Kia ora koutou as we near the final weeks of the term.

This week we celebrated Race Relations Day and Farwa Nabizada spoke of the need to celebrate all of the cultural richness and diversity in our school. Over the past year at Otago Girls’ High School we have embraced a new concept of cultural understanding in our school, led by a strong group of student leaders with backgrounds from all across the world. We celebrate the coming together of people in school and look forward to many further celebrations and events during the year. Farwa’s speech is included in the newsletter.

On Monday 27th March we will close earlier at 1.20pm for staff professional development with Margaret Ross, behaviour and motivation consultant. Students should check their Google Classroom to get ahead on schoolwork that day.

The Teacher Only Day for Term Two for the implementation of curriculum changes and the review of NCEA will take place for our school on Monday 24th April. Please note that this is the day before ANZAC Day and that this means that normal school will resume for students after the holidays on Wednesday 26th April. Students are encouraged to attend the Dawn Service for ANZAC Day, along with our prefects, in their full school uniform.

Many thanks to all of you for paying your school donations promptly. These make a huge difference to the opportunities and events we can offer at the school. We also appreciate prompt payments of camp contributions, and again cannot run camps and trips without these payments. Please ensure your donations are up to date, particularly for camps such as Borland and sports tournaments that are happening next week. Please contact the school office or visit the friendly accounts department if you need clarification of your payments. Considering the increased costs of petrol, food and other services, our camps remain exceptional value for money and parents are very diligent at paying. If hardship is an issue, we are able to access help through the McKenzie Trust and other avenues so please contact your child’s dean or the school counsellors to arrange this. Payments can also be set up in installments as we are mindful of financial pressure on families.

The PPTA and the government remain in disagreement over the Secondary Teachers’ Collective Agreement. Further industrial action is a possibility and we will let you know details of this as it unfolds. We are hoping that a way through can be found before this is necessary.

Today we hold the inaugural Prefect-run OBHS-OGHS Year 9 get-together. This has been a big initiative from the prefects and is the start of an ongoing partnership with our brother school. Next term will focus on elective indoor Winter activities and Year 9 students will host the boys at our school.

Finally, we are holding a non-uniform day on Friday 31st March to raise money for rehabilitation following the Hawkes Bay cyclone. Students should bring a gold coin this day and students who are away can also donate at the office prior to this. We will also hold our annual ‘Active April’ non-uniform day on Thursday 6th March and there will be activities at interval and lunchtime, requiring all students to attend in sports gear.

Thank you for your continued support of the school and we look forward to an exciting last two weeks of the term. Best Wishes to all going on tournaments and camps.

Nā tō rourou, nā taku rourou ka ora ai te iwi

With your food basket and my food basket the people will thrive

This whakataukī encapsulates the notion that while working in isolation might result in survival, working together can take people beyond survival and onto prosperity.

Ngā mihi nui