3 July 2020

'Titiro whakamuri, kia anga whakamua'

Look to your past experiences in order to forge the future.

Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou katoa

The end of term is finally upon us.  What a dramatic few months we have been through and while we are back at COVID-19 Level 1 things are still not quite normal.  We still have international students who wish to start at the College but our quarantine rules do not make this possible. We are also at the point of the year where we would have achieved many things such as holding our school ball and the bulk of the winter sports season, but these things are still before us.

As I look to our school calendar, I can see so much that we still hope to achieve.  As mentioned the winter sports season will take us into September, the school ball will be late August, the NOSCARS are back on, the Year 11 semi-formal, student elections for the Board of Trustees, the list goes on.  It will be a demanding time for all of us but it is our hope that our students will not be too disadvantaged because of the lockdown.

One of the things that many of us are looking forward to is the celebration of Matariki.  We will be meeting at the College at 5:30am on Monday July 20^th (first day back!) and start by blessing our new Tino Rangatiratanga flag and our new replacement New Zealand /Aotearoa Ensign Flag. We will welcome the Matariki star cluster, welcome the new year, share breakfast and have a hangi lunch for the students.  Certainly a big day to start the new term.

As indicated in earlier messages there is a plan to rebuild our library, upgrade some of our science labs and the technician’s room and rebuild the staffroom.  These buildings have water tightness issues and we have received $10million towards this work.  However, roll growth is another issue for us, but the Ministry of Education plans to treat these as separate projects, although it makes sense to do all the planning and construction in one go.  As a result, during the holidays, we will be having the first of several prefabs trucked into the school.  The only place we can put it is in our quad area, so outdoor space for the students is starting to become limited.

We are currently enrolling for 2021 and already we have received over 200 applications.  I can well see our College having over 250 Year 9s again next year so the extra space will become important. I am also starting to think that having occasions such as junior assemblies in the Hall may well be a thing of the past.

As mentioned, it has been a long first half to the start of the year, as one of my colleagues said, “It feels like Term 1, week 26!”  Very true.  So, I hope all the students and their families have a good break, get re-energized and are ready to go next term because it will be a big one for everyone.

Ngā manaakitanga

Grant Jones