A quick overview of what happens in school assemblies.

Assembly 4 - 26 February

During this assembly we started with the whakatauki - Ka moemoea tātou, Ka taea e tātou. If we dream we can do it.

Having a goal is important, just ambling along doesn’t help with motivation or getting things done. We all dream - maybe some day-dream in class even. Have something to aim for helps you focus and understand why you are learning some of the things that you are in class. It’s all fits together eventually.  

My main theme for the assembly was about resilience. Now, I have heard this term bandied around a lot over the last few years. I feel this has become a cliche and a term that used to solve lots of societal problems and that schools have to teach students to be more resilient. 

There are lots of definitions around about resilience. To keeps things simple I see resilience as someone having a set of skills, strategies and motivation to get through the hardships that can come their way.  

It is hard to teach resilience, you have to live being resilient. One way I have used in the past is linking resilience to an old Top Gear story about how the presenters tried to destroy a Toyota Hilux. Google BBC Top Gear Hilux and you'll see the clips.

The metaphor is;

- The Toyota Hilux is well known as being reliable, made of tough stuff, has good foundations to take on tough situations 

- No matter what came it's way, the Hilux got through all the trials

- There was a good crew around to help, a mechanic, some people to pull it out of trouble eventually and an unwavering belief the Hilux could go again.

If we think about our students we can use the metaphor students need to believe they can get through hard times. There are people (a bit like a mechanic) that can support and do some minor fix ups along the way, but ultimately it comes down to the student motivation to carry on. These people include teachers, Deans, senior leaders and counsellors.

At times parents, teachers and school leaders have to make some tough calls with our teenagers. This helps build their resilience. Having the hard conversations, helps build their resilience. Saying no occasionally and sticking to decisions helps build resilience. 

Assembly 5 - 4 March

The theme for this assembly was celebrating lots of sporting success.

- There was a swimming sports - update of points, celebrating Tokomaru House 2024. Renae and Seth were invited on stage to congratulate the win.

- We announced the 2024 Swimming Sports champions 

- Athletic sports - slideshow presentation

- Our House Captains spoke about their Athletic Sports experience and award prizes for their houses

- Thomas Lauder announced winners of the manu competition from Thursday lunchtime. 

- There was another uniform prize presented. Students receive a voucher for wearing the school uniform correctly. At each assembly one student's voucher is drawn out randomly. We want to acknowledge students doing the right thing.

- There was also attendance prizes for each year level - again trying to recognise those students doing the right thing at the right time by being at school.

Assembly 6 - 11 March 

The theme for this assembly is aspiration. What are the dreams for our students? What do they aspire to do? I want our students to be amazing. Not just okay or doing well - but amazing. It doesn't matter what the end up doing in their future careers but I want them to be the very best at whatever they choose to do. 

I introduced three amazing young people that I have recently read about. The first is Charm Tuala, a young man from South Auckland who went to De La Salle College and just been accepted to Brown University, one of the eight Ivy League Universities in America. 

The next was Te Aorangi Murphy Fell a 24 year old that has recently become a chartered member at the New Zealand Institute of Directors. He currently sits on three boards - quite an accomplishment for his age.

The third is a young Māori women, Rangipo Ngaire Takuira-Mita, who has brought together other young Māori leaders focusing on the water quality of our rivers and lakes. She developed a water testing kit that is easy to use and has started distributing through schools.

Each of the these people have done amazing things. I look forward to seeing some our students to do amazing things in the future.

I also shared what is happening with Year 12 Construction - if you haven't already have read of the article in this newsletter.

We had five students that got prizes this week for wearing their uniform correctly. Students receive vouchers at the start of the school day that goes into a weekly draw.