Kia ora e te whānau

Schools are always busy at the start of any year and 2025 is no exception. Firstly, I would like to thank the students, staff and community for the warm welcome that I received moving to Gore. The haka pōwhiri went well and was a fitting welcome to all the new students and staff. Thanks to Whaea Vanessa, Mrs Ryan and all the others involved in organising this. Welcome also to all our new students. I am sure that your time at St Peter’s will be enjoyable and beneficial for your future direction.

We welcome to the College the following new staff: Stephen Bryant (HELA Mathematics), Werner Du Plessis (English Teacher), Emily Esterline (Visual Art Teacher Term 1-3), Reanda de Beer (HELA Arts – begins Term 3), Mandy Pearce (Learning Support Coordinator for 2025) and Karla Graves (Gateway Coordinator).

We also acknowledge the blessings that came as a result of the distressing flooding of the school buildings in 2023. Despite the pain it caused, renovations meant the Gym/Hall and other areas received significant improvements. Of note is that new heating moved away from the coal-fired heating of the hall. We are thankful to all those involved in the repair and upgrade work carried out to remedy the flood damage.

At the end of last year, the Hostel Trust made the difficult decision to cease operating. I acknowledge this came very late and may have been a surprise to members of the community. I can only apologise for the timing of the closure, and it is certainly a loss to the school community. To reopen the hostel in the future will require significant investment and will not be an overnight process. There would need to be major improvements to get our buildings signed off by the Ministry of Education for this purpose. This would need to be a long-term project due to the nature of being a State Integrated school.

I am encouraged by the level of engagement so far with the surveys that have been sent out to all parents, students and staff. If you have not completed these, you still have another week to do so. Your feedback is valuable in gauging where we currently are as a school community and looking to the future.

Charity fulfills the Law