Principal's Comment

Kia ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College

Last weekend I was pleased to be supporting our teams at the Southern Catholic Secondary Schools' Senior Sports Tournament being held at St Peter's in Gore. As you can see from the other posts, we came fist equal in the event alongside Kavanagh College. The most pleasing aspect of the competition was the high standard of play across all codes and genuine fair play that demonstrated in a practical way our commitment to our Catholic values.

Catching up with parents and caregivers at the games

On another note, I would like to thank parents, caregivers and the general community for your support in enabling our teachers to access a teacher only day on this last day of school. We have been genuinely blessed to have been able to secure the services of Margaret Ross, a leading school systems change coach to be able to work with us on our student lead conferencing. It is very important that our school approaches this change in an educated and enlightened manner. Making the leap from old fashioned five minute interviews to deeper more meaningful student lead conferences, is not something that can be achieved with only a name change alone. Much thinking and time needs to be put into making this system the best we can offer for both our whanau and students. It is something that will grow and develop as we work through the process and we welcome feedback after the conferences on what worked and what may need more investigation. It is also very important to note that, as always, teachers are available to parents and caregivers at any time during the year if you feel you need to discuss things with a subject teacher. This may be a follow on from a conference. Appointments are best made via the email system in this instance.

Finally, I hope that everyone has a safe and refreshing holiday and is ready to return to the College in a fortnight ready for an engaged term two.

May God bless you all
Paul Olsen, Principal

Home & School Fairy Lights Queen

To continue our run down of the fabulous people on the Home & School team .... introducing the sparkly Leigh Steel! She is the queen of the fairy lights that adorn the Dining Room and Auditorium for special occasions and is a champion behind the BBQ when there's a sausage sizzle to be done!

Here's what Leigh has to say about what she loves about the Home & School - 'To be able to give back to the school through the fundraising efforts of the Home and School I find very rewarding. Belonging to a group of fantastic and very dedicated people is very special. We are a small group but I think we make a difference to what items we can purchase for the children - through the fundraising efforts. I like the Home and School monthly meetings, its a great way of finding what is going on around the school and what projects are on the agenda for the year. To belong to the St Kevin's family is awesome'.

Street Appeal Champions

These Year 12 students volunteered their time to help with the Child Cancer fundraising stall on Friday the 17th March. The photo shows them with a certificate they received for being "Street Appeal Champions" - Lily Hill. Jerome Misiloi, Noelle Brew, Joel Klenner, Sophie Fox.

Swimming In Aoraki Titles

Back:  Daryl Wong, Flynn Mankelow, Corbin Fraser, Halalova Asi, Mannix Fraser, Mequa Smart, Tiana Mansfield, Emily Hayman

Front:  Ben Kay, Penny Keeling, Tandia Gooch (Captain), Johannah Alegado, Iessha Mansfield, Imogen Keeling,  Jocelyn Fellows.

Absent:  Danny and Charlie Gilbert

The Aoraki swim team was the biggest in years; 9 girls and 8 boys. The junior girls (Penny Keeling, Imogen Keeling, Johanna Alegado and Iessha Mansfield) won both their relays; claiming the title of Best Overall for the second year running. The senior girls (Tandia Gooch, Emily Hayman, Jocelyn Fellowes and Tiana Mansfield) won their Freestyle relay. As well as a haul of Aoraki swimming titles from Tiana Mansfield, Iesha Mansfield, Corbin Fraser, Johanna Alegado, Imogen Keeling and Tandia Gooch, Corbin added the the list of SKC Aoraki records with a time of 35.63 in the Boys 14&U 50 Breaststroke. Of the 54 records in Aoraki, St Kevin'ś holds 13; second only to Ashburton College.

Many thanks to the very committed parents who transported students to the Ashburton pool during the coldest, wettest storm in years; Neil Gilbert, Miriam Mansfield, and Jan Keeling.

SKC Service Awards

There was a special moment in assembly yesterday when the first of our SKC Bronze Service Awards were presented.  First, however, was a one off presentation to Y12 student Rata McMullan in the form of a boxed set of all three awards (Bronze, Silver and Gold).  The reason?  It is her design work that adorns the beautiful badges that students strive to proudly wear.  Thank you Rata!

The SKC Service Awards recognise volunteer service in both our College and local community and yesterday's inaugural recipients of the SKC Bronze Service Award were Isaac Steel, Cameron Yeoman, Chloe Tillard, Ella Brown, Lily Hill and Caleb Jopson.  Congratulations.

Super Staging

Our Senior Drama students (Madeleine Harrop and Kyle Neri in this case) have spent the last couple of days on assessments and have made great use of the new extension staging, which was donated to the College by the Home & School.  It is the efforts of the amazing H&S team that feed back into the school by way of these costly items that will benefit all students, not just a small few.  Thank you!!

New Look Basketball

The Boys Top V Basketball team are looking pretty sharp in their 2018 basketball uniform, thanks to their primary sponsor, LJ Hooker - Oamaru.   The team also give a shout out to Stephen Robertson for his ongoing support.

CSST Champions

After a grueling two day of competition, in very trying and wet conditions for our footballers and rugby players, Head Boy Joel Pickles was proud to hold the Bishop Boyle Trophy aloft as the College was announced joint winners with Kavanagh.   Our teams were also announced as the overall winners in the St Kevin's v Roncalli interschool exchange.  Of note in the individual codes were our basketballers, the boys coming first and the girls second in their respective competitions.  Boys football placed second as did the netball and girls hockey.  Congratulations to everyone who competed in the name of St Kevin's! 
CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT SOME GREAT PHOTOS OF THE ACTION!

A Big Plus From Paper Plus

A huge thank you to Lisa (the manager) and Trish (pictured) at Oamaru’s PaperPlus. They have generously donated school workbooks for the students of Baracoa. Now the travellers’ bags really are going to be super heavy! All for a good cause. We are so grateful for the support of our local community.

Principal's Comment

Kia ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College

After 18 days in Europe marketing the College and Hostel to companies recruiting international fee paying students, I am pleased to back in the College. My trip involved meeting with over 26 agents in order to establishing agreements for students wishing to  join the school community and have a boarding experience.

The courses offered by the College and wider attributes of the Waitaki District are very much in demand and I look forward to the first students joining us at mid year.

On Monday, I attended the Mackenzie Highland Show in Fairlie, marketing the hostel to the Mackenzie basin. It was pleasing to be able to reconnect with so many past pupils from the district. I was able to bring them up to date with developments at the College and enjoyed hearing about their own academic achievements and career prospects.

At this weeks Board of Trustees meeting, the Board has taken on the community feedback from the turf proposals and has approve the modified option. The significant additional cost will require the use of Policy One reserves. I am pleased with the result and thank all those who took the time and effort to have their say, as we have a significantly better outcome for our community.

This weekend we have the Southern Catholic Secondary Schools' Senior Sports Tournament being held at St Peter's in Gore. I wish everyone safe travel and a hard but fair tournament.

Finally, please keep Mrs Leong Son in you prays as her father passed away over Easter.

May God bless you all
Paul Olsen, Principal

Enter Stage Left

Ms Walshe took a back seat role in drama class today.  Students had the opportunity to meet Russell Dixon, the director of MTO's production of Mamma Mia which will be on in the Opera House in July.  Russell was joined by musical director Sam van Beteuw and shared his amazing journey and career in musical theatre, both here in New Zealand and in the UK.  Auditions for Mamma Mia kick off tonight and continue throughout the weekend and we wish out budding thespians the very best of luck!