Principal's Page

Kia Ora - welcome to Term 4

This has been a challenging year for us all, but as a nation of do-it-yourself problem-solvers and innovators, mixed in with resilience and determination, we are coming through this.

Leading a school is  a challenge, even without the challenges of Covid19. As a school whānau, and as part of the Leadership Team, we want the very best possible opportunities and outcomes for every single person in our care. We are passionate, committed, determined and diligent - and yet we will still fail.

There will be some for whom we cannot provide for all their needs. There will be others who we cannot please, because their needs, or opinions are different from the majority. 

In a school of 725 children, we are catering to approximately 1,100 parent/caregivers, and approximately 2,000 grandparents. That is a lot of diverse life experiences, expectations and opinions. We respect every single person's right to their opinion - whether it be on education, politics, religion, medicine, or science as examples.

Our challenge is to walk the fine line of respecting opinions but doing what we believe is in the best interests of most of our children.

Our recent Health Education survey is a good example of the challenges we face - in short we have some parents who want much more of the same thing that some parents want much less of. On the face of it, it is an impossible challenge to please both groups.

However, by providing better information about those areas of interest/concern, we may see some changes in opinion and some coming together of opinions.

As a follow on from that. I want to sincerely thank every member of our community for the trust and support you have shown myself, our Leadership Team, Board of Trustees and staff here. Your default position seems to be to trust first and ask questions to be sure - rather than distrust until we prove otherwise. That attitude of trust is never taken for granted, and it means the world to us.

Whenever we look at any new initiative or review any existing policy, approach or process, we do our research, and we do it thoroughly. A big chunk of my life is spent on professional reading and research. It doesn't guarantee we will get everything right, but it greatly increases our chances that we will!

My sincere thanks to everyone who completed our Health survey - the best response rate I have ever seen from a school community. I have a page in this newsletter dedicated to  sharing the data and our responses to it, and I encourage you to check it out.

We have begun Term Four this week, still holding on to a spirit of hope and optimism. Yes there will be lots of challenges but we will face each one, and with the help of a brilliant staff team, and yourselves, seek to provide every child in our care with the best opportunities and outcomes we possibly can.

My very best regards to you all as always,

Ash Maindonald

Principal.