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

A warm welcome to the 2023 school year, especially to those families and students who are joining our community for the first time. It has been a much more positive start to the year compared to the previous covid related years. I have noticed the enthusiasm of staff and students as they have been able to re-connect and start to set positive goals for the new year.

We are extremely proud of our 2022 NCEA results, all students and staff should be proud. In the most difficult circumstances last year, the character of both staff and students was truly tested. We are very proud of the cumulative effort in difficult covid circumstances.

One of the key factors in achieving these results is the importance of attendance and our students attending regularly (90% attendance rate). It is our experience that students who attend regularly achieve. I would recommend you take the time to refer to Daniel O’Brien’s article regarding attendance in this panui.

At the start of each year we welcome new staff to St Thomas. It is my pleasure to welcome Mr Daniel Meng (Mathematics), Mr Jim Li (Mathematics), Mr Andrew Cavill (Sports Department) and Mr Anton Smail (Sports Department). We also welcome Mrs Judeena Quinn back from maternity leave, and wish Mr Johnny Leo’o all the best in his new role as a teacher of Physical Education at St Thomas.

While our main focus in the early part of the term is focused on connection and belonging, we also focus on the standards of our young men. If you could assist in ensuring your sons leave home with fully charged devices, the correct uniform and well rested, we will develop our young men as learners and work alongside you to develop character.

In these early weeks of the school year, if you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to contact your son’s mentor teacher. All questions are worth asking.

We look forward to connecting with our parent community on Mentoring Day (Tuesday 21st  February). This a very important day to set goals, and reconnect the all-important relationship between school, student and home.