Principal's Comment

Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

Well, we very much know it's the end of the year, we have a lot of tired but happy faces returning from Year 10 Camp, our Year 9's have had a very good last week of mixing fun and formal classes and our teachers all look a bit shell shocked after what has been an interesting year to say the least!

In my prize giving speeches I extended my thanks to the wonderful team here at SKC who make our College what it is and to those of you in the community who work tirelessly with and for us in order to ensure that the College is a well appointed community with plenty of resources which benefit our students. I thank you again today for the incredible year we have had and I invite anyone who is thinking about joining the College community, through one of our groups, to please not hesitate.

Thanks Santa for visiting our hostel this week! 

I will be sending out a form for caregivers to fill out in order to feed into the College any ideas you have with regards to our Strategic Planning for the next three years. Please feel free to contribute your ideas and comments. Remember that the Strategic Plan is a document which captures our big ideas rather than specifics, and should set a set of priorities against which we measure the value of the multitude of initiatives that come into the purvu of a school to think about which ones to focus on.

Thank you for all of your support this year from both the wider College community and myself personally. It has been a delight working with your beautiful young people.

God Bless and have a very merry, peaceful and joyful Christmas season.

Jo Walshe

 

Principal's Comment

 Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

I feel as if I always begin this blog by talking about what a busy time we have had lately, but it is actually always true!

I was very lucky to be able to catch up with some of our Alumni in Auckland recently along with my husband Jimmy, Russell Dixon and my daughter. We took the opportunity to speak with our Alumni about our plans for the College and our desire to reconnect our College community, especially after the last few years. What I learned from those meetings is that we have an amazing community of past students with incredible stories out there. These connections are vital not only for preserving our heritage but also for our current students in order for them to understand what areas life's journey can take our Kevinians to. We met with business people, members of the armed forces and pilots to name a few. Unfortunately our trip to Canterbury to play the "Willows' tournament was postponed due to our fickle NZ weather so we will have to catch up with our Canterbury friends at a later date.

I posted earlier in the week about our Covid numbers, at the moment we are seeing the odd case, so summer holidays will be a welcome break.

Yesterday Mr Devereaux held our transition day for our new Year 8 students. This was very well run and received by the students. The feedback I have had from caregivers was that they had very tired young people at home last night which is exactly what I want to hear! Again this year numbers have been very tight, our advice is to please enrol early to avoid disappointment. St Kevin's has a capped roll which means it can only accept a limited number of students at any one time.

I would like to thank all of our staff as we move towards our final week and thank them for their tireless work in what has been a demanding year.

Have a great weekend - let's hope there's some sun!

God Bless

Jo

Principal's Comment

Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

Thank you to those of you who attended the Senior Prizegiving last week. It was a wonderful night of celebration which showcased our students in all of their areas of strength, academic, cultural and sporting. Congratulations too to Fergus McMullan who was awarded our Dux of the College prize. I have spent some time today speaking with Fergus about the role of women in religion in the lead up to his scholarship exam on the topic. I think I can safely say what makes a Dux, apart from hard work, is an enquiring mind and the discipline to follow that through! Good luck Fergus!

One award I omitted to mention on the senior prize giving list was the Mana Pounamu scholarship won in the senior section by Oshyn Guthrie and the junior by Hannah Burke. The award is in recognition of the achievement of Māori students across a wide range of activities and carries significant weight. Both students were worthy winners and we look forward to seeing what they achieve in the future. The award is presented in Dunedin at the Otago University College of Education to students from around the region. We are very proud of these fine young women who have a variety of skills in sport and cultural activites.

This weekend I will be traveling to Auckland with Jimmy and Russell Dixon to catch up with our Alumni in the North. We will be presenting at the Rydges Hotel on Sunday 20th at 7pm. We are keen for anyone who is available to join us to hear where our future plans are taking us as we emerge into this new era. I will feature this event in the blog for next week.

Have a safe and happy week.

God Bless

Jo

Principal's Comment

 Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

Welcome back to the last term for 2022. For many of our seniors, this is a bittersweet time of year as they feel torn between wanting to leave the school and venture into the wide world and at the same time, coming to understand how much they have been held by us here at the College in terms of support.

