Hero photograph
Linda Miller, Principal
 
Photo by Photolife

Principal's Report

Ms L. Miller, Principal —

Rostering home for Year 10 next week has been cancelled.

This is great news and hopefully an indication that talks between the Ministry of Education and teacher unions are progressing and that a settlement can be reached as soon as possible. We have been informed that there will be no further information available until the middle of next week so I hope to be able to inform you of any developments in the newsletter next Friday

Congratulations to those parents who put themselves forward for the role of Trustees for the Otago Girls’ High School Board. As the number of nominations matched the number of places on the Board no election was necessary. Board members are profiled in this newsletter and I am looking forward to working closely with the following people over the next Board term: Parent Trustees: Ann Bixley, Shane de la Harpe, Tony Gomez, Lyn Hurring, Phil Marsh, Mau White. Staff Representative: Simon Pickard; Student Representative: Annie Sansom.

This past week has been another smorgasbord of achievements and accolades. We were all delighted at the news that Yvette Corlett (nee Williams) had finally been made a Dame Companion of New Zealand. This was in recognition of her services to athletics and just reward for her achievements and contribution to this sport. It was bittersweet that she learned of this honour just the day before she died. This brings the total of Dame Companions who are graduates of Otago Girls’ High School to 11 - an impressive total and all impressive women. Mrs Smallfield is in the process of working on an historic board featuring our Dames and we would welcome any offers of sponsorship for this.

Hard on the heels of Freya Pettigrew’s prize of a trip to New York, we received word that Sam Couper, our Academic Prefect, is one of six New Zealanders off to China for the Asia Science Camp and that we have some new New Zealand sports representatives. Hannah Matehaere has been named in the Under 19 Women’s Basketball team, Storm Wykes in the New Zealand Under 19 Handball team and ex-girl Jenna Thorne has made the New Zealand Women’s Volleyball team. Fantastic achievements!

Our Pasifika students have also been to the fore this week with the Pasifika Voices speech competition held up at Otago Boys’ on Wednesday. Once again this was organised for all Otago schools by Tiare Makanesi (Year 12) and two of our girls, Maia Dean and Moli Ahokovi were placed second and third respectively in the Senior section. Through Tiare’s work the University of Otago have come on board as a sponsor of this event and presented scholarships to all Year 13 participants as well as the opportunity for an on campus experience for all junior participants. My congratulations go to Tiare for making this event happen.

Congratulations also to the brave girls and staff who shaved their heads to raise money for the Cancer Society. Organised by Elsa Neuman, Community Service Prefect, over $6000 was raised for this cause through the mufti day, sponsorship and donations. Well done to all!

Practices are well underway for Hairspray and ticket sales are steady so please get in and get your tickets from the school office.

With all that is going on and the cold weather we are experiencing the usual winter illnesses are prevalent at present. Please keep your daughter at home if she is unwell. This year’s ‘flu seems to be particularly nasty.