Wellington school visits, Purple Power, Year 13s v staff quiz and more...

Kia ora koutou,

This week I was in Wellington on Monday and Tuesday with Ms Kirk, DP Curriculum, Ms Craig, Head of Faculty Religious Education and Ms Wybrow, Head of Faculty Arts. We visited a range of Girls' schools and one co-ed school to learn about their delivery of junior curriculum. We are visiting schools to support our work as a kura in designing an inclusive and rich junior curriculum that engages all our ākonga. These visits have been extremely useful and informative, and we returned with many ideas to share with colleagues. We were able to learn about what schools had tried in the past, what their current practice is and what their future directions are. The opportunity to visit and learn from a diverse range of schools is invaluable.

An unexpected surprise in Wellington, was bumping into 2022 Head Girl Niamh Aitken as we walked through the city. Many students would run for cover if they saw four teachers approaching, but Niamh enjoyed catching up with us all, as we did with her. It is always lovely to catch up with past students.

On Wednesday, my first day back onsite for the week, I was able to fully embrace the non-uniform day as a Purple Power supporter and also a proud Claver House supporter. This week our College leaders have led us in Purple Power week which celebrates Mana wāhine (powerful women.) In Ako our senior students made cards for, or wrote letters to, a powerful woman in their life and were asked to express to them why. All students were engaged in this activity, and I will be repeating it with the juniors at a later stage. Junior students are busy preparing for upcoming learning conferences in Week 5, where they are expected to take the lead in discussing their learning progress, strengths and challenges, supported by their Ako teacher and parents.

Today the College leaders organised a Year 13 vs Staff family feud style quiz. They were highly strategic in making Mr Newton the quizmaster. They were clearly aware of his reputation in quizzes as being almost invincible. He met his nemesis last year though in coming up against current Year 13 student Eve Doocey, who has taken on the mantle of “The Destroyer.” Picture my dismay then as I was called up to battle against Eve. It was a one question winner takes all. My strategy was to hit the buzzer first regardless of having any idea of the answer or not, which paid off when the answer to the question “What is the most common surname in America?” did turn out to be “Smith!” I am now retired from competition, satisfied in officially defeating Eve, a claim very few can make. I chose not to return to the stage for any more questions, which was lucky as I do not know the names of any of Kim Kardashian’s children, let alone all five of them.

In the week ahead I am really looking forward to attending the Year 12 Formal. It is always fabulous to see a Year group celebrate being together with their friends and it never grows old for me, as each year it is a privilege to be part of another group of mana wāhine celebrating together. So much prior energy goes into the preparation! From my past observations, once the girls hit the dance floor, all that work on dress, hair, make-up, shoes, eyelashes/brows/nails/jewellery/fake tans will be forgotten. High heel shoes will be scattered under tables, and quite often the males brought as accessories will also be left around tables, watching the mana wāhine celebrating together.

A committee of staff and students are organising Mercy in Action day which is on Thursday 21 September in the last week of Term. We are hosting students who need specialist support from all over Christchurch. It is an opportunity for our community to share mutual benefits from the gifts these students offer, as well as showing our College Mercy charism values of manaakitanga (hospitality) and whakaute (respect) as we welcome students and staff into our community.

All Year 8 students are currently engaged in a wide range of Social Action initiatives. An example is the bins pictured below. They have been set up outside the Canteen and students are encouraged to support their House as they place rubbish inside. They will be promoting their Social Action to the College at the next Assembly.

I love hearing examples of our students living Mercy values. This week I heard about some Year 7 students who had money left over from the Purple Power bake sale for Mercy Beyond Borders, which enables girls who would not otherwise be able to do so to access education in Sudan. The Year 7 students took their remaining money to the office as they wanted to donate it to those in need. Congratulations to them on living their Mercy values in their everyday actions.

Ngā mihi

Mr Baugh

Deputy Principal, Operations

Villa Maria College