It is also a difficult time of year for them in terms of motivation as they struggle to focus on these last tasks of graduation and sitting examinations. Our advice is to keep reminding them that they need to consciously plan to tackle this last part, ensure they have a study plan, a time table of what needs done by when and some clear boundaries around themselves in terms of their physical and mental health.

If your student needs support, please do not hesitate to contact our Deans.

This week we attempted to support our school leavers by holding a transition day where we looked at a range of topics from fixing cars to understanding stress and ran workshops for our students about these topics. I would like to thank Mr Smith for his work on this programme.

Our other great achievement this week was the Mr North Otago competition which has raised money for our gym floor to be repaired next year. I would like to thank all of the people involved with Te Ngakau Nui and especially those brave men who put themselves out there for a good cause. If you would like to get involved, contact us here at the college.

Have a wonderful long weekend

God Bless

Jo Walshe

Principal's Comment

Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

And just like that another term has ended!  I was asked to speak to the Year 9 and 10 students today to give them some advice about the holidays.  My advice was for them to ensure they get good quality sleep (teenagers need a lot more than adults), to get out and about and not be stuck in front of devices all day and to help out their caregivers.  I explained to them that 'wellbeing' can be gained from helping others out.   I was recently at a conference where the keynote speaker Kathryn Berkett talked about the effects of dopamine on the teenage brain.  What is scary is that thrill seeking behaviour increases dopamine. What is exciting though is that so can cleaning your room because you are flooded with feelings of satisfaction. 

If you would like to hear more from Kathryn, I would recommend this you tube clip Why children need stress

I would like to congratulate our senior students for getting through their mock exams with very little fuss this week.  It is important if your student has not done well that they seek advice as soon as they can from their teacher so that they know what to focus on when they come back.

Have a great holiday period.  Thank you to the gorgeous students in this photo who volunteered to express their joy at holidays on behalf of the student body .

God Bless

Jo Walshe

Principal's Comment

 Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

What a past couple of weeks it has been for the College in terms of getting people back out onto the stage. It has been with a great sigh of relief that we have been able to hold our Singing Festival in the traditional way again after such a long time of cancellations and downsized, online versions. I can confidently say that everyone in the auditorium on Singing Festival night felt that the old magic was back where we saw amazing young people share their gifts and talents with us. We have also participated in the Hui Ako at the Opera House last week and our Pacifica students have performed recently too. I cannot thank the staff, families and teachers who have supported these events enough. To be able to enjoy seeing our young people perform again has been magic!

Next week (Tuesday 27th) we have former student and Silver Fern Jane Watson coming to speak. Tickets cost $25 each for adults with school aged students for $5. The aim is to try to raise money to re- paint our gym floor and I would really appreciate it if this event could be supported. We have tried to make it a quick stop on your way home from work with a complimentary glass of wine and some nibbles. Please bring your netballers along as we have not been able to get Jane back home before and we may ever have this chance again given that she is reengaging with professional netball after her maternity leave.

The focus for our senior students over the next couple of weeks is preparation for mock exams. Students need to be mindful that in the Covid era, we cannot ever be certain of being able to attend the real thing, so these exams are very important if students need future derived grades.

Have a great week.

God Bless

Jo

Principal's Comment

 Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

This is a very late Blog which is traditionally done on Friday but I was not able to write to the the fact that myself, Mrs Jennifer Herbst, Mr James Devereaux and four amazing young people, Mikey, Anika, Sam and Samuel headed away to the Edmund Rice Conference at Liston College in Auckland as soon as school finished.

Over the weekend we have listened to some very impressive speakers including the leaders of the protest at Ihumatao and Iafeta Matalasi who was featured on the Sunday programme last year after having won a battle to be able to meet his son's killer in a Restorative Conference.

The Edmund Rice charism, which is one of the founding charisms of our College, is based very firmly in the idea of social justice and guides our decision making processes. Fundamentally for us this means that we need to try to give students the opportunity to access education no matter the barriers they face. Edmund Rice organizations are involved in working with the poor and the homeless in many countries and in New Zealand also work with corrections services and of course education.

It has been a very intensive weekend of talking, listening and challenging ourselves as well as for Mr Devereaux; reconnecting with friends from his old school. We would like to thank the ER network for hosting us, also Liston College staff and students and I would personally like to thank Mr Devereaux for his impeccable organization of the trip, his Auckland navigation skills and for knowing pretty much every helpful person in the city!

