A number of changes have had to implemented as we head towards a new ‘home straight’ this term.

Changes to ensure we are all safe
Prizegivings and other end-of-year celebrations have had to be changed in order to support the government's overall position of reducing gatherings. Information was emailed to parents and FB posts have kept you up-to-date regarding these. All celebrations will now be live-streamed without parents and only with a limited number of prizewinners.

We have not taken this decision lightly but know that it was important to both celebrate and acknowledge our talented young women whilst also keeping health and safety at the forefront. Having been in discussion with other secondary Principals in the area, including our brother school, TBC, we all agreed that livestreaming was far better than cancelling any of our celebration events.

We hope to also record these events for those who do not have access to or are unable to watch the event live. I will leave that to the technical team!

Year 13 Final Assembly and Leavers' Dinner
This too has had to be changed with both events taking place but not in the way students have experienced in the past.  With gathering sizes for parents/visitors being limited, it was unfair to decide which parents would or would not be able to attend, so the Leavers' Dinner will now be turned into a student focussed in-school event with Mrs Barnett, Mrs Mankelow and Mrs Leach working with students to quickly determine what this will look like. The final assembly also will no longer occur in front of the entire school in the Sports Hall, instead this will be a virtual event and our Year 13 are already in preparations for this.

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.

Property work updates
C Block is really beginning to take shape now with a lot of clearing work complete and new structures being added. A lot of staff and students walk by this building and will be noticing the differences each week. This is an exciting $1.2m project for our school and we know that the short-term inconvenience will be well worth it in the end. K Block has also had an external makeover and another of our toilet blocks has been renovated.  See Property Projects article for further information.

Cinderella cast named
Congratulations to all the students who auditioned for our 2022 school production of Cinderella. The casting crew were so impressed with the calibre of students that they increased the crew size to over 60! Congratulations to all those who won a hotly contested lead role.

Vaccination status
As per the government's mandate, all adults associated with the school, from teachers to coaches to support staff, are required to have had their first COVID-19 vaccination by 14 November. I am pleased to say that the response has been fabulous and that documentation has been coming in thick and fast. We understand that the higher the vaccination rates, the less likely we will be in lockdown when an outbreak of the very infectious Delta variant occurs in Tauranga. Students tell us that online learning, while OK for some, isn't for most and interaction with their teacher and their peers supports improved learning, as it does to support mental health and well being. Please support the Government's plea and ensure that if you are a coach, manager, mentor or someone who does, or has previously worked with our staff and students and wishes to continue in this role, we need you to be vaccinated. Only those vaccinated will be able to fulfill such roles come mid November.

Once I receive further notification around the collection of students' vaccination status, we will begin that data set collection.

Staffing update
We will be fully staffed for 2022 and are excited by the calibre of staff that have been applying for teaching positions as advertised through the Education Gazette, or for support staff roles via Seek. We will introduce new staff to you in the new year and farewell others at the end of this year.

Student Leadership Roles for 2022
With shortlistings completed, a potential seven Head and Deputy Head students will be interviewed this weekend from a possible 13 amazing students. Each year we are looking for the ‘best team’ that can work collaboratively to support the school and the BoTs strategic vision.

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. Scholarship recipients are in a separate article.  

Year 9 and 10 students
With only a few weeks left to this term for Year 11-13 students, our Year 9 and 10 students will once again have the school to themselves for their last few weeks of school. This is yet another opportunity for these students to demonstrate their positive leadership skills, resilience towards their studies and of course to look forward to some learning outside of the classroom with activities.

Take care, keep safe and our ability to be agile, to respond to change and to manage our disappointments will be something that our new normal will continue to teach us. TGC too is becoming more resilient and adapting to support our staff and students to focus on what we can control.

Ngā mihi whānau!