Today is the start of a much anticipated and well deserved holiday break.

This week we celebrated the achievements of our visual and performing artists and top academic results at the Cultural and Academic Blues Awards. For many of the groups featured on the night, this was their first opportunity to perform this year and I would have to say these performances were some of the most polished I have seen over my time here. I believe this serves to highlight the dedication and hard work of students, teachers and tutors over the past year, despite the challenges and barriers Covid-19 put in our paths. The guest speaker on the evening was Olivia Pike, accompanist and opera singer, whose message of following your passion and not measuring yourself against perfection, was highly appropriate. Not only was her speech motivating, especially to those who may be interested in pursuing a career in the performing arts, her performance allowed our students, who usually see her at the piano accompanying the choir, to hear the power and beauty of her voice. Congratulations to everyone involved in the evening. It was a truly joyful and uplifting event.

On Wednesday we held the House Haka competition. Our new school haka, Wāhine Toa, written by ex-girl Ada Duffy and Head Prefect Jen Marsh, was performed for the first time. It was our juniors who led the way, as they had been practicing during the parallel examination time. Despite worries we had not had sufficient time to prepare, the girls did the haka proud and put their all into it with first place going to Cruickshank House.

Yesterday we celebrated the awarding of the Otago Girls’ High School Board Year 9 Scholarships. These went to 10 outstanding young women who have proven through their participation and actions so far this year that they are worthy recipients of these academic, sporting, cultural and leadership prizes. These students are featured elsewhere in this newsletter.

Today attitude to learning and grade summary reports will be available for all students. These can be accessed through the Edge portal. Please contact the office if you are unable to access these. For students in the senior school, progress grades for the parallel examinations will be on these grades, providing an indication of where their learning is at currently. Next term tutorials will get underway in preparation for the NCEA external examinations. Please take the time to go through the grades with your child and talk with them about their plans for how they are going to prepare for these examinations. If they need additional help or support to achieve their goals for the year, please contact the school at the beginning of next term so we can work together to help them achieve success.

I wish you all a restful and productive holiday and look forward to seeing everyone back for Term 4.