Bringing joy to our retirees
Congratulations to our Music Department and thank you for the amazing musical talent of our TGC students who performed a two hour concert for a large group of retirees last week. It was a fabulous concert enjoyed by all those who attended. Special thanks to music teachers Mrs Geor and Mr Brady and those that prepared a lavish afternoon tea for our visitors.

Our Sporting Achievements
Despite COVID impacting on many tournaments or sports competitions this year, last week TGC celebrated the sporting talent that sits within TGC. Special thanks to the Sports Department and Deputy Head Girl of Sport, the very talented Olive Pearce, for their execution of the Sports Celebration and for our fabulous guest speaker Kendal Stevenson.

Te Moana Nui a Kiwa - Māori and Pasifika Celebrations
This week we celebrate the achievements of our Māori and Pasifika students attending TGC. This is always a highlight of the celebration calendar and is when our Māori Dux is announced. More about this in the next newsletter.

He Tangata, the heart of our whare
A special thank you to Year 12 students Kyaria and Kahurangi for opening up the whare at lunchtimes. Kyaria and Kahurangi took me shopping for bean bags last week and invite you to come along and enjoy this wonderful treasured space. At the heart of any whare is its people, so come along and enjoy sitting on one of the bean bags while enjoying time with your friends.

Service is key to formal leadership at TGC
As each cohort moves up a year in 2021, let this be a timely reminder of the service expectations at TGC. Giving your time, talents and efforts without financial reward ensures that kindness and helpfulness are key and necessary requirements for any student wishing to gain a formal leadership role at TGC. Each year, students must have completed approx 30 hours of service in Year 12 to win a formal role in Year 13. Helping at your marae, volunteering by tutoring, mentoring, umpiring or coaching are just some of the examples of service to others. Get into the habit of giving back now and find out for yourself just how rewarding this can be. Thank you to all of those amazing girls at TGC who do this already and 15 of whom we have recently interviewed from a pool of 250 who are vying for Head Girl and six Deputy Head Girl roles for 2021.

Farewell cohort of 2016
This week we farewell our Year 13’s, the cohort that began as Year 9’s back in 2016. So ably led by Head Prefect Hannah Rose and her team of Deputy Head Girls and Prefects, this cohort has achieved a lot in their time and I am sure will continue to do so as they embark on the next chapter of their journey post school. Haere Ra girls, you have been amazing and we will miss you! Keep in touch as TGC will always be your school.

That makes three former Head Prefects working at TGC
TGC looks forward to welcoming a number of first and second year teachers to develop their craft alongside our experienced teachers. The College has been impressed by the high calibre of teachers applying for teaching positions. We also look forward to welcoming back a former Head Girl and alumni back to TGC. That will make three former Head Prefects giving back to TGC!

Vertical Whānau Groupings
An enthusiastic team of students and teachers are busy putting the vertical whānau groups together for 2021. We still anticipate informing students of their new whānau group before school closes later in December.

Our new houses are announced
Make sure you ‘like’ our TGC Facebook page as there have been many amazing stories and celebrations that we have shared since the term began. The page is also used for updates and any changes that need communicating outside of our newsletter. We hope you enjoyed our livestream of our new house announcement. It was fabulous having former House Leaders or representatives from the 1950’s back in our school for the announcement of our new House system. Freyberg and Rutherford who are etched in NZ history will be replaced by Kate Sheppard, Whina Cooper and our new house Te Auetu Harata Hall. Katherine Mansfield and Jean Batten remain. Congratulations again to Annabel Robinson and Mahnoor Qadri for their winning entry and to Mrs Talbot and Ms Gill for their support.

Tara Kanji
Tumuaki/Principal