Dear Parent and caregivers

Greetings, tena koutou katoa, talofa lava

This is my last major newsletter for 2017, may I therefore take a moment to thank you for your continued support.

As you are now aware we have come through the year in good shape and our aims have been achieved, I am pleased to let you know that progress towards the completion of our new school is good, and by the end of the Christmas vacation, you will see the “bones” of the new school rise above the ground. Behind the scenes, a lot of work has been done and is continuing  to ensure that the new school is going to be at the absolute forefront of cutting-edge education in New Zealand.

The Plan for 2018

Continued planning for the new school, will be the focus for 2018. It is my expectation that development planning work will include parents and students of the school. This is entirely appropriate as the cadre of students in Year 9 next year contains the academic scholars, cultural icons, sporting heroes, Head Boy and Senior Prefects of 2022, a year in which we will be firmly established in our new site.

A reminder about co-location.  We are currently  engaged in dialogue with Avonside Girls’ about what this will look like, but  bear in mind that we had a “co-location” similar situation between Marian College and Shirley Boys’ in the pre-earthquake years. This meant linked timetables where senior students at Year 12 and 13 had some joint classes. There were various manifestations of this arrangement, for example in Languages, we often had a joint class at Year 12 taught by a teacher in one school and a joint class at Year 13, taught by a teacher in the other school. In other areas we had spill-over numbers of students topping up classes in the other school. For example if  we had 26 Year 13 Physics students needing a class, 20 could stay in one school with the balance of 6 students going to the other school.
Arrangements such as these ensure a good use of resources.

Some shared facilities will also happen. A Performing Arts Centre shared by the two schools and by the community is likely. My personal wish  is for a centre strongly linked to the Council’s Sport and Recreational Centre. Remember, however, that each school will continue to operate as a separate entity with its own unique ethos.

CIE and NZQA examinations are well underway when you read this newsletter and the internal examinations for Junior School will be soon to finish. May I wish everyone involved the best of luck and I trust that each individual (and of course the school as a whole) will perform strongly in them. Our BTB goal will not surprise. We have set ourselves the task of reaching the same high standard that was achieved in 2015 and 2016 in the general school, and on improvement in the area of Merit and Excellence passes.

May I wish you well for the coming festive season.  Ann and I will not be travelling out of Christchurch this year.  Under the eagle eye of my wife, I have gardening to catch up on, so if you need to contact me for any reason, please do not hesitate to give me a call.

There will be plenty of challenges in 2018, but truthfully we are well placed to meet these,. Between you and me, as always, I am looking forward to them.

Regards and best wishes,

John