Principal's Message

By now, our senior students will know whether their exam study held them in good stead, and feedback on how to fill gaps in understanding will be offered by teachers during these next couple of days. There has been a real sense of purpose within the college during the last few weeks. I had the pleasure of hosting some year 10 students in my office at interval yesterday for morning tea while they discussed their recently completed social inquiry projects and they spoke eloquently and with great maturity about the discrimination research that informed their final product. I also had the opportunty to chat with one of our year 8 students earlier this week, who has been attending year 11 history classes and thought it would be great to give the history exam a go while it was on this week. This morning, Ms Watts let me know of one of our young musicians who auditioned and has been accepted for a performance music paper at the university next year while still in year 12. And then to proudly read the writeups in the Class Act supplement of the ODT yesterday ... well, I feel like I have had a fantastic week at work!! It is humbling to see the depth and breadth of learning that happens every day at Kavanagh and, while we don’t shout it from the rooftops, the quailty opportunities for our talented students are many and varied.

Tomorrow we farewell Mrs Shirley Jackson who has taught at Kavanagh College for 33 out of her 50 years of teaching. This is a significant career and we thank her for her loyal service to our college. During Shirley’s time at Kavanagh she has taken on a variety of roles including Head of Phys Ed, Pasifika Dean, Maths teacher and most recently has been a year 10 tutor teacher and RE teacher. We wish Shirley all the best in her retirement.

Mr Tim Lucas leaves us tomorrow to join the St Peter Chanel School community as Principal. We will miss Tim’s positive can-do attitude and many groups of intrepid trampers will remember the various camps and tramps that Tim has organised and led. We know that St Peter Chanel will enjoy everything about Tim that we will miss – enjoy the new challenge, Tim.

I wish you all a safe and restful holiday break and may God bless and take care of all our families during the next two weeks.

Ngā mihi nui