Principal's Panui - 28 March 2024

Kia ora te whanau ō te Kōtuku

As we roll into Easter and then the last couple of weeks of Term 1, I would like all our students to remember that success is failure turned inside out. 

Star baseball players only hit the ball about three out of every ten times. How do they live with such a high failure rate? By focusing on the law of averages. They know that if they just keep swinging the bat, they'll get on base. In 1952 Roger Bannister ran in the Olympics and finished in fourth place, failing to win any kind of medal. But he refused to quit. Up until this time many experts considered it humanly impossible to run the mile in under four minutes. Yet that was Bannister's goal. And on 6 May 1954, he became the first man to do it. Now runners do it regularly. 

What's the point? If you refuse to quit when you fail, you'll ultimately succeed. You just have to be willing to get back up and keep moving forward. In 1832 Abraham Lincoln was defeated for the State Legislature. In 1833 he failed in business. In 1835 his sweetheart died. In 1836 he had a nervous breakdown. In 1838 he was defeated for Illinois House Speaker. In 1843 he was defeated for nomination to Congress. In 1854 he was defeated for the US Senate. In 1856 he was defeated for nomination for Vice President. In 1858 he was defeated again in a US Senate race. But today he is considered one of America's greatest presidents. 

A wise man concluded: 'It's a mistake to suppose that people succeed only through success; they often succeed through failures.' 

And you're not defeated until the past takes your focus off the future. So don't be afraid of failure.

If you have experienced some failure this term, well done. If you have dusted yourself down, and learned from the experience and improved on it, then you are on a path of personal improvement.

I am proud of the attitude and the increasing number of our young people living by our school values and striving to be the best versions of themselves. I invite you to remind yourselves that the journey is not easy, if it is, then I am not sure how much learning is taking place. We get to choose our attitude each and every day. 

Easter Weekend

This is just a reminder that Easter break runs from Friday 29 March to Tuesday 2 April. School resumes Wednesday 3 April at 8.55am.

Cellphones and other personal devices- Phones away for the day

This is a reminder that the government has introduced the phones away for the day policy. This means that if students insist on bringing their phones to school, they must be turned off and left in their bag during the day. This includes break times. Phones are only permitted to be used in classrooms for learning activities and at the discretion of the teacher. Chromebooks, Ipads, Laptops are all devices that are permitted at school for learning and accessing google classrooms. Please talk to your son and daughter about these changes and encourage them to leave their phones at home. If you need to contact your son or daughter you can phone the school or the Dean for urgent matters.  Students are permitted to use phones before and after school i.e. before 8.50am and after 3.10pm.  The school is supportive of this policy and research shows that less time spent on devices is better for everyone's wellbeing.  Please note that if your son or daughter is not well, they should report to the Health Clinic and the Nurse will contact you if they need to leave school. Students should not make arrangements themselves. This is important for health and safety reasons, especially in the case of evacuation or lockdowns. We need to be able to account for everyone. Thank you for supporting us. 

Upcoming Events:
10-11 April Studio Show
12 April end of Term 1
29 April Term 2 commences

Have a safe and Happy Easter Break.

Gary Moore