Principal's Pānui
31 March 2024
Following on from Fiafia Night, four groups competed at Polyfest across 3 days. I’ve mentioned before the amount of work put in by students, tutors, and teachers for all groups – and the support offered by family – it all came to fruition during their performances.
The Tuvaluan Group came away with yet another Judges Award following their outstanding performance on Diversity Stage on Wednesday. Kapa Haka were absolutely superb on Friday, a large, young group, they showed no signs of nerves and left everything on the stage. The Tongan Group also performed on the Friday and were absolutely superb.
On Saturday, I travelled out to Manukau again to see our Samoan Group, in my eyes, they were unlucky to come away without a placing - they were phenomenal.
All performers, in each group, did themselves proud and made us at Massey incredibly proud. I mentioned to them as well that they will have also made their family and whānau immensely proud of them.
Our annual Tabloids Day took place in the same week. This is the first House Competition of the year and involves the whole school. It was meticulously planned and run by our Sports Leaders Alec Death and Willow Rissetto (with support from their wider Prefect/House Leader Team). This year they introduced innovative twists that incentivized participation and secured prizes from a host of community sponsors. Prizewinners were announced by them at House Assemblies this week. Particular thanks goes to Craig Walker and John Garelja who sponsored one of the main activities of the day (both visited during the day to see the school in action on the fields).
As mentioned in the last Pānui – our students have been introduced to the procedures that will be followed when this new policy comes into place from Wednesday 3rd April. All parents and caregivers have this week received a special newsletter dedicated to the procedures that will be followed. That newsletter also provides answers to frequently asked questions. The remaining week and a half of Term One will serve as a ‘soft launch’ of the new expectations before they become a requirement from day one of Term Two. Please read the newsletter carefully and familiarize yourself with the expectations – the best way to support your child moving forward is to discuss with them the possibility of simply leaving their cellphone at home each day.
We are now rapidly approaching the end of Term One, most senior students are undertaking assessments, and academic counselling is underway. To better support the implementation of goals being set by students a special report will be sent home before the end of Term. This report will detail for parents and caregivers all of the assessments that their child has this year, including a description of the assessments themselves, the due dates, and milestones. Please keep this information to hand. Students should ensure that their attendance is correct prior to the end of Term as well, please utilize your attendance reports to raise any queries with the appropriate Deans.
Wishing our community all the best for their Easter break, remember school resumes on Wednesday 3rd April.