Mānawatia a Matariki! Whakanuia! Mā te hokinga mahara, te anga whakamua, whakamahere, Me te piritahi ki a rātau e ora tonu nei, e mura ai te ahikaa.

Haere Mai and welcome as we celebrate Matariki which is about reflecting on the past, celebrating the present, and planning for the future.

On the last day of term, we will be having our House Haka competition and also having a hāngī for the whole school to acknowledge Matariki which we will be celebrating in Aotearoa on Friday 14th July. Matariki is about kotahitanga or unity and I would like to thank all of the boys and whānau who contributed to this special occasion by bringing kai or working on the day.

It has been good to reflect on the last term. While there has been disruption due to the industrial action undertaken by teachers, there has still been a number of events and successes that has been hugely positive. We have had three successful sports exchanges with Marlborough Boys’ College, King’s High School, and Nelson College. Hosting these exchanges at school is a great opportunity to have the boys out watching and supporting their friends and getting involved in whole school events.

We have had a successful time with our Performing Arts. Music has been fantastic, and I am really proud of the success in Tangata Beats and the Jazz Combo. We have also had a popular season of our major production, High School Musical. There has been a lot of work by the students from both Shirley Boys’ and Avonside Girls’ over the last few months to prepare, and this has shown through in a fantastic show. A big thank you to Mr Nathan Munn for producing the show and getting the most out of the students.

We had a very successful time at the regional Manu Kōrero competition which is a speech competition. We had four amazing speakers and came third overall with Tukotahi Wetini winning Junior English which is an outstanding achievement. We had a whole school Assembly last week to do a Mihi whakatau for the taonga that Tukotahi won. It was a special event and a great way to lead into our Matariki holiday.

Ngā mihi

Tim Grocott