I write this article on the day that we celebrate the life of Queen Elizabeth II.

What a remarkable woman she was and it is hard not to feel that one should do something special with the day. I think I’ll light one of my Mum’s candles and remember her as being proud of her English heritage and a fan of the Royal family! The longevity of the Queen's service is incredible and we will never see anything like it again!

We have one week to go (and a short one at that!) until the end of Term 3. For those reading with senior students in your house, you will know that the end of Term 3 signals the inevitable beginning of a very short Term 4. With this can come stress that goes with getting those last internals in, and then preparing and sitting externals. In these holidays subjects that have portfolios, such as visual arts subjects like painting and printmaking, often run extra classes for students. These portfolios are worth 12 credits so can make up a significant contribution to a student's NCEA. I would encourage your child to get along and get some work done in the holidays to take the pressure off the deadline for these portfolios. My other advice to parents is to keep checking in with your child – How are you feeling? What work do you have to hand in this week? Who can you get support from? If your child doesn’t have any idea how many credits they have, it is usually not a good sign. Get on to the parent portal – where you need your log in and password that was sent at the beginning of the year. You can then click on results -> NCEA summary and your child’s results are there. If you need a hand with the username (your child’s first name.last name) or password email megan.johnston@staff.hagley.school.nz and she will help you out.

I would also recommend touching base with your child’s tutor teacher, as they have the NCEA oversight. Hopefully, you came in and met the tutor for conferencing so you will have a fair idea what is on top for your child and the plan to get over the line with NCEA. NCEA was designed to be achieved across multiple years so the best advice for a panicking teenager, in my opinion, is never give up, keep working and go through any half finished work. An hour or two well spent can be the difference between completing an internal or it sitting in the bottom of a backpack.

Are we a rich school? I have recently been reflecting on this! We held a whakawātea or blessing for the completed building Auripo, which is the new two storey building in front of the main block and between Gym 1 and 2. After the blessing, in which kapa haka sang a waiata to support the speaker from Ngaī Tūāhuriri, our mana whenua, the students from kapa haka asked me if they could have a look around. I said yes and decided to show them the auditorium first. In we went and they were so excited! They couldn’t believe how great the 206-seat auditorium is. For the record, it really is great. Beautiful timber and blue seating and some lovely wooden panelling in the shape of a Pātiki which is one of the cultural symbols of the building. As they were walking around taking it all in, one student said to me, “Hey Rowan, are we a rich school now?” I cracked up and said that we have always been a rich school but yes, just maybe we are! I knew what she meant as I had heard from other students who had asked me whether I thought the fact that we were getting new buildings suited Hagley and they sort of implied that they connected with the slightly hodge podge of prefabs we have around the place. The heritage building at the front, of course, speaks for itself as representing the history of our kura. Over the week I thought about that comment more – in my opinion our students deserve the very best. They deserve a wonderful auditorium to perform in (that same kapa haka group did an impromptu practice of their Tūhono bracket on that same afternoon. They have gone down in history as the first performance in the new auditorium). They deserve the opportunity to use a weights room/gym, to be taught in a connected manner with two teachers if that enhances the learning experience, they deserve gender neutral toilets and they deserve multiple places to heat up their lunch and have access to boiling water. They also deserve to learn dance in a great studio and to act in a mini theatre studio space. Auripo offers all of this and more!

So just to wrap up – we are rich! We have two new buildings (that actually belong to the Ministry of Education) but anyway, we are rich in culture and diversity, we are rich in that we can afford to run a very wide range of courses and opportunities. Staff are also rich in that every day we have such great interactions with students who make us smile, who are keen to learn and who care about our school and our spaces. I can’t wait until we are in a position to show our community through our new spaces. I will let you know when we open our second building, Wainuku, as this will be the big event.

Enjoy the school holidays, whānau! I hope there is an opportunity for some rest and relaxation or at the very least you don’t need to coax teenagers out of bed in the morning for a couple of weeks.

Arohanui

Rowan