Kia ora e te whānau

Kotahitanga has continued to be an important part of life here at STC, giving our boys the chance to reflect on who they are growing into and how this aligns with our school values. Over the course of the year, we have focused on one value per term.

• Term 1: Brotherhood (strong, positive relationships)

• Term 2: Manawa (courage, perseverance)

• Term 3: Compassion (caring for others and ourselves)

• Term 4: we will focus on Legacy (what do we leave behind)

This term, we have had conversations about what Compassion really means - at school, at home and in the community. At the beginning of this term, every student set themselves a goal based on Compassion. From here we have gathered evidence and reflected on how they have worked towards achieving this goal, both in and out of the classroom.

These have been recorded in every student’s portfolio - Te Koru (Y8-10) and Te Kauri (Y11-13). Attached are the profiles - these are the traits/skills that we view as important for each and every student. Here is a short video from the beginning of the year which goes over the key ideas.

Across the 3 values we have covered so far, these portfolios are building into a story of growth across 2025. In Term 4 we will finish off with Legacy - what mark do our students want to leave behind.

As caregivers, we now ask that you make some time over the holidays to sit down with your young men and look through their portfolio. This is an awesome opportunity to celebrate the mahi that has gone in and should foster some productive conversations at home.

Portfolios can be found on your son's Kotahitanga Teams page, which is labelled with their mentor class code. I.e. If your son is in MAYO - the Teams page will have the same name. If you have any issues with finding this document, please reach out to your son's Ta'ita'i (mentor teacher) to support.

If you have any questions about this, please send an email to the Kotahitanga lead Billy Gulliver (bgulliver@stc.school.nz) to discuss further.