Principal's Message

Last Wednesday we marked the beginning of Lent with our Ash Wednesday Liturgy. It was pleasing to see the way students responded to the Mass and liturgy with genuine reverence and respect. It's great to set that standard for the year. Going forward we are asking students and ourselves to be more reflective at this time and to think more about the needs of others and act on it. With all the ever-growing external stimuli we are bombarded with daily it is a real skill and discipline to make time for the quiet self and leave a space for the Lord's transforming spirit to work within us.

Despite the inclement weather our School Athletics Day on Monday was a huge success with two long-standing records broken. The school spirit was fantastic as each House vied for supremacy in friendly but determined competition. Superb leadership from our Senior House Leaders-Well done!

On academic fronts, the government has announced a wide-ranging review of schooling in New Zealand. Already significant changes have been made for reporting in Years 7 and 8. This includes the abolition of National Standards which reported on reading, writing, and Maths. We will still be reporting on children's progress twice a year in these areas. The Ministry of Education is working on a number of tools that will help school's report against curriculum levels for all children from the early years right up to and including Years 9 and 10 in these core literacies. Overall this looks positive but we will continue to monitor and advise as changes occur. Our Catholic Kahui Ako (Community of Learning) is starting to take shape and developing plans to support teachers and quality teaching and learning in our schools. No doubt the Kahui will also play a major role in helping all of our schools align our curriculums, assessments, and reporting.

Thanks to all parents, caregivers and helpers for being involved in the College from the PFA to sports teams/coaching managing. We have enormous skills and abilities across our parent community in a range of fields. This community know-how and "can-do-ness" feeds into the life of the school and helps make our students and Kavanagh College as a whole more successful. 

Well done, best wishes for the week ahead and GO THE HIGHLANDERS on Friday night for the first official game of the season!