Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa. Kia ora, Hello, Talofa, Mālō e lelei, Bula, Hola, Fakaalofa atu, As Salam Alaykom, こんにちは, Hallo, Hoy, હ લ ો, Hē leu, Mauri, न म त, Ola , Chum reap suor, Kumusta, Nihao, Xin chào.

Kia ora koutou

Congratulations to our South African learners and their families for the Springboks fantastic win in the Rugby World Cup! While it was sad that the All Blacks failed to make the final it was good to see them handle themselves with dignity when they must have been hurting after a loss!

It is great to see the weather warming up and the children are enjoying playing outside.

A week or so back we had our fantastic learners from Room 13 be filmed for a segment on Seven Sharp that you can view here. This was showcasing our use of the Sparklers resource. Sparklers is a free wellbeing toolkit full of fun and simple activities to help tamariki learn about their own mental health and wellbeing. Sparklers actively teaches tamariki how to manage big emotions, draw upon their strengths, connect with others and be ready for learning. Congratulations to Room 13 and Whaea Haley for doing so well!

Last week I returned from a week in Shanghai, China where I attended the International Confederation of Principals Convention. The convention program provided opportunities for school leaders to network, collaborate and share practice that will enhance outcomes for students. It included some fantastic speakers and I was very lucky to be able to attend and I would like to thank our Board of Trustees for supporting me with this fantastic opportunity. It was also a great opportunity to experience and learn more about the Chinese culture.

Christchurch Schools Rebuild Update Number 3

The master planning committee of the Board of Trustees continues to work with architects from WSP Opus and the Ministry of Education. Some Master Plan (working out where buildings will go on the site) options have been developed for both the build roll of 350 and the potential future Master Plan roll of 600. These are now going through the independent design review panel for comment and review. As part of this process we have received feedback and further options are being developed as a result. Once these plans have been confirmed and accepted by the Ministry of Education we will share them with parents. Then we go into the preliminary design stage. At this point, it still looks like we are hopeful for construction to start at the end of 2020. It is fair to say that so far we are very excited with the planned developments but until they are confirmed and finalised, we are unable to share.

Staff Changes 2020

It is the time of year when we share some staff changes for 2020. Mr Case has taken up a position at Casebrook Intermediate and Whaea Jade will be taking up a position at Ashgrove Primary School. It will be sad to say goodbye to these teachers and we will farewell them appropriately at the various school events that we have at the end of the year. I will say a few more words about this in our final newsletter! As we grow into a bigger school, change of personnel is inevitable and as such we have employed some excellent replacement teachers as follows:

Adele Staples, who is currently teaching at Selwyn House School, will be the Kahikatea Team Leader, in the role vacated by Keshia Johnson.

Aaron Taylor, who is currently teaching at West Melton Primary School, will be the Kāpuka Team Leader. He will be taking over the leadership from Whaea Richelle, allowing her the opportunity to study and work part time next year.

Lyndsey McGuinniety, who is currently teaching at Wigram School, has been appointed to teach in Year 7 and 8.

The rest of the teaching staff will be made up of teachers who are currently on our staff. Please note that things can change between now and the start of the year and we would juggle people around if this occurs.

Classes for 2020

It is that time of year where we are confirming our staffing and classes for next year. We will be starting next year with the same amount of classes that we started this year with as our school continues to grow despite the implementation of the enrolment zone. If you know that your children will not be returning in 2020 can you please let us know ASAP. If you have friends or family who live in zone and are going to enrol in 2020 please let us know.

The School Pool

We will be filling the pool up next week and it should be ready to go for daily swimming after Canterbury Anniversary Weekend. Please ensure all uniform and swimming items are named and that your child brings their own plastic bag for wet togs and towels. Pool keys will be available for hire for the summer, during the last two weeks of the school year (providing we get enough parent volunteers to set up a pool roster during the school holidays).

Canterbury Anniversary Day

Next week the school will be closed on Friday 15th November for Canterbury Anniversary day. Please enjoy this long weekend with your family.

Have a great week and please encourage your children to be respectful, responsible, real learners!

Ngā mihi nui

Paul Irving

Tumuaki - Principal