Today is pink shirt day. Part of bully-free New Zealand week, pink shirt is an opportunity for people to show their support for the anti-bullying message.

 Sticks and Stones, our student led anti-bullying group has encouraged students to wear pink shirts and distributed pink ribbons for staff and students to wear to remind us all of the importance of preventing and solving issues of bullying. Pink shirt day has also coincided with Shave for a Cure and at lunchtime today nine students and four teachers bravely went under the razor in order to raise money for cancer research. If any of you would like to donate to this worthy cause the following link will allow you to make an online donation. Over $10,000 has been raised already.

Last night we held the second of our community consultation “Finding our Why” sessions. One of the many things that has come out of the sessions so far is the pride members of our school community have in the way our girls are prepared to contribute to their community. The two causes we have supported today are two such examples. We will be holding two further meetings for our school community as part of this phase of our consultation. While these will be run through Maori and Pasifika lenses, all parents are most welcome to attend. There will be further opportunity for input from all school community members once the first round of meetings has been completed and we have a number of “Why” statements from which to choose our final vision statement.

There has been considerable discussion in the media of late about the start of a second season of “13 Reasons Why”. This is due to the content of this extremely popular Netflix series which, without appropriate support, can be very upsetting to young people. The content includes rape, suicide themes, drug use and bullying. So concerned was the Office of Film and Literature Classification about the content, the first series was given a completely new classification of RP18. This means that someone under 18 must be accompanied by a responsible adult when watching the series. The second series has been given the same rating. The Chief Censor has also provided a warning to parents. Parents and caregivers should have received information from us, providing advice on how to manage discussion around the issues and themes covered, as well as links to support networks should further support be required. This information will be included with this newsletter also. If you have any concerns about your daughter as a result of watching this series, please feel free to contact our Guidance Counsellor, Mrs Ada Crowe cr@otagogirls.school.nz

I would like to once again congratulate the cast and crew of Strictly Ballroom. I was privileged to watch the final show last Sunday and was, as always, left slightly dazed at the amazing talent in our school. Congratulations must also go to the cross-country teams who blitzed the opposition at the recent Caversham Relay and to the student council who hosted a very successful OBs/OGs quiz night last night. It was great to see a packed hall and to hear the fun, banter and friendly rivalry.