Principal's Message

I am sure everyone is looking forward to the long weekend with the opportunity to stay inside in the warmth or to reconnect with people and places.

We have celebrated success again as a college in the last couple of weeks. We had some stunning Kavanagh College representatives travel to Invercargill to compete in the Ngā Manu Kōrero Speech Competition at the end of last week. Our Head Boy, Manaia Barns, and Patrick Cotter (Year 11) competed particularly well. Manaia gained a thrid place in the Senior Māori section and Patrick gained a third place overall in the Senior English section, in the Otago/Southland region. This is the second year that we have gained placings in this prestigious competition. What is impressive about these students is that they came a very creditable third place to students who have been educated in full immersion settings. Well done!

The annual Junior Catholic Year 7-10 Sport’s Tournament for Otago and Southland was held a couple of weeks ago. For the first time in a few years, we were able to take home the trophy for first place. Again, our junior students worked well as a team, had a great attitude and made us proud in presentation and application – thank you for all those who supported them to do this.

Next Wednesday, we celebrate our Academic Awards recipients from 2021. Usually, this happens in term one, but health and safety protocols meant we needed to delay this until now. It will be good to reconnect with last year’s leavers and their parents and celebrate our top academic students in this way.

This year seems to have flown by. It has been another interrupted one and, we are not dissimilar to the schools quoted in recent media reports when it comes to large relief staffing costs. We still have about 20-25% of our students away every day, although now the predominant reason is the flu. Staff however, are still being affected by covid isolation and illness. Please be patient with your child’s learning this year. Teachers are doing their best to catch everyone up and they are dealing with many stages of where their learners are at, due to absence. I encourage you to continue talking with your children about what they can do to take charge of their learning, being proactive in checking their google classroom pages, doing homework and being aware of assessments and due dates coming up. These are all great self management strategies and it is an ideal time to practise them!

Enjoy some quality family time this weekend.

Ka kite