NCEA begins 22 November
With senior students now on study leave, we have a focus on Year 9 and 10 students. Some exciting activity days are being planned for later this term and details will be shared with these two cohorts soon. NCEA examinations also begin on Monday, so a reminder to ensure students are quiet around examination venues out of respect for our girls concentrating on their exam responses.

Live Streaming of our celebration and Prize Giving events
Congratulations to all those students whom we were able to celebrate with over the last two weeks. Despite not having an audience in the hall, thank you to those who joined us during the live streaming of each event and for your positive and congratulatory comments during it. Our FB page has more details and photos of our celebrations.

Year 13 Leavers Event
Congratulations Year 13. It's been a challenging two years but you made it! You have shown grit and determination like no other cohort and it was wonderful to be able to celebrate your five years at TGC with a High Tea event and outdoor gathering last week. Thanks to journalist Sam Kelway from TV1 for his coverage of this event. If you missed seeing us, find the information on our FB page.

Enrolments continue to grow
COVID did not stop our enthusiasm for new enrolments and we continue to grow our Year 9 numbers for 2022. This again is positive news for TGC with an expected roll of over 1400 again to start the new year. A steady growth from 1250 when I arrived a few years ago. Thank you to Mrs Cade and Mrs Valentine for their mahi and enthusiasm in the enrolment space.

Keeping us safe

• Please remind your daughter to keep well away from the construction site (this is fenced).

• The gully is always an out of bounds area unless you are there with your teacher, there are many grassed areas around the school where students are permitted. Examples include outside J Block and the back field.

• Vaping, like smoking, is not permitted. We are a SMOKE FREE school, so please respect your health and that of others.

• Parents, if you need us, please ensure you phone and arrange a time to do this. All teachers are still teaching, so this is our priority and seeing you if you ‘walk in’ is often not possible.

• Access to the shops is only before or after school, not during school hours.

Public Health Order (vaccination for COVID-19) Mandate
As you will be aware, all educational institutions like ours, are mandated by the Public Health Order to be vaccinated. All of our teaching staff are vaccinated and I thank my colleagues for doing their part in keeping themselves, your daughters and others safe in our community. We support the mandate and encourage others as guided by the Government to get vaccinated. We like other regions, want to be in the ‘green light’ and be able to travel safely. Thank you if you have done your part to support our DHB region to get to the 90% and above vaccination mark.

COVID-19 Reminders

• Do NOT visit if you are unwell.

• If you develop COVID-19 symptoms please get tested and stay home until you have a negative test result. This applies to students too.

• Please wear a face covering when coming into school.

• All volunteers, contractors, coaches, etc must be vaccinated to be onsite from now on. No vaccination, no coming onsite as per legislation. Please don't be offended if we ask you for your vaccination status as this is what we are required to do and to keep us all safe.

• Parents do not need to show us their vaccination status but must make an appointment when visiting the school.

• Social distancing will occur when meetings are held.

• Sanitizer is available.

• All we can do to prepare before the DELTA variant arrives is also dependent on your support of the above, so thank you for your ongoing support.

Scholarship successes
Wow, wow wow, to the number of our Year 13 students who have been offered multiple University Scholarships for 2022. The potential scholarships add up to the hundreds of thousands of dollars and this year is no exception. This year, our girls won over $400,000 worth of scholarships, some were offered more than one. This is up significantly on our tally from last year. Congratulations girls. Your diligence has been acknowledged by universities competing for your enrollment!

Take care, keep safe and always, be kind

Ngā mihi whānau!