Tēnā koutou katoa ngā whānau,
We have had a busy few weeks here at Garin with Senior Parent Conferences, Pink Shirt Day, a Geography trip to Wellington, O’Shea Shield, Y12 Careers Roadshow, the first NCEA Corequisite exam, Twilight Notes and Geek Week culminating in Dress Up like a Book Character.
This week we continue with the NCEA Reading and Numeracy corequisite exams, along with year 12 OED camp and our amazing Shakespeareans off to the Nationals in Wellington.
Next Monday, 3 June is King’s birthday holiday; school will be closed. The next day, Tuesday, 4 June, school will also be closed for the region-wide NCEA teacher only day. Tuesday is also our Work Day for Garin students, many who will be participating in various work placements for the day to raise funds for improvements that directly benefit our student community, food bank and Caritas.
High levels of unwellness
Along with other schools in our region, we are experiencing high numbers of student unwellness and of course some of our teaching staff have also succumbed. Our Relief teacher pool has been sorely stretched some days, meaning we have needed to strategise various staffing options. We continue to use hand sanitiser in the classroom and promote safe hygiene practices to keep everyone well.
We will celebrate Matariki again at school this year with our Matariki Hangi on Friday 21 June. This was a really popular event last year; a limited number of tickets will be available from our school office later next week – please buy them early to help the caterers. A big thanks to Kapa haka and our Māori whānau for organising this awesome event again.
We will also celebrate the Mass of Creativity on 7 June at 11.40 in the gym – you are welcome to attend, please be seated by 11.35am for a 11.40am start. Refreshments will be served in the school library afterward – parents welcome.
Arriving for the School Day
The Garin College school day starts at 8.40am. Students are required to be at school by 8.35am ready for the first bell at this time.
- If students are late to school or arrive during the school day, they must report to the school office to sign in. Students are required to have a valid reason for the lateness, a supporting note, phone call or email from a parent or caregiver is appreciated.
Absences
Our timely and accurate recording of students’ attendance is essential.
- If the student is going to be absent for part or all of the day, or late, parents are required to phone the school office and leave a detailed message on the absentee line – call 03 543 9488, press 1 or email attendance@garincollege.nz, please include your student’s name, whānau class and reason for absence.
- Parents/caregivers wishing to take students out of school for non-school events e.g. holiday must communicate their intentions by email to the Principal. Such approved absence may be deemed explained, however unjustified.
- For further information please go to the website https://www.garincollege.ac.nz/attendance
Messages for students during the day
Unfortunately, students not having phone access during the school day is a challenge parents face with communicating key messages with their child. Please understand that the School Office Staff are not responsible for the passing on and the delivery of every parent to child message requested throughout the day. With over 650 students, due to the sheer quantity of requests, this is not a service we can reliably provide. Please consider the following modes of communication with your children.
- As a BYOD school, students regularly use their laptop throughout the day, email your child with a message
- Send a TEXT message or email that your child may read on their phone before school starts and after school ends
- Make arrangements with your child before that school day – your child could call, TXT or email after school
Urgent / crisis communications – where there is a need to contact the office to relay an urgent message or if there is a crisis that needs immediate attention, please do contact the School Office; when we are made aware of such a situation, this will be treated in confidence and managed carefully and professionally.
Enrolments 2025
Should you have friends or family considering Catholic secondary education for their children, please do encourage them to visit the Garin College website for our Enrolment Procedure and enrolment pack; our college Admin team are also able to discuss any queries. Applications for Enrolments close on 23 August 2024.
Scholarships 2025
I wish to remind parents of the opportunity to apply for Twinkle scholarships in Catholic Character, Academic, Arts & Performing Arts and Sport. We also have available Garin Financial and Hostel & Financial Boarding scholarships for those families that need some help financially in 2025. Visit Garin College Website for more information on Scholarship packs. Applications for Scholarships close on 6 September 2024.
Congratulations to Kiriana Little who has won a United World Colleges Scholarship to study in Norway from August this year. Well done Kiriana!
Ngā manaakitanga
Jeremy Marshall
Acting Principal