Yesterday I was told a story of a  young girl who told her grandmother that she enjoyed watering the garden because it meant she had a chance to look at the beautiful flowers.

I reflected on this comment and how it pertains to how we can and should be nurturing our children. I translate this metaphor to giving young people not just our time but quality time which provides them with a feeling that someone genuinely cares for their progress and wellbeing. With this important need satisfied our young can grow and thrive.

As parents and teachers it is a useful reminder of our obligations.

Growing greatness – kia mana ake!

Much has been written about the new government’s proposed changes to education including the proposed abolition of National Standards reporting. The school will however report at the year end to our Year 7 and 8 families. Once we have been clarity for 2018 we will inform the community accordingly.

Growing greatness – kia mana ake

Many thanks to all students, parents/caregivers and staff who responded to the bi-annual survey. Detailed feedback has been discussed with the Board of Trustees and I can share some elements of this with the community.

I was pleased with the general high levels of satisfaction expressed by every group who responded. While there were several areas which we can improve on there is an obviously high level of confidence in what we are doing to achieve the school’s vision which is gratifying to see. We have also closed gaps in some areas which were indicated in the 2015 survey including changes to the DEEP programme which have been positively reported on by students as were the important areas of high quality teaching and staff being approachable. Perhaps as a result of moving to BYOD, the use of digital texts showed the highest improvement from 2015.

While I cannot respond to every comment made in the survey the Senior Leadership team and I will continue to review our practice using your feedback however some quick responses may be pertinent:

I will be investigating ways in which we can enhance our programme for gifted and talented students and am pleased to say that a new appointment to improve communications to the school and wider community has already been made. Some comments about the state of the fields and grounds were already being acted upon and we have negotiated a maintenance contract for the school fields and have appointed a full time caretaker who has started to work on the gardens. As the school reaches its first 10 years of existence next year it will also qualify for 10 Year property funding which may help us to embark on large scale property improvements as well as ensure buildings are safe and promote high quality learning.

Your constructive comments and positive affirmation of our efforts were very much appreciated. I would urge parents and caregivers to maintain the close connection so many enjoy with our teachers and Senior Leaders to ensure that on-going reflection can guide us to continual improvement. Let us pause though for a moment and reflect on the superb progress achieved by a school still relatively young in years. This has been achieved by the strong partnership between home and school – thank you.

Growing greatness – Kia mana ake

Dear parents/caregivers

I have received several requests from parents to take their children out of school to go on holiday during term time. I wanted to state to the community that I am not permitted to approve any leave requests except under exceptional circumstances on compassionate grounds.

I need to be consistent and fair and so another reminder may be timely before end of year holidays are planned.

Your understanding of the Ministry of Education’s policy is appreciated.

Sincerely

Ian Morrison

Principal

Our kapa haka group came of age on Saturday with a wonderful performance at the Kōanga Festival at Somerville Intermediate . Mr and Mrs Tuhaka have worked tirelessly with their enthusiastic students who put on an emotional and polished performance. Mr Tuhaka has also written a haka for the school which was performed for the first time at the festival. Images to follow.

Growing greatness – kia mana ake

Emails have been sent to all parents, students and staff with a link to our bi-annual community survey. Please take some time to respond to this as it will assist us to measure our progress and make future plans based on your feedback. The higher the number of respondents the higher the reliability of the survey.

For easy access the link for parents is below:

Parents Survey