Nau mai, haere mai, talofa lava, malo e lelei, bula vinaka, kia orana, warm greetings

We held a very successful open day this week. It was wonderful to observe our students showing how proud they are of their Kura in acting as guides and speaking with visiting parents in their classes. I have been inundated with feedback about how impressive our students are, and how they are able to interact with prospective parents and students. But mostly I have received comments about the “feel” at St Thomas. I have thought a lot about this, when describing how a place feels we are describing the culture. In this space I am very proud of all that make up our community, everyone creates this culture - it isn’t done in isolation.

Culture improves learning. What we know about the brain development of teenagers is that they are prone to predominately use their emotional part of their brain. This is perfectly normal as they navigate through the formative teenage years. This why we often see teenagers acting in emotional ways, whether this be an outpouring of emotions on the car ride home from school or an emotional response to an immediate stimulus. It is our role in working with teenagers to understand them and help them engage the thinking part of their brain, the “frontal cortex”. They are only able to do this if the emotional part of their brain is calmed, one way we can calm this is by providing a safe environment where our students feel connected and have positive relationships with their teachers. A strong positive culture, or the “feel” that is often described by visitors, is the environment we are always aiming for as it creates an environment where our students can learn and grow. It is no easy task when you consider we have 650 developing brains in one place at one time, all on a varying continuum of growth! But it is a challenge we take on every day here at St Thomas.

We have a very large number of applicants already for places in 2024. If you have a sibling wanting to enrol, or friends and extended family, I would highly recommend you get your enrolment lodged. As has been the case in the last few years, we will have more preference applicants than places available, and will use our enrolment scheme to decide offers of place.

As we enter into the winter months, it is important we assist our students in looking after themselves, so they stay fit and healthy and are attending regularly. Our families can help by ensuring our young men are switching themselves off from phones, etc and getting a good amount of sleep.

I would like to congratulate all our students and coaches involved in our winter sports that have kicked off the winter season. I would also like to remind everyone that we have a role in supporting our students in a positive manner. Sport is about fun - sometimes we win and sometimes we lose. We have to learn to be honourable when both occur - this is a wonderful life lesson.

We have decided that there is to be no access through our back fields. The only entry point is via the front entrance of the school. The fence that has been placed between St Thomas and OLV has been to ensure the younger students in our local primary school are safe and can’t wander away. The fence also limits the amount of foot traffic that walks through during evenings and weekends, whereby we do, at times, suffer increased vandalism. We expect that by limiting this access through the back fields, it will secure our site and assets.

I would like to finish this newsletter offering a reminder in the winter terms that the drop off points before school are either north of the roundabout on Middlepark Road or on Takaro Ave. If we could refrain from parking in the cycle lane, and in front of the school, it makes our Kura much safer.