It has been my absolute privilege and pleasure to have been the professional leader of Waitaki Girls’ for the past 3 terms.

When I reflect on the year I want to thank you all for the support you have given me in this role. 2020 began as most years do - we welcomed our new Year 9s into the school and then we got underway with all those activities that are indicative of a busy school.

But then as we progressed through Term One it became apparent that this was going to be a year with a difference as the world realized that a global pandemic had taken hold. Our country was directed to enter lockdown which meant Term One ended 2 weeks earlier than planned - our combined School Production became the first casualty of this directive and many more were to follow. But what has stayed uppermost in my mind was the way that this school responded to the challenge - the staff prepared and delivered lessons online, students became familiar with google hangouts and then when we returned to the campus everyone accepted the changes we had to put in place.

This to me is what being resilient is all about-facing challenges and working to overcome them. It is what we do at Waitaki Girls’ and I know that we will all continue with this mindset as we welcome Ms Koni to the school next term.

Our last three weeks have been busy and our senior students have just completed their benchmark exams - the results of these will give the students an indication of what they need to do to meet their expectations in the external exams in November.

Today we farewell two staff members - Erin Brown who has worked as a Teacher Aide and Anna Beckingsale who has taught in the Science Learning Area. We are grateful to the contribution both have made to the school and wish them well in the future.

The year has been challenging and I wish our staff and students a restful and relaxing holiday.

Kia Whakaute, Kia Haepapa, Kia Kaha i ka katoa