The start of Term 2 has been a busy one for students and staff at Mountie.

Term 2 signals the start of many of our sporting teams, key pastoral events, as well as a focus on academic progress in both the Junior and Senior schools. Football, Basketball, Badminton, Netball and Rugby have all begun their respective regional competitions with a mixture of mid-week and weekend fixtures. This week saw a handful of our students participate in the Aoraki cross-country and swimming competitions. In addition to school competitions we have also seen a number of Mountie students compete and be successful in representative sports. Outdoor Education, Year 9 Social Studies and Geography have been busy on excursions, providing rich curriculum links to what they have been covering in class. Geography have travelled to Christchurch and Queenstown for their respective field trips, while the Year 9 Social Studies class have visited a local Maori Rock Art Heritage site. Mr Martin has been busy providing his senior Outdoor Education students with Rock Climbing opportunities to gain credits towards their course. Last week was the national Anti-bullying week and Mountie signed the week off in fashion with a pink shirt mufti day and a student-led anti-bullying assembly. It was great to see ex-student Lucy Barge return to school to promote this event with a powerful speech. During Ako over the coming weeks, all senior students will be meeting with their Ako teachers to track their academic progress so far this year. These conversations will help students in working towards their academic goals for the year, as well as helping student reflect on their progress; student reflections will be including in the reports at the end of term.

This busy schedule has been compounded with ongoing pressures of COVID-19 restrictions with both staff and students affected and requiring time at home to isolate. Unlike years gone by, life carries on and there has been very little disruption to our school calendar. Both students and staff should be congratulated on how well they have represented our school values while adapting to the increased pressures in our world at present.

Ngā mihi

Marc Capstick
Deputy Principal