Kia ora tātou, Talofa lava, Malo e leilei

What a great group of Year 13s we have at the moment. You can expect an online assembly to be emailed you tomorrow so you can see some of what we get up to at school – the silver lining to a complicated covid situation – and I can assure you that they have hit the ground running with plenty of ideas, plans and actions to lead the student community at Kavanagh College. Please look out for their correspondence during the next few weeks regarding initiatives they are actioning.

Another reason for celebration is our NZQA results for 2021. Usually at this time of the year we would be publicly acknowledging our Excellence students from the previous year at our Academic Blues evening. However, this year we need to postpone this very important gathering until as many people as possible can attend. Instead, next week we will hold an ‘in-house’ ceremony for our current year 12 and 13 students who gained Excellence Endorsements in their respective 2021 NCEA award. This event will be livestreamed for the whānau of these students and a link will be available soon.

2021 was the second year of disrupted learning, and for the year 13s of 2022, they now know nothing different in terms of ‘high stakes’ senior years. Considering the journey our seniors have been on, and the lack of any NCEA compensatory support compared to other parts of the country that were impacted significantly, we are very proud of Kavanagh College results. Thank you to the students, family at home and our teachers who have worked hard to make the best of a difficult couple of learning years. As you know, Kavanagh College is a decile 8 school, and to keep our expectations high, we compare ourselves with decile 8-10 schools rather than national data. I am proud that, again this year, we are above the decile 8-10 data for New Zealand at all levels including University Entrance.

Highlights

• Year 12 boys – 95% compared with 81.4% dec. 8-10 nationally
• Year 13 girls – 98% compared with 85.1% decile 8-10 nationally
• While national statistics for decile 8-10 schools have declined between 2020 and 2021 for NCEA Levels 2&3, Kavanagh data has improved
• Kavanagh’s NCEA L2 data has consistently improved year on year since 2017
• Kavanagh’s NCEA L3 data has consistently improved year on year since 2019

It is also interesting to note, that our year 11 data includes seven students who were either working on individual programmes rather than NCEA programmes or who enrolled with us in the latter part of the year. If this number was taken into consideration our NCEA L1 data would be 90%.

The Ukraine crisis is hard to ignore. I am conscious that there are families in our community who have strong connections to Ukraine and its neighbouring countries. Please continue to keep these people and all who are suffering overseas, in your prayers this week.

Loving God, we pray for world leaders,
for compassion, strength and wisdom to guide their choices.

We pray for the world
that in this moment of crisis,
we may reach out in solidarity
to our brothers and sisters in need.

May we walk in your ways
so that peace and justice
become a reality for the people of Ukraine
and for all the world.

Amen.

(https://cafod.org.uk/)