22 September 2023

He manako te kōura i kore ai

(Wishing for the crayfish won’t bring it)

Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou katoa

Term 3 has now finished and it definitely feels like the end of the school year for our seniors.  Our seniors they have 12 periods left with each of their teachers before they leave for their end of year assessments.  The whakatauki above speaks to this, especially for students who still have a lot of learning to complete.  The holiday break is a good time to catch up on any missed work, and to start preparing for their externals.

Term 4 is also a busy time as we celebrate our student’s successes.  Coming up next term we have the Spring Serenade, Arts Awards, Celebration of Sport, Arts Exhibition, and the Senior Prize Giving.  These will all be held in the first three weeks of term 4 and the dates for these can be found in the KAMAR calendar.

To date we have been celebrating other successes in the school. I would like to congratulate our Head Student, Qiana Ram, who will be representing our school overseas in Tonga During the Holidays at an International Leadership Programme. Qiana has also received a Girl Boss Nationwide Award, worth $1000 and will be flying to Auckland to represent our school. We wish her the best of luck.

Last week, our talented senior Fashion students took centre stage at Newlands College's first World of Wearable Arts Fashion Show, delivering a mesmerizing display of creativity and innovation that left everyone in awe. As can be seen by the photos the array of talent on display was extremely impressive.

Last week was Te Wiki o te Reo Māori.  The students had planned a wide range of different activities during the week that culminated in the Inter-House Haka off on the Friday. Ngaire Wiki, the head of our Komiti Māori, and Board representative showed excellent leadership throughout the week.  Also during the week our Kapa Haka were invited to perform  at Te Whare Waka for the ANZ Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori dinner - they were really impressed with the performance and our students represented us with real pride!! 

On Saturday morning our Kapa Haka team also represented us at the St Brigids Kapa Haka festival where their performance was highly commendable. If you want to check it out you can find a recording here.  (Newlands College item starts at the 45 minute mark).

We recently held our Board elections for our 2024 student representative.  It was an extremely close contest and I am very pleased to announce that Danna Arado was the successful candidate.  I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the outgoing student representative, Bailey Puha-Harris who did a superb job including being part of the appointment panel for our new Principal, Deb King.