Nau mai, haere mai, greetings.

Term 4 is flying by fast!

It is hard to believe we have our year 11-13 students sitting their examinations and that we are now over have way through the "new" term.

Since the last newsletter, we have held our senior prizegiving which is an event the highlights the successes of our students through their grit and determination. The successes of the students are born out of a partnership between our school and their family's commitment to education. During the prizegiving, I eluded to the future of learning. Education is in the process of transformation as we move from the past into the future. We know the government have undertaken the Education Conversation where most of what we do is being reviewed and more excitingly reimagined. The more we discover about the future of work the better prepared we are to educating our young people to be successful. Predicting the future is difficult. One story springs to mind. In an 1899 annual report of the Patents Office, the following sentence appeared - “Everything that can be invented has been invented”. In 1899! We can’t predict the future but we know the importance of people being adaptable, relational and creative. This is uncertain times and requires great courage. As our students learn so too are we.

From prizegiving, I would like to make a special mention of our school Dux Samara Wyllie and Proxime Accessit (runner-up to the Dux) Casey Riley who both have shown what dedication and hard work can do. Congratulations to our sportsperson of the year Rebecca Jones for showing us what setting a goal and achieving it looks like. And finally to our 2019 student leadership team of Ellie Tizzard (head student), Rebecca Jones (head student), Kitty ten Hove (deputy head), Damon Galbraith (deputy head), Hayden Rowe and Amanda Kilgour.

The remainder of the term is action-packed. Look out for the upcoming events as we see a visit from cyber safety specialist John Parsons come to Oxford, activity days is approaching, on the 7th December we are holding a community hāngi from 12.30pm, Santa is visiting the junior school and the two junior prizegivings on the 11th December.  This all culminates in the last day Thursday 13th December where we will finish at 12 pm (buses running at that time).

Enjoy the rest of the term.

Mike Hart
Principal/Tumuaki
Te Kura o Te Poho Rakahua
Oxford Area School