God Bless

Jo Walshe

Principal's Comment

 Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

Firstly this week a big thank you to those of you who gave feedback around our sexuality survey. It was great to gather a range of ideas and opinions. The College is not just an educational institution for academic subjects but also has to be a reflection of the values and attitudes we have in our community. Gathering feedback in a consistent manner over a variety of topics is very important and we really appreciate it when you engage with us.

I have sent two further emails in the last week or so, one describing our new toilet development which will start being built in the next couple of weeks and the second an email asking for support for our amazing team of parents and caregivers at Te Ngakau Nui. I urge everyone to think about lending a hand now and then by registering with Sam Growcott. If everyone did one thing per year it would help so much.

A big thank you to the amazing coaches and managers who took our tournament teams away this week. We have some very tired but happy young people in our College today. It has been great to see not only some pleasing results in terms of competition places but some personal bests for players who have improved over the season. For some of our senior students this has been a bitter sweet week as it is the last time they will represent us as a College before graduating. We thank those students who are in that situation and remind them that they are SKC forever, no matter what!

I have included this picture of the volleyball social games being held for juniors at lunch time today. Volleyball is becoming very popular at school and we have supported that by ordering some new gear for the gym to support the sport.

Please remember to purchase tickets for Tea with Jane on the 27th to help with our gym upgrade. You can order online at college@stkevins.school.nz or by phoning us on 03 4371665

Have a lovely first weekend of Spring

God Bless

Jo

Principal's Comment

 Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

This week has been a very busy one for me personally as I have had a lot of meetings to attend in Dunedin and online as well as having returned on Sunday from the Bishop's Shield competition. The advantage to that however, is that when you are moving between agencies and presenters, it is easy to identify common threads and get a real sense of what is 'on top' for educational stakeholders.

Without a doubt, the major issue being put under the microscope at the moment is school attendance and the consequences of students not attending on a regular basis. The general feeling seems to be that Covid has somehow diluted our urgency around ensuring that our young people attend school. There have always been truants, but the message is that across the country there is a real drop in attendance rates among those students who, in the past, would have been at school 90% of the time which is the indicator the Ministry of Education uses.

In order to help caregivers identify the real attendance of our students, we have moved from posting half days on our reports to posting a whole day percentage. If your young person is not attending school for 90% of the time or more, they are counted as not being in 'regular attendance'.

Whilst Covid isolation rules, immunity debt and subsequent sickness have all played their part, our message to whānau is please make being at school a priority for your young person and if there are barriers for you and / or your student, please let us know how we can help.

Have a great weekend everyone

God Bless

Jo Walshe

Principal's Comment

 Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

This week has been a difficult week with extreme highs and lows and I am sure many of the staff and students of the College will be very happy to see the weekend arrive. Our thoughts and prayers have been with the members of our community this week who have suffered as a result of the accident on Tuesday night. As always when something this awful happens in our community, the ripple effects are felt far and wide. We pray for God's peace for all of those involved and we continue to offer our support.

This week we hosted 'Open Day' at the College which was well attended. Open days are not only a chance to show our community what goes on at our College, but they also cause us to reflect on what is important in the culture of our school and how we are able to celebrate that. We have had strong enrolment numbers and I would like to remind anyone still considering putting in an application that these are due at the end of next week.

This morning I watched the Year 9 performance rotation perform their lip syncs. They were great, and they all had a lot of fun playing with the new lighting system we have in the auditorium. This system digitalises the sound system and means we can link audio visual technologies such as speakers, projectors systems and TV's. Thankfully we have amazing young students who can actually drive all this tech!

Have a restful and hopefully sunny weekend.

God Bless

Jo Walshe

Principal's Comment

Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

I think we can all admit that what we asked of our boys yesterday was absolutely monumental. That they stepped up to play and gave 100% effort in the driving rain can only make us enormously proud as a college family.  I would also like to acknowledge the Waitaki Boys’ Team who equally, dealt  incredibly well with appalling conditions to take the game. 

I have been heartened this year by the general spirit of Waitaki Week.  It has been a real privilege to be able to lead the school this week and I am sure that the Principals of the Waitaki Schools feel the same way.  All games have been played competitively but respectfully, teams have had some real tussles on the field and walked off laughing and chatting with each other afterwards.  The spectators seemed to have had some real fun with their rivalry and I will never forget hearing our Pacifica community on both sides in full voice singing a hymn together at the Basketball. This, to me, is the face of sport in our community we want to see.  Well done everyone!

