The final week of this term featured a school highlight for the year to date - the official opening of the Anne Frank “Let me be myself” exhibition.

This is the first time the exhibition has been hosted in a New Zealand school and the opening was a wonderful opportunity to explore the exhibition and showcase Otago Girls’ to our invited guests. We were particularly delighted to have Boyd Klapp, The Chairman of Anne Frank New Zealand and Race Relations Commissioner Meng Liu Foon join us for the evening, along with Dunedin City Councillor Christine Garey who opened the event. I would also like to acknowledge Fiona Moran, the parent of an ex-girl, who was responsible for initially proposing that the school could host this exhibition.

Boyd Klapp, CNZM, QSO, aged 92, is one of the most inspirational people I have ever met. He has been the voluntary chairman of Anne Frank New Zealand and Australia since 2009. He has been responsible for 35 exhibition showings, as well as the recent launch of the Anne Frank diary in Te Reo Māori. Boyd was a teenager in occupied Holland, about the same age as Anne Frank, and experienced the brutality of the Nazi regime. He came to New Zealand in 1951 and had a career in insurance. He has a very strong commitment to anti-discrimination and believes we can all learn a lot from the wisdom of Anne Frank. He encourages us to realise how lucky we are to grow up and live in New Zealand.

One of the highlights of the opening was the student involvement in the event. Wairua Puhou and the Choir performed, Rose Stevenson played the theme from Schindler’s list on the violin, Meg Cunningham-Tisdall performed a monologue from the Diary of Anne Frank, and Annelies MacDuff read from the Diary in Te Reo.

I would also like to acknowledge our student guides who have enthusiastically shown their peers and students from other schools around the exhibition - well done!

Otago Girls’ is grateful to those who have kindly made donations to enable the school to host the Anne Frank exhibition. Thank you to our major sponsor Mercy Health Care along with other sponsors; Crombie Lockwood, Harraways, ABL, H & J Smith, Kelk Photography, Miss Reid Florist, Handy Rentals and Baker Garden Architects.

We know this exhibition will be of interest to a wide range of our community but particularly to students in this school, many of whom are the age that Anne was when she wrote her diary. They can learn much from the wisdom Anne showed as a teenager and the tenacity she displayed throughout her short life. They, like us, can reflect on the bigger issues at hand, and on the importance of continuing to deal with issues of race, sexuality, disability and religion. They, like us, know that we must all work together to make such discrimination and persecution come to an end. We encourage you to visit the exhibition during the school holidays. It is open from 9am to 4.30pm on weekdays and 10am to 2pm at weekends.

Today a large number of our students are joining in the march and rally organised by School Strike 4 Climate NZ. I admire the passion and commitment many of our students are showing for this cause and appreciate the support parents and caregivers have given to allow students to be part of this event. Year 10 student Hetty Finney Waters will be one of the students addressing the rally.

We have reached the end of a very busy term for students and staff, and I would like to thank you all for your hard work and commitment. Please have a restful break and I look forward to seeing you all back ready for the final term for the year.