Principal's Message

This evening we celebrate our Academic Blues recipients in a ceremony at the Toitū Otago Settlers Museum. We are pleased to have Mr Jason Tibble, ex Kavanagh College student and current Regional Commissioner of the Ministry of Social Development as the guest speaker. Ceremonies such as this are such an affirming part of our job as educators - it means we are getting it right! We will acknowledge the large number of students who have received excellence endorsements, and we will take the opportunity to congratulate our Centurions (gaining more than 100 excellence credits), our Top Scholars, and our scholarship recipients during this ceremony. Make sure you follow our Kavanagh College Facebook page to see some of the photos from this evening.

We are pleased to let you know that despite the difficult year that Kavanagh College staff and students experienced in 2019, our students again produced results significantly better than national data in all areas, and at a level higher than comparable schools (Decile 8-10 schools nationally) in Levels 1 and 2 and in University Entrance. Yet again, our excellence endorsements across NCEA Levels 1, 2 and 3 were outstanding and well above those of similar schools. Some of our highlights can be seen below.

In other highlights, our Year 11 girls and our Year 12 boys also achieved very highly in NCEA Level 1 and Level 2 respectively last year compared to their peers in other decile 8-10 schools:

I would like to acknowledge the students, staff, parents and whanau who all played their part in this success – thank you.

Well done to the ‘Lit Quiz’ teams that took part in the regional competition during the week. Our Year Seven team particularly performed very well on the day, with their final score being only one point away from the team placed third, and only seven points behind the winner. It was a tight competition at the top!

Our Pastoral Prefects are taking the lead this year in ensuring positive student wellbeing. So far, they have initiated a number of clubs that students can take part in during lunchtime and interval, as well as before and after school. They have spoken at assembly and advertised these around the school. If you feel your young person would benefit from these opportunities, please encourage them to speak to their tutor teacher or one of the year 13 students about this. Presently, these prefects have also initiated a ‘random acts of kindness’ acknowledgement where students can be nominated by staff and we will have a prize draw at assembly. Thank you to our senior students who continue to model good leadership and our core values in their roles as prefects. As we enter the third week of Lent, maybe we could also try out a few random acts of kindness. Sorry – no prize draw for our parents though!

We are looking forward to the Catholic Schools Kahui Ako Day next Friday at the Edgar Centre. Please keep a watch for the information coming home over the next week about this.

Ngā mihi nui,

Kate Nicholson

Theme for 2020 “Do the little things well’

‘Ahakoa he iti he pounamu’ (Although small it is highly treasured)