Kia ora koutou and warm greetings from our Kākāriki Rōpū.

Even though we are only 7 weeks into our school year, there has been a number of achievements within the house that I would like to celebrate. Firstly, I would like to acknowledge the 2022 Kākāriki house leaders, who unfortunately would generally be announced in our first house assembly but haven't due to the current gatherings restrictions. As usual, it was a tough selection process with many more students applying than we had positions. The four house leaders for 2022 are: Stella Durham, Connor Armstrong, Thomas Rhodes and Hannah Watson. I believe this group of learners will be excellent role models and hopefully help us win the house competitions this year. The first is the Fear Factor event against other house leaders, which will be broadcast live for our Ako classes to watch. 

Secondly, I want to acknowledge the Kākāriki students who gained their NCEA qualification last year, either with Achieved or possibly Merit or Excellence endorsements. I know how hard everyone worked during an inconsistent and unpredictable 2021 to gain their NCEA qualification, and you should feel proud of what you have achieved. 

As we cross the mid-way point of Term 1, I hope all our ākonga and their whānau are up to date with the changing landscape of "hybrid-learning" and all the other measures we have in place to manage this 3rd wave of the Covid pandemic. Our Principal Richard Edmundson, and our Senior Leadership Team have endeavoured to keep our community informed and updated with how to protect and manage any concerns over contacts and infections, as well as how to access online learning for any students who need to be home or are timetabled home for our rostered "hybrid-learning" schedule. I would like to encourage senior students to continue to take ownership of their learning and show good self-management during these times. And please stay in touch with us if you are keeping your child home for whatever reason so that we can keep accurate attendance records. I want to thank you for supporting our rangatahi to be here at kura, looking after one another and wearing masks to help protect our community the best we can.

Kākāriki House is very fortunate to have some amazing kaiārahi working with our learners, and helping guide them through their Linwood College journey. We have had a number of new teaching staff join our kura, and three have joined our Kākāriki whānau: Guy Cowan, Keri Mahuika and Kimberley Brörens. Our kaiārahi are our students' biggest supporters in school and will often be their first port of call for guidance and awhi. I wanted to take this opportunity to acknowledge them and the hard work they have done and continue to do to support, protect, and further educate our ākonga. If you would like, at any point, to contact your child's kaiārahi, you can find their email below:

Guy Cowan: gco@linwoodcollege.school.nz 

Richard Jolly: jly@linwoodcollege.school.nz

Kimberley Brorens: kbo@linwoodcollege.school.nz

Kate Munro: kmu@linwoodcollege.school.nz

James Lowe: low@linwoodcollege.school.nz

Manu Paringatai: pi@linwoodcollege.school.nz

Keri Mahuika: kmh@linwoodcollege.school.nz

Brent Patterson: pn@linwoodcollege.school.nz

Ben Russell: rus@linwoodcollege.school.nz

Mā te tuakana te teina e tōtika, mā te teina te tuakana e tōtika.

Ngā mihi nui,

Mr Nick Colville

col@linwoodcollege.school.nz