We made it!

I want to personally congratulate all of our students, friends and family for their support during this year. It's been another busy, enjoyable and a challenging one but we MADE IT! We have much to celebrate and to build upon. All of this makes for an exciting 2022.

Live Streaming and our Social Media platform
Congratulations to all those students whom we were able to celebrate with our live streamed events. 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 will pause a little over the summer as we all take some time to focus on family and friends before celebrating and sharing news with you again later in January. Of special note is Ms Caroline Gill, who has been the behind the scenes lead of our digital communications. Caroline has been promoted to a Deputy Principal role at SHGC Hamilton. Her work on our branding, FB and Instagram has been superb. Thank you Ms Gill!

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. We have 13 key contributing schools feeding into TGC and more when we add the wider contributions. With 340 Year 9’s already enrolled, we are looking forward to welcoming our new learners in February. Start dates and of our Powhiri will be shared on our FB page in the New Year.

Keeping us safe
The school is in the process of getting quotes on security cameras to strengthen our safety, especially outside of school hours. I will keep you informed of the progress we make in this regard. New signage is also about to be installed over the summer so that out of bounds areas and signing in procedures are made clearly visible.

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 Goverment to get vaccinated. 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 dependant on your support of the above, so thank you for your ongoing support.

Over the summer school holidays
Whilst many families look forward to the summer holidays, this experience is not the same for all. Our College has contributed to many support networks over the year through fundraisers, donations and in service. We encourage all of our TGC community to look out for one another this summer. A simple ‘check in txt, smile or phone call’ to friends, neighbours and classmates is all that it takes to keep everyone connected.

Student Leaders
On Tuesday 14 December our head students for 2022 will be informed of the outcome of their leadership interviews. The leadership process is a rigorous one and requires all students to have completed service hours before they can even apply for one of the top roles. Each year staff and students vote and then a shortlisted 14 students apply for one of the top 7 leadership roles, including Head Prefect. TGC is fortunate to have such a strong group of leaders across all year levels, so when it comes to selecting a Head Student and 6 Deputies, the process is challenging. We look for a team that can work together, put aside their personal differences and use their leadership for the benefit of all students in the school. Our FB page and Website will announce the leaders to the school community this year and then a formal announcement will be made at our first full school assembly in 2022. Thank you to all the Yr 12 (and some Yr 11) students who applied. Along with the 7 lead roles, over 25 Prefect roles are also announced making the team a strong one. The school is in great hands.

Arohanui and Meri Kirihimete to you all, be safe and I look forward as always to seeing you back in the New Year.

Ngā mihi whānau!