Principal's Welcome 

31st July 2020 (Friday)

Kia ora katoa

Term 3 is the key term to set students up for academic success, and particularly for those students taking NCEA. By the end of term in September, those students will have a clear picture as to whether they are on track and what level of endorsement they can potentially attain. Year 9 and 10 will be receiving a full report in a couple of weeks and from that they will determine what MYP assessment criteria they need to work on in the second half of the year.

Assembly themes this term will address how students can look after their own wellbeing while gaining academic success.  The key ideas are:

Responsibility – being responsible for yourself and others.

Identity – to be proud of who you are and the groups you belong to.

Challenge – life isn’t perfect, everyone faces challenges.

Hope – you’ll get through this, things will get better.

Students need to develop skills to manage their lives and personal situations to ensure their wellbeing is maintained.  These are covered during the course of the year through the Year 9 and 10 wellbeing programmes, through Health education and also by external groups, such as ‘Attitude’ and ‘Mates and Dates’.  The types of skills the students will learn and which will be touched on in the assemblies are:

Emotional Awareness and Regulation – recognising and managing your emotions, and dealing with others’ emotions.

Mindfulness – learning to purposefully relax, and be present and attentive.

Managing Stress – coping positively with stress.

Relationship Skills – learning to build and manage healthy relationships.

Life is about finding the right balance.  One of the school’s aims is to help our young adults find balance in their lives and develop the necessary skills to maintain their wellbeing, address any issues that may occur and experience a positive fruitful life.  This is why ‘Wellbeing’ is one of the college’s strategic goals in 2020.  The stresses caused by Covid-19 has made this even more important.

Sports Wellbeing Evening

I had the pleasure of attending the ‘Sports Wellbeing Evening’ held on Monday 27 July.  Reihana Finch, a physiotherapist who works with the college, gave useful advice on how to minimise the risk of sports injuries and what the maximum time involvement for children involved in sport should be on a weekly basis.

Lydia Brown and Jeremy Adams from our Sports Department spoke about building team culture and how parents could support their children in sport. The evening was highly successful and informative. We plan to have a number of these evenings in the future. Please look out for them.

Ngā mihi nui,

Gordon Robertson
Acting Principal

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