It is with a heavy heart that I write my last newsletter comment as Principal of this great school. Thank you for the opportunity to share this exciting, adventurous journey with you.

Dear Tauhara College Community, 

Thank you for joining me over the last couple of weeks as we have marked the end of another busy and successful year celebrating the achievements of our students as our future leaders, thinkers, change-agents and super-stars.

What a great way to come together as a community to acknowledge these fine young people and reflect on the way that they have made the most opportunities this year, supported each step of the way by you as whānau and by our staff.

2019 has been another exciting, interesting, vibrant and busy chapter in the story of Tauhara College. It is so refreshing to take this opportunity to reflect back on a year where overwhelmingly our experiences and adventures have been wonderfully positive. 

Every day in this place reflects that energy, enthusiasm and positive atmosphere of a group of people committed to a learning journey. This is exactly as it should be!

Our students have once again made the most of their opportunities and there have been a range of outstanding achievements in all aspects of school life. Of course academic learning, achievement and the attainment of qualifications will always be the essential focus of what we do as a school, however, it is so refreshing that it also continues to be in the wider opportunities where our students add to that powerful mark on the world. Our musicians continue to lift the standard into the exceptional, Kapa Haka, Drama, and our Dance teams all continue to thrive, symbolising what is possible with commitment, imagination, hard work and a touch of magic.

It has also been another great year for sporting achievement with many of our students reaching the highest level of their chosen sport. Our Sports Awards Evening a couple of weeks ago was another festive and vibrant celebration of everything that is great about sport at this school. I personally continue to be so impressed with the high levels of enthusiasm, the positive energy and the sense of fair-play that our students bring to their sporting pursuits. Our students demonstrate that even in the most demanding of situations,  when all may seem lost, they hold their heads up and keep going to turn things around. They are also always gracious in victory and acknowledge the people who have coached and supported them.

We have young people who will go on to thrive in their places of work, but also the dance stages, auditoriums, playing fields, cinemas and leadership platforms of the world!

All of this is built on the care, courage and commitment of the people in our community who make these opportunities possible. To all the people in our community who support students, counsel and mentor, coach and manage and care deeply, thank you for being on this journey with us. I say this often, but if ever there was a time in history where the expression ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ was prevalent it is now. Tauhara College continues to be so very fortunate to be supported by such an amazing community.

The many varied successes and accomplishments of our students are also a powerful reminder that the future of our country and of the world is in good hands. There is no doubt that we are in a time of change. Social norms and expectations, environmental issues, changes in society due to pervasive advertising and social media, and huge advances in technology are all contributing to a very different world to the one that we grew up in and are used to. Some of it is exciting and some of it is frightening. However, one of the absolute privileges of having been a Principal of a school like Tauhara College, and interaction with young people each day, has been the assurance that whatever happens in the next decades, whatever the future looks like, we do have the young people to successfully navigate this.

My fellow teachers and the wider staff at Tauhara College, it has been an honour to work with you and as I have often said, I could not have asked for a better team of people to have been on this journey with. As a group you have formed a vibrant fellowship and shown an unrelenting commitment to providing adventurous learning opportunities for our students, finding that elusive spark that sometimes makes all the difference in the world, building the bridges, taking the time to have that needed conversation, providing maps to interesting new places, picking up the pieces, encouraging, cajoling, scaffolding.

Likewise, Tauhara College continues to be so fortunate to have such a future-focused, courageous and determined Board of Trustees.

This year saw a ‘change of the guard’ with many Board members finishing their term in June. My sincere thanks to the outgoing Board of Trustees members who have tirelessly supported the school and kept the vision of every student supported to achieve their personal best as part of every decision.

We were fortunate to have a very strong field of people from our community who stood for the new Board and welcomed a determined, caring and proactive team to start their tenure this year. We are also so fortunate to have the continued inspired, courageous leadership of Mrs Julie Yeoman as Board Chair. I feel incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with Julie, personally and professionally. Tauhara College is so well positioned to continue its positive, growing trajectory under her involvement, care, dedication and moral purpose.

So to our current  Board of Trustees who serve our school to the highest level with commitment and integrity, thank you!

As with every year, we have families that are leaving us for the final time in 2019. Families that have had a number of students go through the school and have been huge supporters of Tauhara College. You have been involved on the Board, with the PTA, coached and managed sports teams, supported music and dance and taken part in tours, school trips and camps. You have driven thousands of kilometres and stood on the sidelines of hundreds of games. Thank you for your invaluable contribution to our school and for being part of our story.

To our students, well done on a very successful year and making 2019 what it has been. Well done for listening out for those opportunities and making the most of them for all that they are worth. It is often said that some opportunities shout out and demand your attention, but others whisper. It is very clear that this year has held many of both and that all have been heard. 

I wish our Year 13 cohort who are about to embark on their next exciting chapter all the very best. As I said in the final full school assembly, thank you for the positive way that you have contributed to our school culture and for being the positive role models that you are. I hope and trust that in your next steps, whatever they may be, that you will carry a piece of Tauharatanga with you as a graduate of Tauhara College. 

On a personal note, this marks my last newsletter comment as Principal of Tauhara College.
I would like to take this opportunity to say that it has been an absolute honour to hold this position over the last four and a half years and to be part of this wonderful community.

Thank you for the opportunity, and thank you to all of you for all your support.

All that remains for me is to wish you a safe and relaxing break over the Christmas season and all the very best for 2020.