It was wonderful to welcome our Year 8 students to our ‘Hands On’ afternoon last Friday.

The girls told me they were nervous about being at Waitaki Girls’ but as they left at the end of the afternoon, all signs of nervousness had been replaced by excitement and eager anticipation. I look forward to working with your daughters and you as part of the Waitaki Girls’ community in 2021.

This terms, as we predicted, has been incredibly busy. In the last two weeks curriculum trips have taken place for Year 11 Phys Ed, Year 12 History and Year 13 Chemistry. Taking learning outside of the classroom gives a real context for our students and I am appreciative of our staff who give up their time to plan and organise these trips.

Last week we also participated in our junior interschool against Otago Girls’. It was great to see a sporting fixture like this go ahead and while there were no spectators at the indoor events, the students taking part enjoyed the competition. Waitaki Girls’ were the victors on the day, winning Year 9 netball, badminton and basketball while Otago Girls’ won Year 10 netball and debating.

Another casualty of the recent re-emergence of Covid-19 was the annual Otago Daily Times Class Act Award presentations. These are always presented to the recipients at an event attended by the Prime Minister and in front of family and school representatives. Unfortunately the Prime Minister, Jacinda Adern, was attending to other matters and the Alert Level made it impossible for the event to go ahead. Nonetheless we wish to acknowledge the achievement of our two recipients, Emma Borrie and Laura Dunshea whose outstanding leadership, academic, sporting and cultural achievements made them highly deserving of this prestigious award.

This week, a reformatted Winter Tournament week has been held with our Senior A teams competing in hockey, netball and badminton. As a school we are appreciative of the support given to our students by parents and volunteer coaches and managers.

With winter ills and chills doing the rounds it is important to remind everyone to stay at home if unwell. If students are not unwell however, it is important they attend every class, every day. Every day a young person attends school matters because it:
-increases their ability to achieve
-provides an important emotional and support network for them, with their friends and classmates
-keeps them engaged in learning
-gives them direct contact with their teachers
-is an environment where the focus is on their safety, wellbeing and learning
-helps them feel more comfortable transitioning throughout their schooling journey
-is not just now but their future that counts.

Our Talent Challenge is scheduled for Tuesday 8 September. As we are currently still at Level 2, we are restricted to having only 100 people in the audience (including our judges). This means that 95 tickets will be available to be sold and of these 40 will be allocated to families of students directly involved. There will be no door sales ay Level 2. IF we return to Level 1 (and we will know this on 6 Sept) then ticket sales will be as usual from the school office on Monday and Tuesday 7 & 8 September.

Thank you for your continued support of the school. We are working hard to try and reduce the disruption to your daughter’s education during this unprecedented time.

Kia Whakaute, Kia Haepapa, Kia Kaha i ka katoa