useful and we will analyse this over the next few weeks and then report back about some of the findings.

I would like to thank all of those people who have helped out the school in many ways over this term. An eleven week term is an extremely busy time of year for us and there have been a huge number of events and activities that have happened. Swimming Sports, Athletics Sports, Year 7 & 8 Camps, Field Trips, Thames Valley Athletics, Thames Valley Swimming, Sheilah Winn, not to mention the traditional summer codes that have meant that a lot of people have been very busy this term.

A reminder to all of our students that Terms 2 and 3 are where the majority of the work is done for the year. Enjoy the school holiday break and I hope you are able to spend some time with your families. I know lots of people will be involved with the Kiwifruit harvest which I understand is somewhat delayed this year, but no doubt people will be very busy trying to catch-up and process all of the fruit.

Term 2 commences with a Teacher Only Day on Monday 2nd May and we look forward to seeing all students, in the correct uniform, with the correct equipment, ready to learn on Tuesday 3rd May.