The past fortnight has been filled with summer sports, outdoor education and assessment with students and teachers looking forward to a well-deserved rest after a very busy term.

 Last week volleyball, athletics, touch, waterpolo and sailing teams competed in South Island Secondary Schools Summer Tournaments. These teams were a mix of athletes experienced in tournament play and those new to this level of competition. All were a credit to the school. Highlights of the week were the tournament wins by our Senior A and 11A Volleyball teams, the 14 medals won by our athletes at the SISS Athletics Championships and the appearance of a Dunedin based team of sailors at the SISS sailing championships for the first time in many years. Representation by our teams at these tournaments is only possible thanks to the coaches, managers, administrators and parents who put so much work into our girls at the local competition level. Thank you for your ongoing efforts on behalf of our young sportswomen.

An assembly address this week by ex-girl Suzie Bates reminded the girls of the importance of being positive and not allowing disappointments to put you off your sport. Suzie recounted occasions in her career when she had not been selected for teams and how, by working even harder to overcome the deficits in her fitness and play, she ended up coming to the attention of coaches and making teams at a later date. This is an important message for our girls as winter team selections are being finalised. We do encourage students to play a sport - especially in the winter when long, dark evenings can be a great excuse not to be active. Physical activity, mixing with a different group of students than they usually hang around with and the dedication and self-management required to be a good team member are all hugely beneficial to the all round development of our young women.

One of the things we encourage students to think about is having balance in their lives - hence our push for sporting and cultural participation - but we also encourage students to make informed choices about what they choose to spend their time on. This can be really challenging for some students whose level of emotional maturity can see some of them making decisions that are very short sighted. Long term goals such as career aspirations and the qualifications needed to achieve these can be sabotaged by decisions to take part in events that will lead to short term rewards - attending a party, taking on an extra shift at work, going on a holiday in term time. Teachers are already juggling many different demands on students’ time when setting assessment dates so please ensure your daughter is at school when she should be so she is not compromising her future goals.

Next week Year 9 and 10 students will receive interim reports for Term 1. These will be available through both printed and digital means. Students will be given an envelope to take home which will include their report and instructions to access their report through the Edge Parent Portal. Please contact the school if you require help to access the portal as this will be the only way of accessing reports in the future. If you have concerns about the progress of your daughter at any level of the school, do not hesitate to contact their Dean, Form Teacher or classroom teacher.

I would like to wish you a restful holiday and encourage students to use this time to both catch up with any work and to take a break.