We look in hope to 2021.

Kia ora koutou. Talofa. Kia Orana. Malo e lelei. Bula. Fakaalofa atu. Namaste and Kumusta. Greetings to everyone at LCŌ and our wider LCŌ community. 

When I made my address at the senior awards ceremony I had to mention that it had been a one "pig of a year." I discussed how fortunate we are to be in Aotearoa-New Zealand compared to many places around the world, but even so, Covid-19 has hit hard for many, many people in our community and nationally. This has meant that 2020 student achievement and success has been even more praiseworthy - "truly you are diamond; truly you are pounamu." It is also shown how true education reflects the eternal verities of character. It is through adversity that the qualities of our character and cherished values come to the fore. Tēnā rawa atu koutou-Fa'afetai. Thank you to all our families-whānau-aiga who partnered with the school to support us all get through the uncertainties of the first weeks of Term 1, the emerging developments that lead to the alert levels, the weeks of lockdown itself and online learning within all those lockdown pressures, and the return to LCŌ for the "new normal."

A transcript of my senior awards ceremony address is featured later in this newsletter.

Term 4 in a school is always a dynamic time as seniors finish internal assessment, prepare for exams and choose subjects for the next year to develop further their personalised pathways. This busyness continues as we review and measure the learning progress of our Yr 7-10 students. We farewell leaving students, farewell leaving staff and interview and appoint new staff. 

With our growing roll and overall redevelopment, LCŌ is in the very fortunate position of being able to attract and appoint a range of very high-quality staff, some internally and some from around the country. We are delighted with the calibre of appointments that we are making for our school and community.

2021 will be our final full year of being here on our temporary site - Linwood College at Ōtākaro. As we know we are firstly very fortunate to be out of all that building disruption - noise, dust, mud, classes squashed in the hall etc - and secondly the double-lift of being in such beautiful surroundings. We most certainly have been getting "an upgrade before our upgrade" as one mother said to me. We are pleased with our building progress at Aldwins Rd and the positive partnership we have with our architects - Architectus, the Ministry of Education, Southbase - our construction company, and RDT Pacific - our project managers.

We look forward to 2022 and our return to Te Aratai College - pathway to the sea - the beautiful name that has been gifted to us by Ngāi Tūāhuriri.

Linwood College at Ōtākaro is a vibrant community. Our students are wonderful people: open, thoughtful and questioning. We the Linwood whānau – school, family, community – are proud of them.

Finally, schools can be complex places, so if any member of the community wishes to talk to me about anything, please contact the office, or my direct dial 982 0100 ext 839, to arrange a time for this to occur. My door is open.

Ngā mihi nui and best wishes for the festive season and summer holiday.

Richard Edmundson Tumuaki-Principal