Dear parents and caregivers

What a way to finish the year, with Pūaha Te Tai (kapa haka) winning four medals at the regional competition and our Junior Girls Volleyball Team beating all expectations to finish runners-up at the South Island Competition. This was the first year that we have had a competitive team in the kapa haka regionals for over 20 years, what a fabulous achievement! We also believe it is the first time our girls have made the final of the South Island Junior Championships. Our school community are very proud of these students, coaches, managers and tutors.

One of the frustrations in what has been a very difficult year for everyone, is the way in which some students have responded through poor behaviour choices. Nayland College (anecdotally alongside most other schools in the country) has had high stand down, suspension and exclusion rates for 2020. It is always a very difficult decision for the board to ask students to leave. However, I make no apologies for holding a firm line on discipline. We have been, and will continue to be, very clear about our expectations, especially with incidents that involve illicit substances or violence. As we grow larger, Nayland College will remain a school with strong standards and consequence systems. In Term 3 we added another layer of support to our consequence system by centrally locating students that have been withdrawn from class due to disrupting the learning of others. This is a tiered approach that involves the input of parents and teachers to restore the relationship before students can once again join their peers. This process will continue in 2021. We are always looking to improve our systems and through our new Puna Ako programme, we will be promoting strategies to celebrate and strengthen relationships across our diverse student population. All students have the right to feel safe and cared for in our school environment. By maintaining high expectations, educating our student population, and having strong systems in place for when things go wrong, Nayland College will continue to positively manage student behaviour. We do appreciate the support of parents and caregivers in reinforcing our strong school values and expectations. 

We still have a busy couple of weeks ahead with Junior Activities, Graduation Dinner and Junior Prizegiving still to come! There will be one more newsletter this term that will include dates and processes for the start of 2021. These can also be found on our website: 

https://nayland.school.nz/enrolment/start-of-year/

Ngā mihi nui

Daniel Wilson
Principal