Principal's Page

Tālofa, susū mai, afio mai, maliu mai!  

First of all this week, I would like to take an opportunity to publicly express our love, support, care and empathy for two of our beloved staff whānau - Carol and Kaitlyn.

Last Friday a number of our staff attended the funeral of Carol's sister and Kaitlyn's auntie Theresa. Theresa passed suddenly last week following an asthma attack. The family were and are devastated as Theresa was only 41.

The funeral was a beautiful expression of aiga - family, strength and faith. It gave me a deeper respect and appreciation for Carol, her family and our Samoan community. 

Words cannot do justice to describe what we and her family feel at this time. As a staff though we can share that we have the deepest care, appreciation and respect for Carol, Kaitlyn and all their ainga. Much, much love to all.

Everyone needs goals and things to focus on.

All my life I have been a very driven person. I have wanted to win - always. I have wanted to be the best, in pretty much everything I did. 

Now that I have given away sport - thank you Covid for breaking up my teams, both playing and coaching - I have the opportunity to narrow that focus. This extra time and focus helped me get my Masters Degree, something I put off for far too long. It allows me more time to extend my reading and reflecting. It has increased my focus on ways to make our school better, and I am always seeking ways to make our school better.

Installing a giant shade canopy over our basketball court was a long-held goal. But we knew it could be better so we installed astroturf under it - in our school colours! The astroturf under the canopy was a big improvement, but we knew it could be better, so we installed a state of the art sound system in it. And yet, we reflected it could still be better. Last week our Board approved the next stage in the improvement process - literally the next stage... As soon as we can source the materials (mainly the timber) we will be installing a three-metre wooden stage, with three steps down to the court level. This will allow our junior school teachers to lead Jump Jam from an elevated position in front of the canopy - without the risk of slipping and sliding in the mud currently there.

Back to the goals at the start of this piece - I have a cool five-second strategy around goal-achieving to share with you on the next page. I hope you find it helpful, or at least interesting.

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

Take care all - tofa soifua.

Ash Maindonald

Principal.