Kia ora,
Last Monday the PTA met for their monthly meeting. I would like to thank and acknowledge their ongoing work to support our school community. Alongside the general business, during each meeting we have regular guest speakers who talk about specific areas in the school. The PTA members find this very helpful, interesting, and a good way to get a useful insight into the wider running of school life. If you are interested in joining the PTA please contact the PTA Chairperson, Amanda at: [email protected]
I would like to sincerely thank the large number of parents, whānau, and caregivers who were able to come along to the Senior Course Selection evening on Thursday. The evening was very well attended by both our community, and the tertiary providers and training organisations, who provided a broad range of post secondary school options for consideration. Following on from this, next week our Year 11 and 12 students will have an opportunity to cross reference subject choices to potentially align with further study and/or career pathways. The feedback has been that this was a very valuable night, and that it not only provides a sense of direction, and motivation to be aspirational around their future. Simply said; students are studying the right things for the right reasons.
Last Thursday evening we welcomed two new members to join our Board of Trustees Allison Arrow and Husein Bahrainwala We thank them in advance for putting themselves forward to support the ongoing governance of our school, and we look forward to working with them on behalf of our school community.
A reminder that Monday 22nd August is an Accord Day (a staff only day) and the school will not be open for instruction. The day offers all Christchurch secondary school teachers the day to continue the process of developing an understanding of the NCEA curriculum changes which are due to be implemented in 2024. There will be two further days to be scheduled later in Term 4.
Next week will highlight two important service opportunities for our school community. The first being the annual Blood Drive with a number of our senior students and staff already signed up, and the second being the non uniform day for Daffodil day, on Friday, to support the Cancer Society.
Winter Tournament will take place during Week 6 (Monday 29th August - Friday 2nd September). This will be a very challenging week across the wider city, as staff will be away supporting these trips. Schools including ourselves have already “signed up” relieving staff. Given the current status of sickness across the city, and the shortage of further relief staff availability, as signposted earlier, we anticipate that we will have to implement a strategy to manage this shortfall. We will confirm this by Tuesday 23rd.
We appreciate the information we are receiving in relation to COVID and/or being a household contact. If your student or someone in your household has COVID please continue to let us know by emailing [email protected]
Thank you for your ongoing support and understanding.
Ngā mihi nui
Jeff Smith
Principal