From the Tumuaki | Principal 2023 Term 3 Week 2

Tēnā koutou kātoa

Another day lost for many of our students, this time with wild weather. It was a relief to hear that farms and homes are okay and the welcome sunshine lifted all of our spirits. It was a good reminder about the challenges our rural community faces and it would be useful to consider our resilience before we hit a major event: the usual farm or business management plus home resilience, ability to access/provide learning online and to communicate with each other.

There are many students doing amazing things with sport and I want to mention two: Louis Ridgen and Mason Thompson. At DHS, they go out of their way to coach and mentor boys’ rugby with two trainings a week. Outside of school, they have played their significant parts in getting Selwyn Combined 1st XV to a very respectable position in the Miles Toyota Cup, taking big school scalps on the way. They have also just been selected to the Ellesmere Under 18s rep team. All this and they show every one of our school’s values.

It was great to see a few whānau at the parent-student-teacher conferences on Monday and Tuesday. Only 27% of our school families took this offer up. The feedback from those who did attend was really good, especially about having ten minutes instead of the previous five…so we’re interested to learn why so many families didn’t want to meet with their child’s teacher/s! We don’t have another time set for this year but if you did miss out you are welcome to email your child’s teacher/s and request a call.

On Thursday, we welcomed Keiai Gakuen High School with a mihi whakatau. It is heart-warming to see renewed interest from our international partner schools, this relationship having lasted over 20 years. I’m also proud of our growing capability to welcome in our way, unique to Aotearoa | New Zealand.

The big event this week is, of course, the school Formal on Saturday night. I’m looking forward to seeing our senior students shining brightly!

Ngā manaakitanga (with respect/ kindness/ care)

Andy England

Key dates:

See https://darfield.school.nz/calendar/