Tēnā koutou katoua ngā whānau,
As we begin week 3 of the Lenten season, I share this blessing from Pope Francis.
“Let us pray for one another so that, by sharing in the victory of Christ, we may open our doors to the weak and poor.
Then we will be able to experience and share to the full the joy of Easter.”
This Wednesday 15 March is our Garin College Academic Colours Assembly where we celebrate the academic success of our students 2022 Level 1, 2, 3 NCEA and Scholarship achievements. We look forward to recognising the success of our learners in 2022, who will be presented with their Colours Awards and Gold Awards. I welcome all parents, caregivers and whānau to join us at this event for our celebration and refreshments afterward.
This week our wonderful Year 12 PED student’s, led by our PE Teacher Mr Michael Parr, began their mahi at St Paul’s school. Throughout March, all Year 12 PED students will lead a variety of sporting activities for Year 3/4 students. This provides our seniors with an awesome platform to develop their leadership and social responsibility, through Physical Education. Perhaps even more importantly though, the program encourages Garin student’s to give back to their local community and act as role models for the next generation of Garin students. Things got off to a flying start with plenty of reflection going on in preparation for next week. Keep up the good work Year 12. Big thanks to St Paul’s teachers and students for the opportunity to collaborate in this way.
I enjoyed heading out on the Year 11 Kaitiakitanga Journey to the beautiful Abel Tasman National Park with our students, what a wonderful experience. Tramping from Marahau to Anchorage with one group of students, while two groups boarded the boat from Kaiteriteri to Bark Bay and set up camp there. Following a day of activity and evening reflection the next day all groups tramped into Torrent Bay where the whole group reunited and enjoyed time together before tramping on to Anchorage or Bark Bay. Swimming at Cleopatra’s Pools on the way was the highlight of the day for all. Our Journey programme is significant in the lives of our learners. I was absolutely impressed with the way in which the students developed and worked as a united team throughout the days we were together. I have to say, carrying my pack and keeping up with the youthful energy was demanding, I came away with a real sense of achievement, as did all students. I thank our teachers and staff for supporting our learners throughout the week Mhairi Gray, Jeremy Marshall, Sharlene Belcher, Martine McCabe, Shaz Murray, Reuben Fletcher, Christina Naughton and the Whenua iti Outdoors staff who led this superb tramping and camping experience. Thank you to our parents and caregivers for supporting the Journey programme through enabling your students to participate and engage.
This week we are also holding our NCEA information evening on Wednesday, 15 March, 5.30 – 7.00pm in the College Library. I particularly encourage our Year 10 and Year 11 students and parents to attend, hearing the key messages about the NCEA qualification and learning how to support your student through their academic journey. Understanding the system and the credits are one thing but as importantly we want to emphasise the learning journey and how best to achieve success through establishing your own learning goals.
PPTA Teacher Strike Day, Thursday 16 March. Please note, due to unavailability of teachers on this day, we are not able to provide the normal level of teaching services during the strike. Garin is open for instruction; we do have a level of teacher and staff capacity to supervise a small number of students for the day, should you require. To support planning for the day, please advise our school office should you require your student to attend school this Thursday. School bus services are not operating on Thursday.
Mā te Atua koe e tiaki,
John Maguire