Kia ora koutou, and warm greetings from Kākāriki house.

Term one is always a long term, and I imagine a number of students and staff are relieved to have made it to the holidays. As mentioned in my previous report it has been a busy term, and I hope everyone enjoys a well-earned break. Some of my personal highlights of this term has been meeting new students to the school, appointing our 2021 house leaders and having rich discussions with senior students about their NCEA journey.

This next part is going to be quite different from my usual dean report. From next term, I will no longer be the house dean of Kākāriki. This has been communicated to students this week, and I have also sent an email to whānau. I am remaining at Linwood College, however, I have been appointed to a new role focused on assessment within our school and the Tamai community of learning. I have loved my time as the Kākāriki house dean over the past two and a half years, and it was a very difficult decision to step down from this role. I have enjoyed working with both students, whānau and our school community. Some memorable moments include when we won the inaugural house tabloids competition in 2019, attending academic conferences and wā whakanui and seeing many of our learners grow in confidence and ability. My replacement has not been appointed yet, this will hopefully happen at the beginning of Term Two. Katie Stanton, the assistant principal for Kākāriki, and Kate Munro, the assistant dean, will still be in their roles and will continue to support the house next term. Although not in the role of dean, I will remain in Kākāriki house and will continue to support the house in whatever way I can.

Below I will list all of the Kākāriki kaiārahi, and their emails in case you need to contact them for any reason. They will remain the main point of contact for whānau and students. Your child will be able to identify who their kaiārahi is:

Danielle Boxall - dbx@linwoodcollege.school.nz

Nicole Eastwick - neas@linwoodcollege.school.nz

Marco Guglietta - gug@linwoodcollege.school.nz

Richard Jolly - jly@linwoodcollege.school.nz

James Lowe - low@linwoodcollege.school.nz

Kate Munro (Assistant Dean) - kmu@linwoodcollege.school.nz

Manu Paringatai - pi@linwoodcollege.school.nz

Brent Patterson - pn@linwoodcollege.school.nz

Jasmine Peate-Garratt - pga@linwoodcollege.school.nz

Ben Russell - rus@linwoodcollege.school.nz

Katie Stanton (Assistant Principal) - kst@linwoodcollege.school.nz

To close, it has been a privilege to be the house dean for Kākāriki and I look forward to seeing the house go from strength to strength.

Ngā Mihi,

Ethan Smith

Kākāriki House Dean

smi@linwoodcollege.school.nz