Kia ora koutou

What an amazing week for our students up the mountain and for the businesses in Queenstown with all that snow! We live in such a beautiful place and every day the views and our environment inspire me. Lucky Principal! Matt Leach and I have settled into our new roles each Thursday and Friday and a massive thank you to the staff and the Board for supporting us as we lead QPS onto bigger and better things.

Term 3 is historically known for staff and student illnesses, thank you everyone for staying at home when you are unwell! However, we are turning a corner as the mornings are becoming a little lighter and there is only a couple of weeks until Spring.

The building projects are full steam ahead. The groundwork is nearly completed to accommodate 10 new classroom spaces. The plan is to have all buildings on site by the last week of Term 4 when we can relocate classes before the remainder of classrooms are demolished during the Christmas holiday break. I wish to acknowledge our QPS Board of Trustees for the time and commitment they have provided QPS whilst juggling their own full time jobs. No easy feat, but they are passionate and definitely driven to ensure your children learn in modern spaces. We have organised for the internal fit outs of the spaces to be single cells with the ability to open up the spaces for shared teaching when it is appropriate. Our students and teachers are super excited at this prospect. Alongside this development, Matt Leach has consulted with staff and students surrounding plans for a new junior playground. We are nearly there in terms of the types of equipment the students would like to be included. Exciting times! Southbase has been an amazing company to work with and we particularly appreciate the communication from Jack, our site manager.

The PTA are working really hard in the background organising upcoming fundraising events. The Polar Plunge is making me feel a little nervous as I could be voted in to ‘splash’ into Lake Wakatipu. Several other staff members have put their names forward as well, so this event should raise a significant amount for our ‘shock treatment’.

Kia kaha, kia maia, kia manawanui

Be strong, be brave, be steadfast.

Have a wonderful weekend in paradise!

Fi Cavanagh