From the tumuaki | principal 2024 Term 1 Week 6

Tēnā koutou (greetings to you all)

I had the pleasure of welcoming a new family to our school this week. The student mainly speaks Spanish and I don’t, but our resourceful students in year 7 found a couple of them who spoke enough Spanish to help and all of the students made this boy feel incredibly welcome. I was very proud of the manaakitanga our school can show. Hearing the journey of migrant families like this also reminded me how lucky we are with our school - we can all take things for granted sometimes and it helps to see ourselves with new eyes.

We have a lot of new families from a wider range of countries, as well as International students, which is changing the face of our school. In the last three years, we’ve changed from 7% to 13% Māori and 1% to 5% Asian (covering a range of nationalities) as well as having students from other Pacific countries, North and South America, Africa and Europe. Overall, we’ve also grown to 835 students. Diversity can feel challenging for some students but is well known to promote better learning and even businesses can show improved performance from greater diversity. As families / whānau, we appreciate your support in promoting an approach of embracing diversity and showing respect for all people.

Ngā mihi maioha ki a koutou (warm wishes to you all),

Andy England

Tumuaki | Principal