Principal’s Notes – October 2024

Our packed season of performances – the Year 11 and 13 Drama productions/performance evenings; the senior Dance showcase featuring 70 performers and Finale a choreographic showing by our Year 13 Dance students amply demonstrate how strongly the performing arts feature in our Springs/Waiōrea curriculum.

The American psychologist, Carol Dweck, talks about how the process and efforts required in the performing arts helps build a growth mindset which in turn develops motivation and resilience, all the while leading to higher overall achievement. I share frequently with visitors how the performing arts build valuable social skills, understanding how others rely on you to play your part in forming a whole and complete piece of work. This in turn leads to increased levels of self-confidence and social awareness. There is also a clear benefit to creativity, originality and collaboration in those students who have been part of arts programmes compared to those who have not been involved.

I speak frequently of the authenticity of experience our students enjoy working in TAPAC, rubbing shoulders with professional groups, working in a professional theatre with state of the art lighting and sound equipment and with a wonderful array of costuming inherited from Unitec. The benefits that our students gain from involvement in the well-developed Performing Arts programmes here are unequivocal. Intellectual development, social benefits, mental health, resilience – there’s no denying any of these!

And to all of the above I would add a huge shout out to the enthusiasm, commitment, hard graft and sheer joy that our performing arts teachers bring to their daily work. They make it fun for us all – students and colleagues.

Moana House Fundraiser – Shave for a Cure

Speaking of fun – two teachers and two students stood up for this charity event at the end of term with $4,234.30 raised. A fine effort for a noble cause , and one that galvanised the attention of the school community.

In a similar vein, we celebrate the Kāpura House Daffodil Day fundraiser for the Cancer Society and the multiple fundraisers our Peace Ambassadors run for charities. Our young people are soooo awesome and deserve huge accolades for their spirit here!

School Dress Code

Here at Springs we are proud of our non-uniform policy. Students value the sense of freedom from conformity that it gives them, and our parents and staff frequently comment on the ‘campus feel’ of this place. We are one of the few secondary schools in New Zealand that has successfully maintained such a policy – one that is much more common overseas than here.

Our prospectus celebrates the fact that we have no formal uniform as part of an educational philosophy aimed at developing “sensible attitudes towards matters of dress and appearance.” It is noted that dress should be neat and appropriate for all school related occasions.

As we approach term 4 with its warmer weather, it is timely to remind students that school is a workplace and that they should dress appropriately for a workplace. School is not the beach! We want to remind students and parents about clothing that is suitable for the classroom. We ask students and parents to help us in maintaining what is now an almost unique non-uniform policy by dressing appropriately.

When staff feel that it is necessary to intervene in matters of dress, they will do so discreetly and address the matter in the context of clothing that is not appropriate for school. Parents will also be contacted if dress standards are repeatedly breached.

Seniors end of year rapidly approaching

The four-term school year is challenging for high schools in that term 4 becomes virtually non-existent for senior students as they head into prizegivings and then off for external exams. We have a packed programme of senior workshops, year level prizegivings, special prizegivings (Sports, Pasifika and Waiōrea) and farewells before our Year 12 and 13 students depart for their study week and then external exams.

We dread, as does every other school, the prevalence of ‘pranks’ that hurt valuable relationships between staff and students, that damage property and incur substantial costs often for cleaning and repair of damage. We would much prefer a ‘thanks’ day rather than any pranks and I will be addressing the Year 13 cohort about that in future weeks. Any help from our wonderful parent body in dissuading their children from engaging in such antics would be greatly appreciated by all of us.

Ngā mihi,

Ivan Davis
Principal