Principal’s notes

Here’s a thing! 

I phoned to thank a parent this morning, who had donated an extra amount of money for an upcoming fieldtrip so that others, less fortunate, could take part.  And the thing is – this is not the first time this level of generosity has been shown by parents of the school in this way.  Acknowledging that life is not easy for many others right now after 4 lockdowns, and making a contribution such as this is heartwarming to say the least.  I was going to send an email of thanks, but then a ‘yeah/nah’ moment struck and I phoned instead.  It ‘made my week’ as I’m sure the announcement of us going back to Level 1 will have to yours!

I’m having fun after school on Wednesdays and Thursdays steering our school dragonboat team in their training sessions prior to the secondary schools’ championship at Lake Pupuke on April 11th.  I say this because our group of 45 Year 13s who have put their hand up for this are just the best!  They turn up on time, they get the boat organized and launched, independently now, and train hard in a disciplined but fun way.  There are 22 people in a dragonboat – ours is always full with a second boatload waiting on (and jumping off) the wharf, waiting for a crew changeover.  Pete McIntyre, our sports coordinator, is there in support with transport, gear and logistics all covered, and he’s going to jump on a second boat now so that we can all crew training together.

I’m saying all this, in a roundabout way of saying that getting involved in school sport is a great thing to do – both for our students and parents in a helping out sort of a way – playing if you are a student and managing if you have the time and coaching if you have the skill if you are one of our parents.  Our kids have signed up for sport in unprecedented numbers following the long lockdowns of last year and ‘giving it a go’ has never felt more real.

Ivan Davis
Principal