Acting Principal's Notes

End of Term Assembly: Term 2 ended with a final assembly in the gym. The He Maara Hou girls kicked things off with a very good hip hop routine that they have been practising this term. Well done girls! We then had our inter-iwi haka and waita competition. The performances were certainly a step up from previous years and the commitment from students and staff was amazing. Congratulations to Ngāpuhi for taking first place and a huge thank you to Ngaroimata Morgan and Kamira Ngahona for judging this event.

Also thanks to Peter and Maura Flower who judged the inter-iwi tableau vivant competition. In a pre-recorded video message they explained the rationale for awarding first place to Whatua. Well done to all the whānau classes for putting so many impressive entries forward this year. Finally, we awarded Morgan Bull with his winners medal as the new Northland senior boys cross country champion. Well done Morgan!

Poetry Cafe: Congratulations to all our year 7 students who were proud to put their poetry on display at their annual Poetry Cafe event in A-block last Monday. It was great to see so many parents attend and they were well looked after with scones and hot drinks available to keep everyone warm and well fed. Well done to those students who were brave enough to read their poems out in front of a crowd of parents, teachers and peers. I loved the Matariki theme and thoroughly enjoyed reading many of the poems.

Consumers and Producers: Our year 8s held their Consumers and Producers event in the hall on Tuesday and were lovely hosts to all the parents, family and whānau that attended. It was a fantastic highlight to the end of their social science unit where students have learned about products, marketing, and how producers and consumers exercise their rights and meet their responsibilities    

Parent Teacher Interviews: Thanks to all the parents and caregivers who attended the parent teacher interviews on Wednesday afternoon. The feedback I received was very positive. It is always pleasing to hear how well our students are doing but there is usually room for improvement, so please encourage your child to keep on top of their schoolwork over the break and to read as much as they can.

School Ball: All the best to our ball committee who will be working hard these holidays in preparation for our school ball, which is being held on Friday 23rd July. The theme this year is Shanghai Blossom and it promises to be a wonderful evening for all the senior students who are attending.

Term 3: Next term I am away on my sabbatical. All the best to Paul Chambers who will be acting principal during this time. Huia Coll will remain on the senior leadership team and she will be joined by Bruce Alison and Nicky Cotching. With a strong leadership team in place for term 3 it is reassuring to know that the school is in safe hands and will continue to excel. Alice Croskery moves into the head of health and physical education position, and Gretchen Dainty into the specialist classroom teacher position because of these changes. With so many teachers taking on additional responsibilities we have had to arrange teaching cover for a number of our junior classes. We welcome Kylie Reynolds (junior science, English and PE) and Marie Stewart (junior health and PE) who will be joining our teaching team as a result.

Dirk Smyth