Here Acting Principal Dean Sheppard shares his thoughts.

Kia ora and welcome to the Mount Aspiring College newsletter, week six.

This week I’d like to start off by congratulating Emily Heath and Campbell Wright, who were both awarded a Class Act this week for exceptional performance in their chosen fields - you can read more about this below. I would also like to congratulate Neil Stuart on his appointment to the role of Head of Learning Area (HOLA) in PE and Health. This position became vacant earlier in the term and we are fortunate to have had Neil on our staff already. This will help ensure the transition from one HOLA to the next is very smooth. I must also say a huge thanks to Deb McMillan for all her efforts as acting HOLA over the last few months.

On Wednesday we had our MAC Ski and Snowboarding Championships, so well done to all those students who braved the windy conditions.

I now want to talk a little about vaping. Like any school in New Zealand at the moment we are experiencing a relatively small percentage of students engaging in this behaviour. Please be assured that we are cognisant of the issue and are investing time and resources into minimising / eliminating the use of these devices on our campus. I would like to reiterate, there will be zero tolerance for students found using these devices at school as they are an illegal item for anyone under the age of 18. 

Lastly I want to give a shout out to our Board of Trustees and thank them publicly. Since joining them in the last week of Term 2 I have been really impressed with the work this important group of volunteers has been doing behind the scenes. 

Have a great weekend everyone!

Nga mihi,

Dean Sheppard