2 February 2025

Tēnā tātou e te whānau whānui o Tiriwā,

Despite our Year 11 and 12 students coming in on Wednesday (and a number of our Year 13s departing for camp on that day) you could say that our year began in earnest with the arrival of our new Year 9 cohort on Thursday morning.

We were fortunate with the weather and our pōwhiri was able to take place as planned on our fields. In addition to approximately 450 Year 9 students, a further 70 new to the school at Years 10 to 13 and 30 international students were welcomed. Of equal importance was the opportunity to welcome the large numbers of parents and whānau in attendance, it is as much their school as it is their children’s.

I’d like to extend my gratitude to our students in Te Whare Āhuru for their leadership at the pōwhiri – although they were still technically on holiday, they came in to ensure that students new to the school were welcomed correctly.

I’d also like to thank our student helpers who came in to assist our new Year 9 students and made them feel at home – it is a big step coming to a new school, a step made more manageable by their welcoming manner.

The past two days have enabled our Year 9’s to find their feet at school before the remainder of the roll rejoin us proper on Monday 3rd February. Brendon Wheeler and Sadie van der Kraaij designed an outstanding programme to get the Year 9’s off to a fantastic start.

It has been great to see the uptake of our new uniform items – shorts, sandals, and Ie faitaga – all of which are being worn with pride. We have asked students choosing these items to continue wearing them correctly as a mark of respect to our student leaders of 2024 who were instrumental in their introduction.

At the time of writing, our Year 13 students have returned from their leadership camp at Shakespear Bay – I was able to join them for a few hours on Thursday evening and they have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Thanks to Callandra Field, Morgan Page, Gordon Bruce, and Robert Short for their work in organising all aspects of the camp from activities and food, through to the large amount of EOTC paperwork required.

Over the course of this week Years 9 through 12 have had our expectations around phones away for the day, attendance, behaviour, and uniform reiterated through assemblies. 

Monday will see all of our students back at school and commencing their normal timetabled classes. Some will be celebrating amazing results from last year, others will be reflecting on what further needs to be done to achieve their goals. All students need to remember that all staff at the school are here to support them, and that success looks different for everyone. This year, they should focus on doing the very best that they can.

With all students returning to school, the gates get busy. We remind parents that private vehicles are not permitted through the school gates between 8am and 9am, and between 2.30pm and 3.30pm. This is to allow for our school buses to enter and to minimise vehicular traffic at the front of the school.

Next week will also see communication going home, firstly to parents of our Year 9 students, in relation to the accessibility of a chromebook/laptop for use at school. We ask that parents/caregivers respond to this communication promptly.

Finally, you will no doubt be aware of the ‘teething troubles’ with the new school lunches. We have expressed our disappointment with the first few days and hope that it improves next week.