Principal's Message

Last Friday staff and key stakeholders came together from our Ten Catholic schools for our inaugural Kahui Ako Catholic Community of Learning expo day. It was a well-organised and purposeful day of learning for us all, as well as providing time and space for our teachers to gather and intertwine. Thank you to all of those involved with the organisation and the leadership involved. It certainly highlights our potential in growing our capacity to provide an outstanding Catholic education for our young people and families in Dunedin. My takeaways or Key themes: Connections, Identity, whanau/family, heritage/whakapapa, new knowledge, community and aroha/belonging.

Congratulations to our Senior Hockey team on back to back championship wins, defeating John McGlashan 4-0 on Tuesday night. Our senior A Netball also had a great win to claim their division championship last Saturday which may also clear the way for a return to the premier division. Brilliant work, ladies!

Taking a more oblique angle with Kavanagh sporting success, I note the Dunedin RFC premier 2s rugby team had no less than twelve ex-Kavanagh players in the squad this year, who went on to win the club senior P2 division recently. Names such as Eathorne, Henderson, Griffin, and Lavelle-Pool were ubiquitous. It was also captained by another Kavanagh stalwart Nathan O'Brien and coached by Tim Oliver, a distinguished alumnus. It was a terrific final under the roof at FSB stadium holding out West Taieri who had gone undefeated for over two years. Whilst all schools would love to turn out Highlanders and All Blacks regularly and some claim to do so by virtue of their incredible rugby nous and resources, I'd stipulate that the win by the Dunedin P2s is a huge success story for Kavanagh rugby. Certainly, the culture of that team was very strong and, in no small way, had a Kavanagh influence in terms of its core values, if not personnel. Our current rugby and other sporting codes also contain some incredible talent. Surely it's our role to enable them to enjoy their sport and hopefully nurture in them a love of their game that they can take forward beyond school and for life. That is success. Congratulations to those former students, past coaches, parents and teachers who supported them, and "fins up!" to the Sharks: a great result!

This week senior students are sitting practice exams as well as internal assessments towards their NCEA. I have asked staff to look closely at our performance data across the school to identify those students needing additional support. If you have concerns at home please contact the Dean of year or Tutor teacher. The academic year for seniors is fast slipping away and any remedial actions must be taken now to ensure success.

Take care

Noho ora mai.