We welcomed new students – James Te Huia-Kerr, Asinate Vucago, Lawsyn Bishop, and Ohomairangi Tawaka. It’s been a challenging year with Covid, especially when students were sent home prematurely at the end of Term 2. However, it hasn't dampened anyone's spirits, and our students continue to have an excellent residential experience with lots of activities and entertainment.

Activities

Being based in Sumner means we are spoilt with the beach so close by. What goes best with the beach? Ice cream!

The girls visited Animal Farm at Arion Education Park, McLeans Forest - animals are always a popular attraction.

Staff and students spent two hours connecting with their creative side at Paint 'n' Sip Studio. It was great to see some artistic flair and talents.

There were some spooky happenings in the residences at the end of October for Halloween.

Fitness and Sports

Students have continued to enjoy playing in local sports tournaments thanks to Steve Hira who coaches and encourages everyone. We've developed some great team players who participate in touch rugby (Term 2) and basketball (Term 3).

Cycling activities around the grounds is another popular option. Michele showed our students how to skillfully control bicycles by riding at the slowest speed, which helped with balance and everyone that riding at high speed is not always the best!

Jayden Edwards and Thomas McLiskey are members of the NZ Deaf Basketball team and have enjoyed travelling to training camps and tournaments. In November they played against the Australian team from Palmerston North and Wellington. They're putting in lots of hard work and practice to prepare for an exciting game against Greece in June 2023!

Christchurch hosted the national Deaf Futsal Tournament over three days in October. Ryan, Thomas and Jayden played exceptionally well for the Southern team.

Part of life in the residences is learning to work together, become independent, take turns on cooking duty and keep the school vans clean. When everyone pitches in, even van cleaning can be fun.

All our staff work tirelessly to keep the residents humming and our students safe and happy. Due to the 24/7 nature of our work (day shift, night shift, and weekend workers), staff don't often get the chance to gather all together, so we loved the opportunity to do some team building during the Term 2 holidays.

Staff changes throughout the year included some sad farewells, and some warm welcomes!

We farewelled the following staff:

Janice Neame (Night Attendant)
Steve Hui (boy's house)
Leanne Holland-Davidson (girl's house)
Michele Hendren (Residential Team Leader)

And we welcomed to the team:

Arsdeep Singh (boys' house)
Frances Bennet (girls' house)
Karla- Smith (Weekend Youth Worker)
Shane Inson (Night Attendant)

As always, some students leave residential life at the end of the year as they prepare for the next chapter of their lives. This year we have Thomas and Ryan leaving, who have been with us since 2017. Both boys have grown up (literally) before our eyes and become great young men who have excelled in their chosen areas. For the last two years they have been independently flatting and are ready to take the next steps towards adulthood and will be looking to flat together in Christchurch. We wish them all the very best for their futures and look forward to staying in touch.

Tu Kokiri