Yesterday morning we had Peter Dunne, Captain of the First Fifteen team from 1972 address the College.  His message was that students needed to make the most of their youth, opportunities and time at the College.  That they should embrace their friendships and not be afraid to be themselves.  He spoke very well and with real heart and reinforced for our students that being a Kevinian is a lifelong undertaking. 

Thank you to all of you for a great Term 2.  We now turn our faces towards Spring in the next few weeks and look forward to a successful second half of the year.

God Bless

Jo Walshe  

Principal's Comment

 Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

This week for Aotearoa New Zealand has been all about celebrating our first Matariki holiday. Like all changes in the way we do things, this has generated a lot of national discussion which can only be good for us. The fact many of us were able to sleep in on a cold frosty Friday was also welcomed!

It has also been a great opportunity for us to 'look up' and appreciate the stunning beauty of the winter night sky. On Thursday afternoon school finished an hour early so that we could undertake some PLD around our Catholic character. This year the staff have been looking at the Jesus of history and what political and social forces shaped his message. We looked at the birth story and among the symbols discussed was the star, said to have rested above his place of birth. This is a tradition applied to many leaders throughout history. That the Matariki cluster is so important as a symbol of new life is not surprising given that we see the same symbols in important religious moments including our own. The fantastic beauty and infinite possibilities that space and all of the magic it brings us; challenges us to understand our place in the universe and in time. It is both beautiful and frightening.

There are many apps available that your students can download and use with their phone cameras to help to understand what stars and planets they are looking at, for example 'Star Walk' and 'Sky Map'. This is a great time of year to try them out.

I would like to thank Brother Frank Perkins for joining us for the session and wish you all a great long weekend.

God Bless

Jo Walshe

Principal's Comment

 Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

Today we have been very sad to learn of the passing of Mr Terry O'Neill. Terry was a long time staff member of the College and was heavily involved in sport, in particular rugby which continued to be a passion for him right up until the end of his life. Terry was a sports commentator with regular spots both on the radio and in print and was always found in the commentary box at the annual Waitaki V SKC Fixture. He was awarded the Queens Service medal in 2020 for his service to sports journalism and was recently inducted into the North Otago Sports Hall of Fame.

Terry was a committed Catholic and was one of the few staff to have worked at the College with both religious and lay management. I myself worked with Terry in my early teaching years at the College and have clear memories of his 'guarding the gate' checking for students who might have tried to sneak to town at lunch time!

Our thoughts and prayers are with Terry's family and friends at this time.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, 

and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen. 

Principal's Comment

 Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

Today was a special day for the support staff of the College as they celebrated 'support staff week' with lunch at the Castle. What was fairly typical about this was that they didn't even realize it was support staff week till halfway through, basically because they were too busy! When we think of a school it is easy to think of teachers and students but no school would exisit without the army of other people who ensure we are warm, dry, financially solvent, fed and safe. Our support staff are amazing and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them very much for everything they do.

Our junior students traveled to Dunedin to the quad tournament yesterday and had some outstanding results. Mr Devereaux and Mrs Clapperton both reported that our students showed excellent sportsmanship and played well. Congratulations to all of the teams who took part.

I have posted an invitation to our Māori families to come to our Hui on the 28th of June. If you would like to attend that function please e-mail the office or myself as we will need numbers for catering.

And finally ...(Mr Herbst may tell me off for beginning that sentence with a conjunction) I have invited expressions of interest to any Alumni who would like to be involved in our Centennial projects of our Stables upgrade, our Castle upgrade or running the centenary itself to please get in contact with me at principal@stkevins.school.nz We are keen to get people on board with different skills and ideas as we lead into this very important moment in our history. If that sounds like something you would be interested in helping with - please get in touch.

Have a great weekend.

God Bless

Jo Walshe

Principal's Comment

 Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

This week, I thought I would write from the point of view of a mother of a Year 11 student at the College. Those of us who have students facing NCEA for the first time this year will most likely be familiar with the stress that this brings.  For many of our children, Year 11 is also a time when they are starting to hold down jobs, beginning to socialize and also participate in sport and service.  It is also a time when we expect our students to become more independent....

