Principal's Page

Kia Ora  - Greetings Friends  

This will be the final newsletter for 2024. It has been a busy time lately. It always is at this time of year, but this year, there have been a number of big, one-off tasks and projects that have taken up pretty much every minute I have available during the schooldays, each evening and weekends as well.

I am fortunate my wife is also a school principal, as I doubt anyone else would understand - or accept - the hours I give to this job. In saying that, this is not a job; it is an honour and a privilege. Every day I come to school happy and looking forward to whatever is ahead.

 Some days I am unable to be out front greeting children and parents and receiving and giving fist-bumps and hugs. Being out front to meet and greet always gives me a huge lift and sets me up for a great day. My sincere thanks to all parents and children who go out of their way to be so positive, warm, kind and friendly.

Another big positive for me is our staff. Every single day, I count my blessings for how lucky and blessed we are to have such an awesome team of dedicated, caring, empathetic, passionate, talented, and giving people. Any school is only as good as its staff, which is why our school is so awesome and why our reputation is quite outstanding—because of our brilliant staff.

The final positive to share is our cohort of children. They are all a work in progress - as are we all. Wherever they are in their journey to become awesome, complex, creative, caring, contributing, caring, collaborative citizens, they are treasures. 

At our Junior Christmas Concert, I took the chance to say a few words to the huge turn-out of parents, grandparents and extended family.

I shared my sincere thanks for the way our parents support their children, our staff and this school. I shared my deep appreciation for my awesome staff and the non-negotiable expectation that I have for every single adult who works in our school.

Which is that every adult will treat every child in this school as their own son or daughter, their own flesh and blood.

That is a big ask because you don't just care for your children; you love them. Love them no matter what. Love them unconditionally - they don't have to do anything to earn your love. I love them patiently and persistently. Be present and engaged with each child. Expect the best for them and of them. Accept they will mess up, and when they do, work with them to make it right and learn from the mistake. We don't do punishments; we do  restorative practice. We help children to own their choices, own the outcomes of those choices, make things right and work on a change of heart so they hopefully don't mess up the same way again. Hopefully. If they are a boy it will probably take a few times to get through - speaking from my personal experience on how long it takes me to learn some from my mistakes.

And that brings me back to my point about our staff. They are awesome and wonderful because they do their best to love every child here as their own every day. On your behalf, I thank them all.

We are looking forward to next week - with a lot of mixed emotions. Next Thursday will be the last day for 95 awesome young people. Graduation is always a bitter-sweet time. We feel so much love, pride and affection. We feel so much hope for all that lies in store for each one. We also feel sad that this will be the end of our time with these very special young people. Many of them have spent six years as part of our family. We have watched them transform from nervous five-year-olds to confident young leaders.

The values, qualities, skills and attributes our graduates take with them have them well-placed for success, and we are confident in their ability to continue to Love, Learn and Lead as they move to the next stage of their learning journey.  We wish each one of them well, and we look forward to them keeping in touch and sharing their successes with us.

As always - if you have questions or concerns about anything school-related - email me at macash@mac.com, and I will get back to you asap.

My very best regards to you all,

Ash Maindonald

Principal.