Principal's Message

I hope everyone enjoyed a special first Matariki weekend last week. ‘Re’ is a prefix used so often in words, but it was particularly prevalent in descriptions of our long weekend – a chance to reunite, reflect, remember, revisit, reconnect. The opportunity to do something important once again is a privilege that we have available to us, but many times we don’t take advantage of it. I guess this is one of the messages we try to get across at school – there is always an opportunity to have another go, whether this is in learning, feedback on an assessment, resitting an achievement standard, or in fixing relationships through conversation and forgiveness. It is important for our young people to always have hope that they can fix their mistakes, won’t be judged for them, and the second time around it will be just fine. That is the true definition of learning.

It was a pleasure to host our 2021 Academic Blues Ceremony in the Auditorium last night. We have had to wait this long due to traffic light settings and a busy calendar but we got there. Our speaker, Mike Barns, spoke about New Zealand needing every young person’s contribution in the future. The need for so many employees in a diverse field of careers as our population grows, means all our young people have the opportunity to do whatever they want. Education is the key to this, as well as the ability to get up and have another go when things don’t follow the original plan. Education and learning provide future choice. If nothing else, I hope that our students’ time at Kavanagh College provides them with the comfort of faith, grit to accept mistakes and have another go, and a foundation from which they can choose a career they love.

Thank you for your tolerance and patience this week while we have had so many staff away sick, and thank you for the kind messages that have been sent. We are hopeful that next week will be back to normal.

Kā mihi nui