Kia ora e te Whānau,

This is our last newsletter for Term 2. We have had a big term, completing learning and assessments from the first half of the year, moving into Semester 2 programmes and looking for opportunities to acknowledge and celebrate our young people's personal and academic success. A good example of this is our students who have gained their Licence to Work certificates. This work ready course develops employability skills and provides confidence for our students in entering the workforce. 

Thank you all for the continued support and encouragement you give to your students and to our school.

As we move into the middle of the year and into the colder months, it's darker earlier. Sometimes learning can seem harder - especially when we are challenged to learn something new, or to do something different. Our initial response can be to put up roadblocks as we tell ourselves, “It will take too long, it is too hard, or the old way works.”

By shifting our focus from identifying the challenges to identifying the benefits we can increase our aspiration to do initially unappealing things. By helping our young people to identify how they will personally benefit from mastering something new, we can help to reduce barriers and increase motivation to learn. 

The learning pit created by James Nottingham is a way to visualise what learning something new can be like. We have to put in some work and stick at something to get better at it. We can all improve and be proud of our efforts. 

It is great to see in this newsletter all the awesome things our students do and what they can achieve.

I hope you all enjoy the term two holidays with your whanau and celebrating Matariki together

Ngā mihi,

Gareth