I spoke to our staff this week about 'executive functioning'.  These are the everyday skills we use to organize ourselves.  If you have noticed that your teen does things in a funny order or things that are completely illogical like leaving doors open on freezing cold days, it is most likely that those areas of the brain that help them to be organized are 'closed for repair' at this time.  For our Year 11 students, not only is this happening but its also hard on the heels of over two years where no one has been able to really get into the routines that help with organization because of Covid related disruption. 

All of our young people at the College are truly amazing.  When we consider what they have been dealing with and are still dealing with in this crazy world at the moment, we need to really acknowledge the challenges they face and support them as much as we can to navigate these.  If we have to remind them to put their socks on before their shoes now and then, so be it. 

Have a wonderful long weekend.

God Bless

Jo Walshe

Principal's Comment

Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

Today we celebrated Pink Shirt Day which is a time to focus on the idea of preventing bullying from happening.  The students and staff got into the spirit of the day by dressing in pink and enjoying the positive message of not being a 'bystander', but being an 'upstander' which was reinforced in our chapel liturgy today.  

Bullying can be an extremely challenging issue to tackle and it is becoming more challenging with the rise of social media and the creation of a media culture which sees bullying people as entertainment.  'The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills' feels like the 21st Century's answer to the Colosseum at times! 

There are also no quick fixes to bullying which is why we favour the 'Restorative Practice' model here at school.  At the heart of that idea is the idea that 'hurt people hurt people'.  We need both the bully and the victim to buy into the process in order to get to the heart of the issue.  For us, this is part of our Catholic spirituality.  When you seek a Catholic education for your student at our College you are opting into that system where we seek to treat the hurt of both victim and perpetrator. It is also at the heart of matauranga māori and part of what it means to reconcile with others in our country.

We are blessed to have excellent practitioners of Restorative Practice here at the College.  RP takes a very long time, a huge amount of emotional energy and a real commitment to the message of Christ.  It is far from the easy option.  I would like to take this opportunity to reassure any families who are given the opportunity to work in a restorative way with our pastoral care team to take the invitation to be part of something which can be incredibly empowering and affirming. 

God Bless

Jo Walshe

Principal's Comment

 Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

We have had a great week at the College this week with a lot of interesting things going on. The most important were our Year 9 and 10 retreats which were held at Elephant Rocks and focussed around the theme of "We are St Kevin's College", looking at the idea of our community as being a family. Mr Harris based the experience around the film of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe which was CS Lewis' allegorical tale about the Chrisitan journey. That the film had scenes filmed at Elephant rocks helped bring the story and its themes alive. I would like to thank Mr Harris, Mrs Herbst, Mr Devereaux, Mr Farrell and Mrs Dupu for their work with these events.

Next week, there is no school on Monday as we have a 'Teacher Only Day' to look at the changes to NCEA. Also of note is that on Friday (20th of May), we have a mufti day in support of 'Pink Shirt Day' which is a campaign against bullying. The origin of the pink shirt is that there was a situation in Canada a few years ago where a new student came to school wearing a pink shirt. A group of other students bullied him. In response, the 'upstanders' in his class all collaborated the next day to wear pink shirts to school - hence 'Pink Shirt Day'. We encourage all staff and students to get into the spirit of the day, wear pink and be mindful of the harm bullying can cause.

Our Covid 19 situation has seen a slight rise in numbers with 15 students currently infected, 5 isolating and one staff member sick. We are not concerned about this as we expected a rise with the students no longer being required to wear masks but we feel this increase is in line with what most other places are experiencing as restrictions ease.

Have a great 'longer' weekend - for students anyway!

God Bless

Jo Walshe

Principal's Comment

 Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

Welcome back to Term 2. I spoke at assembly this week about our mission for this term being around trying to re-establish a much more 'normal' school culture where we have the opportunity to mix, perform and compete as well as to open our school once again to whānau. This week we have put that mission into practice by having our Student Led Conferences, our Cross Country and yesterday we enjoyed an afternoon of liturgy and fun to celebrate Edmund Rice Feast Day.

Next week we are inviting all parents new to the College to attend our BBQ on Friday evening and we are also looking forward to our Māori Whānau Hui which will be held in June so please keep an eye open for that notice.

