Principal's Welcome 

20th November 2020 (Friday)

Kia Ora Tātou.

Deputy Principal Changes

It is with great pleasure that I announce the appointment of Mrs Joanne Fraser as Deputy Principal (Student Services).  Joanne has been acting in this role since May when Mr Richard Dykes left to take up the position of Headmaster at Nelson College.

Mrs Fraser has been Dean of Tane Mahuta house and at the start of this year was appointed to the Kaiarahi role working with Māori and Pasifika students and their families. I am delighted at Mrs Fraser’s appointment. Her ability, professionalism and dedication especially  this year, has been a great support for the college.

The college has also received notice of Mr Praveen Chand’s retirement.  It is the end of an era for the college as Mr Chand has been a member of staff for 33 years and a Senior Leader for over a decade. As we have been colleagues for all that time, I will certainly miss him. We wish him well with his retirement and will farewell him appropriately.

Prizegiving

A very successful prizegiving took place on Monday 9 November. Congratulations to all recipients. For the first time ever, the college had joint Duxes with Irene Xue and May Gan gaining the top award. Both had a GPA of 100%. Personally, I will remember the event  fondly. As the new Principal, I was welcomed with a haka, a Māori welcome from Kahu Hema (13CAR) and waiata from the staff.  Very special!

NCEA Teacher Only Day

The first of a series of NCEA Teacher Only Days was held yesterday. Three more Teacher Only Days are planned for 2021 with further days in 2022.  These days are part of an agreed accord between the Ministry and PPTA. There are major changes scheduled for NCEA aiming to simplify NCEA, have fewer, more meaningful assignments and make the workload more manageable for students and teachers. While overall, I consider NCEA to be a relevant credible assessment system with the ability to academically challenge students, workload issues and the stress it can place on students is a major reason why the college is not offering NCEA level 1 next year.

Ngā mihi nui,

Gordon Robertson
Principal

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