Kia ora.

It’s hard to believe we are mid-term already and with another public holiday to come the holidays will soon be upon us. This is all the more reason for our Senior Students to be taking stock of how many NCEA credits they have as well as staying on top of their current assessments.

Attendance and good self-management are key to success. I have enjoyed talking to several of our students about how they are coping with their workload to help reach their goals.

I want to highlight some student successes this term. It has been great to see several of our Waiporoporo students leading the way and scooping up some awards.

Last month I had the pleasure of attending the ‘Emerging Ethnic Leaders Breakfast’ with Ivo Baguingey and Ashlin Chandra who were nominated to attend alongside 22 other school representatives. Besides being immensely proud of our students' efforts around leadership in school and the community, it was great to see so much diversity in the room amongst our future leaders.

Ivo featured again alongside Alex Garcia at the Ministry of Education Academic Awards evening. This event was to celebrate academic success and diversity, and a great recognition for Ivo and Alex who both received NCEA Excellence Endorsements last year.

Finally, I would like to recognise Azkiya Mohammed for being one of 20 students around the country being selected for the ‘Entrepreneurs in Action’ Young Enterprise course in Wellington. This is a great reward for someone who has led a business project ‘Cheeky Grill’ throughout the year, learning along the way.

I look forward to seeing more of our students excel throughout the year however big or small the goal may be.

Lukas Davidson, Waiporoporo Senior Dean

lda@linwoodcollege.school.nz