Pūwhenua has been officially Blessed.

The long wait is over. Last Friday, led by Kaumatua Tamati Tata (Ngati Ranginui and mana whenua) and kuia, Hirawa Curnow, our newly refurbished 24 classrooms, three-story transformative teaching and learning space was blessed and officially opened. A transformative space unique to our other suite of classrooms offers greater flexibility, collaboration, and an opportunity for seniors to experience operating in spaces they will most certainly encounter in tertiary education and workspaces.

Thank you all that have given so much to realise this building. It has certainly not been without its issues but we can assure the community that this building is now weather-tight and meets the NBS for earthquakes. Hooray!! It was indeed a pleasure to host so many colleagues, students, and contractors at the Blessing Ceremony. Teaching and Learning has now begun in this incredibly lovely space and each week as more classes and teachers move into Pūwhenua, it will become fully functional. Students who have classes in the building can only enter and exit through certain stairwells to ensure a smooth flow and transition of students daily. Whaea Ngawai, our Kaiawhina has been given the task of supporting our students to get this right. All but one of my Senior Leadership Team are teaching in this exciting new space and I look forward to sharing more insight about this space in time to come.

Student leadership opportunities

Each term our student leaders take charge of the school-wide assembly held in our Sports Hall. The theme is celebration and then growing the capability of our school as we prepare for our next school-wide house event in Term 2. Assembly organisations, leading committees, proposing changes, organising new events, and the like are just a few of the opportunities our student leaders take charge of, and through their committees, give students in Years 9-13 an opportunity to be involved in decision making on behalf of their peers. We see confidence building, emotional intelligence, and self-management skills all coming to the fore. These transferable skills empower our wahine in and post-school.

International Marketing and Recruitment

This term, I will be joining Mr Wheatley, our Intentional Director on a Marketing and Recruitment visit to Germany. This will be our first trip to this country for which we have several long-standing agents from whom we receive our delightful 15 German students. We will be visiting numerous towns and cities from Frankfurt up to Hamburg and whilst I will attend 2 recruitment fairs and visit several agents and or families of current students, Mr Wheatley will travel ahead of me and attend an additional German recruitment fair and visit a few more agents before I join him. TGC provides a niche International Student opportunity in that we cap our numbers, we know everyone by name and we provide outstanding homestays for those who require it. The richness of language and cultural diversity of these students combined with ours, makes our College the even more inclusive space that it is renowned for. Special thanks to Karen Wallace our Homestay Co-ordinator and Mr Wheatley for their pastoral care, good humour, and attention to detail.

Summer Tournament begins

Best wishes to all of our parents, coaches, managers, and of course students who are representing Tauranga Girls’ College in their chosen Summer Sports code. We look forward to sharing updates via our SM pages.

26th Annual Multicultural Festival

Congratulations to our students who performed at last weekend's Multicultural Festival at the Historic Village. Mrs Feng-Brignall provides enormous support to the multitude of groups that represent nations and ethnicities in our school. These events allow our students to express their cultural knowledge beyond school and is a very well attended community event.

Attendance Attendance Attendance

Does your daughter or young person have 85% or more attendance? If not, why is that? We know that regular attendance and engagement support achievement both in the classroom and in extracurricular activities. Please take an active part in ensuring your daughter or young person is where they should be every school day. Every 3 weeks we send out an attendance report (via email) and your taking an active role in checking the parent portal also helps. If you have any concerns, email their whānau teacher.

Our Values are our Expectations

As we continue through this term, please ensure your daughter or young person respects our school's values and maintains their high standards and expectations in and around the school. This includes the phone-free kura, jewellery, uniform, and behaviour expectations.

Our College's values or uara provide the basis upon which our expectations are built. As whānau, we thank you for your support of these and for reminding your daughter or young person of their role in following these expectations in ALL that they do as a member of TGC.

Lastly, thank you to my colleagues who are working particularly hard to ensure students can attain their achievement credits as they complete each assessment opportunity in the senior school. There is a lot of assessment and marking going on at the moment and with 3 weeks left of this term, students need to ‘dig in’ and make sure they are attending, taking up any additional opportunities on offer such as tutorials or lunchtime catch ups and making some personal (social) sacrifices to ‘get the job done’. The April school recess is nearing and will be the time to have another well-being and brain break.

Tara Kanji

Tumuaki/Principal

In this issue

AFS is coming to Tauranga Girls' College