Kia ora koutou

Netball, hockey and rugby teams were away with Winter Tournament Week with great success - not all wins, although some notable wins, but fantastic experiences which will help to grow these students’ interpersonal skills, sense of teamwork, life skills and connection with their school as well as sporting excellence. We’ve been really well supported by parents/whānau as coaches, supporters and fundraisers: my thanks to everyone involved and to our staff who brought it together. Full details in separate articles.

Our art students’ exhibition at Te Huanui Gallery closed this week. It was a beautiful and impressive display of talent and hard work. It’s great to have such public display opportunities and my thanks go to Te Huanui community as well as our passionate Visual Art teacher Louise Carey.

We have a few cold heads around school for a great cause - fundraising for the fight against leukaemia. Shave For a Cure was a massive hit this week with $8, 951.40 raised so far. My day was delayed due to badly-timed sickness but it will still happen!

Students all voted for their 2024 Head Students this week and it was great to see campaigning taking place. I was impressed with the participation and consideration from involving the full range of our students and it is good for them to start learning about voting.

Next week, NCEA students will be sitting practice / derived grade exams in preparation for their formally assessed exams in November. These serve the dual purpose of essential practice and building evidence in case of sickness or other events preventing attendance in November exams. Parents can support by ensuring students understand the value of this process, expecting full participation and creating good study spaces/ routines where possible.

Our Board of Trustees Student Trustees are elected annually and will soon be open for election. This year, we also have a mid-term election for 2 parent trustees: these are critical roles in steering our school. Parent trustees ideally bring skills in governance as well as other aspects key to the governance (not management) of a large school: these may be business/financial, legal, strategic planning, cultural, or professional. Quality governance is going to be key to our school’s success over the next few years of likely growth so, if you are interested, please do discuss your thoughts with a current Board member (details on our website) or me.

From the start of next week, until the end of the year, our head of Science Stu Gerritsen will be taking leave. We all recognise the challenges of this timing but it is unavoidable - we will be in contact with affected classes directly as we’re working hard on alternative teaching plans. Our best wishes are with Stu.

Noho ora mai (stay in good health)

Andy England

Key dates:

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

Week 8 Senior Exam Week

Week 10 Koru Games (years 7&8)

22 Sept Last day of term 3

9 Oct First day of term 4

3 Nov Last day for seniors, Gumboot Friday

Derived Grade Exam Timetable