It has been a fantastic week of celebration, farewells and graduations. Last Friday night we celebrated the achievements of our sportsmen at our annual sports awards dinner. Last night our Pasifika community gathered to honour the achievements and service of the departing Year 13’s and finally our Senior Futsal team have been acknowledged at the prestigious Zonta awards for their achievement in winning the Senior National Futsal title earlier in the year. 

Alongside this event we have a group of junior students preparing to attend the World Scholars Cup international finals at Yale University, our entire Year 10 cohort raising money for Mental Health by holding a fun run today, and finally Year 8 Retreats have also been held this week. 

All of these events have involved a large input of work by both our staff and parent community. Amazing opportunities present themselves for our students when we all work together for the benefit of our young men. It is my experience when our young men are given these opportunities, they are able to chase their passions and express their talents. Our students are so blessed to be part of a supportive community. 

While we have had plenty to celebrate this week, the main focus for our senior students and staff has been on preparation for senior NCEA exams which are the culmination of a full years work and study. We have highlighted to our senior students that study leave has to be earned. For some of our students our staff will be working with individual students that need extra support right up till the end of year to achieve their academic goals. Mr Brendan Biggs will be facilitating this process. 

I experienced a profound reminder of what our community is all about at the Pasifika achievement night. One of our Old Boys was present and was Master of Ceremonies for the evening. At the end of all awards the Year 13 students were farewelled with a stirring haka from the junior students. After the haka, Josh Vaifale spoke with passion and wisdom and challenged our younger students to “stand up” and take all opportunities that come their way. He described how important his time at St Thomas' had been in an often tearful and emotional final speech, Josh explained we are not a school but a family. It is in this statement that I feel our community can be described.

On Tuesday night we will celebrate the academic, sporting, cultural and drama achievements - we will also celebrate the Year 13 students who depart at the end of this year. As Josh so simply stated though, we are a family and while we may not see our Year 13 students everyday next year, they don’t leave the family - they remain a part of our community forever, they have left the school in a better place than they found it. It has been a pleasure to watch our Year 13 students grow and develop to celebrate the success and to support them in the challenging moments. The greatest perk of being a teacher is to see young men come into our school as 11 year olds and to see the 18 year old version leave - to be directly part of their lives for their time at St Thomas' is a true honour.