Principal's Page

Kia Ora Friends - Our Warmest Greetings

Kia Ora to all our WHS Friends and Families

It's great to be back - and it's been a while. I do not usually get sick, and if I'm a bit under the weather, I generally push through. Last term was a bit of a surprise as I ended up in hospital with pneumonia. Six courses of antibiotics got me close to back on track, thank goodness. 

While I was in hospital, my wife had to go in for an operation. Because I had been so sick, I had arrived at the hospital in PJs and a dressing gown, and when I was discharged, I had to leave the same way. I called an Uber, and the driver was a bit shocked to see a guy in PJs. He said, "Bro, do they know you're out here? Are you sure this is OK for me to pick you up?"  It was pretty funny.

I learned a lot from the episode:

Listen to your body

Go to the hospital if you are not getting better

Listen to your wife - and Debbie in the office - who both repeatedly  told me to go to the ED

We have an outstanding leadership team at Western Heights

     - we have been without one DP for much of the year. I was out for two weeks, and Adele        was out for over a week, and everything just functioned like clockwork. That is the                mark of a great school and a brilliant staff. I cannot thank them all enough.

Our parent community are kind and caring - I received so many concerned and thoughtful messages of support, and thank you all.

I really missed our children and staff - they give me such a lift every day.

Board of Trustees Elections:

It was my privilege recently to announce the confirmed results of our recent Board of Trustees elections.

We had an unprecedented 21 candidates standing for election. The calibre and quality of our applicants were exceptional and made for a real challenge for our voting community.

First, I would like to extend my deepest and sincerest appreciation to our previous Board. These fine people, under the exceptional leadership and guidance of Presiding Member Nic Yelash, have been towers of strength for many years. 

I offer my deep and sincere appreciation for their support, integrity, commitment, diligence, wisdom and passion. Our school has gone from strength to strength under their wise guidance and governance.

Our school and I personally owe a great debt of thanks and gratitude to them all. Particularly, I would like to thank Presiding Member Nic Yelash. I can't imagine anyone who could have accomplished what she has, the way she has, as the leader of our school. She is without question the wisest, finest, human-ist leader any school could hope for, and I thank her personally and professionally for all she has done for our children, our staff, our school community and for me as principal.

So, to the election results:

My thanks to everyone who stood for election and my commiserations to the many fine candidates who were unsuccessful.

We have an exciting new Board, with representation continuing from our previous Board as well as dynamic new members. We have excellent representation from across our diverse community, people who are clearly committed to ensuring the ongoing success of our outstanding school.

As per Election Pilot Results, I hereby declare the following parent representatives duly elected:

Chen, Wei-Sheng (Gordon).           

Tipi, Lole                                            

Layton, Sarah                                    

Joda, Lina                                            

Bain, Emma     

Staff Rep remains Aaron McGreal.

This is an important reminder to all parents and visitors that our two designated disabled car parks, located at the top of our drop-off zone, are strictly for disabled access. Vehicles parked in these parks must display their Disability Permit.

We recently had a visitor with very severe health issues - and a Disability Permit - unable to park safely in either of these parks because parents were parked there while waiting for school to end.

Our Deputy Principal, Adele Nummy, is out in our Drop-Off Zone every day after school, ensuring these car parks are kept clear for disabled access only. She cannot be out there during the school day, though, so we are relying on our community to do the right thing at all times, please.

Your support will be greatly appreciated, as always.

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.