A number of events have occurred over the past week that have highlighted what is special about this school.

These events have brought our school community together, highlighted the diversity of this community and celebrated the talents of so many of our students. They have built pride and belonging among all members of this school.

On Sunday the PTSA ran their House and Garden Tour. This was sold out, despite the weather. With the raffle and plant stall included a total of over $14,000 was made. This was thanks to the extremely hardworking team of parents on the PTSA, in particular chairperson Sue Filsell, along with staff, student and parent volunteers on the day. I would like to thank the extremely generous property owners who opened their homes and gardens for the event and were such gracious hosts. The funds raised from the event will be used to benefit our students.

Our English language learners and international students celebrated the end of the year on Monday night with a presentation of awards and leavers certificates as well as some very entertaining performances. It was lovely to have staff, students, parents and host families attend and to acknowledge the contribution our leavers have made to the school. Our International Prefect, Pear Sae-Lee gave a heartfelt speech about her time at Otago Girls’ and Louise Lin provided some great advice to all present.

Tuesday saw us hold our Celebration Service at Knox Church. This is always a highlight in the school calendar and this year’s was one of the best ever. The theme was “Talk to me” with the idea being to acknowledge the strengths and differences of our students, between the generations in our school community and the importance of communication in bridging that gap. With virtually our entire student body being born in the 21st century and most of our parents and teachers growing up through the 80s, we featured a number of songs from this era, some wonderfully thought provoking readings from leaders including Michelle Obama, Jacinda Adern, Simon Sinek and Ellen deGeneres and some outstanding performances. The evening was truly uplifting and highlighted the diversity of our students and the inclusiveness and support given to them by our entire school community. Some personal highlights for me were Rose Stevenson’s violin playing, Deborah Olusina and Viena Nika’s African inspired song which was accompanied by our Year 11 dancers, and the sounds of girls continuing to sing as they exited the church. Congratulations too to our Year 13s whose medley was fantastic.

Events like this do not just happen. Countless hours go into planning, organising, finding the music and the readings, deciding who is going to perform, arranging the music, and practising the various groups who performed and accompanied on the night. This is quite apart from all the practices run with the whole school to get the quality of performance to the level we enjoyed on Tuesday night. From time to time we receive complaints about these practices taking students out of class. We firmly believe however that the benefits that result from our students being part of such an event demonstrate learning of a different, but equally important kind. It is also an event that brings our entire school community together and continues to develop that sense of pride and belonging that is so important to wellbeing. My particular thanks go to Ms Kathryn Dick and Mr Eugene Shields for all the work they put in to make Celebration happen, as well as the numerous other staff whose contributions make a difference.

Today is the final day for seniors as they depart for examination leave. I hope that they will use their time wisely and take advantage of the tutorial support on offer as they prepare for these exams. Juniors have classes as normal next week although there will be room changes due to NCEA being run in K block. This is followed by junior examinations the following week. A timetable will be made available today.