Tena koutou katoa

The end of Term 3 has arrived with bugs in our water and logs and mud surrounding the school. The word RESILIENCE comes to mind as I reflect on the past few weeks. The QPS community; staff, students, our Board of Trustees and parents have demonstrated true resilience. Thank you everyone for pulling together and supporting each other.

Highlights of the term have included; the many fundraising activities, new buildings on our site, the Playcentre preparing to move onto our site, our Cultural/International Day, the amazing outdoor education programme up the mountain, Winter sports, cross country and the Battle of the Basin competition, and our Development of Talents (DOTs) programme. All of this was achieved in10 weeks!! Ka mau te wehi; that’s outstanding!

Thank you to those of you who attended our Stewart Island fundraiser; the QPS Quiz night. It was a huge success! $12,818 was raised. Mahi pai, good work! There are 3 Year 6 Camps to Stewart Island organised for Term 4. Justine Lock, Matt Leach and myself, will attend a week each. This is one aspect of the job that is so rewarding and fun of course, as we strengthen our relationships with staff, parents and the students.

Thank you for participating in our survey regarding the dates for 2024. Overwhelmingly, the results have confirmed a start date of 5 February and end date of 20 December. QPS has planned a Teacher Only Day for Friday 20 October 2023. The staff will be preparing for the NZ Curriculum Refresh and discussing the Kahui Ako achievement challenges for 2024. We hope this is not disruptive for your whanau. We have attached this day to Labour Weekend.

Finally, I hope you all enjoy special times with your whanau during the school holidays. I am off to my grandson’s 5th birthday tomorrow. Am a little sad as now there are no babies in our whanau as my daughter continually reminds me no more are ‘on the cards’. One more daughter to influence so fingers crossed!

Ka kite koutou katoa i te wahanga o muri mai!

See you all next term!

Fi Cavanagh

Principal