Kia ora koutou

What a wonderful week it has been! The OBHS/OGHS Senior Production opened this week and proved to be a lively, racy and rollicking good show with a quality live music soundtrack, outstanding singing and performances from all involved, and stunning visuals, costumes and choreography. Thanks to the huge effort from everyone to get this show on stage after a Covid-19 hiatus last year. Congratulations to the Otago Girls’ and Combined Choirs who were chosen to sing at the Cadenza Competition in Timaru in late August, following their performances in the Big Sing recently. The Arts are truly thriving at Otago Girls’ High School.

Yesterday we awarded Scholarships to fourteen Year 9 students in the areas of Academia, Sport, Cultural and Leadership. The list of recipients is included in this publication. These students epitomise commitment and the values of positivity, respect and integrity and are role models in all of their school life. Importantly we want to spread this success across each and every one of our students. The key to this is a simple recipe of attending school every day and every period; presenting the best side of oneself in uniform, respectful behaviour and effort; and caring for, accepting and including others with kindness and empathy.

There have also been impressive performances in sport, not the least being the Prefects vs Kings’ High School Prefects Netball yesterday! It is great to see the school spirit that surrounds these events and also to see the efforts also going into the House Haka practices for the competition on Tuesday next week. We also have Hautonga - the regional kapa haka competition taking place on Saturday next week on 10 July and performances are open to the public at the Dunedin Town Hall. Wairua Pūhou will perform for 30 minutes at 2.15pm.

Finally, we are about to launch our new kaupapa around the school rules. Students, staff and others will be involved in shaping the future direction of PB4L and positive, respectful behaviour for learning at Otago Girls’ High School. The three central rules are Ready, Respectful and Safe. We will be exploring these fully in the coming term and hope to have these embedded across the school in all areas by the end of August. Fundamentally the three simple rules centre around consistency and kindness and the holidays are a good time to think about how these rules may come into effect for your own child.

Stay warm in this heart of Winter. After the holidays we can look forward to lengthening daylight and do stay connected with the school communications for advice around snow days and closures.