It’s hard to believe that we are already half way through our school year. It feels like yesterday when we were welcoming our Year 9’s to our school!

In the last newsletter I spoke about the TGHS/TBHS combined production that was coming up at the time. I would like to congratulate Mrs White, Mr Chapman, Mr Lines, Mrs Lissington, Mrs Trainor, Mrs Black and all of the other staff who helped out plus the amazing cast of students for what was a truly wonderful show. It was a high quality production. Well done to everyone and thank you to all who came along and supported it.

Academic conferencing on 4th June went well and teachers reported enjoying really good conversations with parents and students. We keep striving to get the highest number of parents along to these meetings as we possibly can, as we know that the greatest success for our girls comes when school, parents and students all work together towards the same goal.

We enjoyed hosting Jane Bowen and Helen Risk when they came and spoke to the girls at a “Pathways Assembly” on 19th June. Jane owns Speights Ale House and Street Food Kitchen and also runs her own catering company. Helen works for Environment Canterbury in the area of Biodiversity. Both speakers were very engaging and had valuable messages to pass on to the girls about life in the work force and what skills / qualities are needed to get ahead in any job that they may take on in the future.

The Lip Sync on 25th June, organised by our Year 13 Arts Committee and supported by Mrs White, was a fun evening for all. It’s great to see students enjoying a laugh, supporting each other and joining in on the spirit of the evening. The winning group this year was “The Hostel”.

The junior Parent / Teacher evening went well on Thursday 27th June. I enjoyed meeting many parents and taking the opportunity to hear their views on certain things about school related matters, and just chatting about how their daughter was progressing at school. Many productive conversations between teachers and parents took place that night. Thank you to those of you who came along on a cold wintry night.

On Friday 28th June, our Kapahaka girls travelled to Lincoln to support our four speakers who took part in the Manu Korero Speech competitions. Our speakers this year were; Reremaia Unahi, Year 12 (Senior Te Reo Maori), Eve Reihana, Year 12 (Senior English), Rongomai Unahi, Year 9 (Junior Te Reo Maori) and Grace Edwards, Year 9 (Junior English). All four girls spoke with pride, confidence and Mana. Manu Korero is a big competition and it takes a lot of courage for the students to stand up and speak in such a forum. Tauke! Awesome!

The end of Term 2 saw our Year 9 students change over their option subjects. It is always refreshing for the students to get a new subject and a new teacher part way through the year. Our options structure enables our Year 9 students to try out a range of different subjects before they slowly start to specialise as they move through the school.

The last day of Term was the day of our TGHS school ball. This was a wonderful occasion and the girls all appeared to enjoy themselves, despite it being a very chilly evening for the walk-in. Thank you to the Ball Committee and Mrs Pavletich, the Year 13 dean, for the hours of work that they put in to preparing for the ball. I know that this committee were meeting weekly for a long time before the actual Ball. I so appreciated also, the number of staff that came to the Ball on the last day of term when their energy levels were seriously depleted, and the huge number who stayed behind to help with “clean up”. Team work makes the dream work. Thank you everyone!

As we start Term 3, our senior students are preparing for their internal examinations that commence on Thursday 15th August and run until Wednesday 21st August (inclusive). We wish them all the best and encourage them all to prepare well for these in the first three weeks of Term 3.

Logan Callow, our new Deputy Principal has joined our senior leadership team from Day 1 of Term 3. We welcome him to the TGHS family. He brings with him a good range of skills and experience

Finally, I would like to acknowledge one of our staff members Ms Sarah Robinson. Sarah has been undertaking extra-mural study in her own time over the past two years. She has been doing a post graduate Diploma in Digital and Collaborative Learning.  She is now studying towards a Masters of Contemporary Education. Earlier this year she was selected as a “NEXT Foundation Expert Teacher Finalist”. Only three teachers nationwide were chosen for this Award. This was in recognition for the outstanding work that Sarah has done with her post graduate study. Well done Sarah, we are proud of you!

All the best for a successful Term 3 period everyone.

He Waka Eke Noa – we’re all in this together.

Nga mihi nui

Deb Hales