Covid is still in our community, but as restrictions lessen, we are taking every opportunity to re engage with students and families. Today we have 7 students away with Covid and a further 8 isolating. This number has held steadily since the beginning of the week. Over half of our teachers have now had Covid and so we are hoping that the College will be much more settled this term than last.

I would like to finish today with a HUGE congratulations to Camden Burge for the way he ran the Cross Country today. He was an absolute running machine, not only finishing first by a huge margin but then running back to cross the line with his friends! Well done Cam.

Have a great weekend

God Bless

Jo Walshe

Principal's Comment

 Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

Today has been a lovely last day of term here at the College with the sun shining brightly, the students settled and enjoying the thought of two weeks of freedom and the staff, no doubt, doing much the same!

While many of our community will be back to work on Monday, there is at least a feel for all of us that the cloud may be lifting with our move to Orange Covid restrictions. Our approach next term will be that while masks are voluntary in schools, we do ask that students wear them in assembly and in the chapel where we have a lot of students together for the first few weeks whilst we monitor developments. I have explained our reasoning for this to the students and I have also reminded them that some staff and students may wish to continue to wear masks full time as they strive to protect themselves or vulnerable family members.

Today our Easter liturgy focussed on the idea of Christ as a changing force in the world and in history. It was great to see our students participating in the service through speaking, videos and singing. Anika Winders sang the song which won her the Te Reo Maori Award in the NZ Commission Hook Line and Sing-A-Long competition "Te Timatanga O te ao" and did a wonderful job. 

Next term we are planning on running a number of events at the College.  Please keep an eye on the Facebook Page and on our emails.  The first of these is the Student Led Conferences on the first Friday back.  Please make a booking and come in to hear how  your young person is tracking and what their next steps will be. 

Happy Easter

God Bless

Jo Walshe

Principal's Comment

 Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

This week in assembly I spoke about the importance of teamwork and of course I referred to sport where we see great examples of teamwork around us all of the time, but I also spoke about it as being something that happens as we grow up. I spoke about the process of moving from being egocentric where you only think of yourself, to being able to work with others in, for example, classes or on projects. In other words, being a team player.

I have been incredibly lucky in starting in this role at the College in the amazing teams that I have around me. We have a well run, high functioning Board with an interested and involved Presiding Member in Eugen Dupu. We have a committed and long standing Foundation with people who have real care for what they are trying to achieve for our College, with Ross Robertson at the helm. We have an Alumni group with an incredible number of clever, successful and driven people who are working to make and support connections to our College the length and breadth of New Zealand. Our Te Ngākau Nui caregiver group under the leadership of Sam Growcott does a huge variety of things in the background to support our College and raise money for the 'extras' for our students.

Our staff, hostel staff, support staff and grounds staff are motivated hard working people who love our school and its students. And for me personally, my Senior Leadership Team is an everyday blessing that I could not do without. Although Craig Smith (DP) will probably not be talking to me next week after this photograph, I just wanted to dedicate this blog to thanking all of the amazing people who work to support Team SKC, especially at this time when the pandemic is hitting us hard.

God Bless you all.

Jo Walshe

Principal's Comment

 Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

Today I have sent home the newly adopted sports policy which the College Board voted through on Wednesday night. It is never nice having to be in a position to ask whānau for money and I realize that things have been tough for many people over the past two years, but as Tumuaki of the College I have a responsibility to ensure that the school and its associated clubs are financially responsible and that we are realistic about costs. I also have a responsibility to my staff not to place them in a position where they are abused for doing their jobs which is why I have placed debt recovery into the financial arm of the school rather than making it the responsibility of teachers whose job is to be fantastic advocates for students not debt collectors.

I ask whānau to help us avoid embarrassing situations by doing the following things:

Please think carefully about the costs associated with the sport/s your young person is doing. While sport is a wonderful thing, it should not be driving any families into financial difficulty. Students don't have to play multiple sports or go to every tournament. Feel free to say 'no'.

Please be informed. I have asked teachers, coaches and managers to be fair and specific in the information they give out pre season so that caregivers are prepared for what is coming up in terms of travel, sport and tournament costs.

Please get involved. We are offering partial fee rebates for coaches and managers who step up and support school sport over the season. We are also happy to see fundraising happening for clubs to help spread the load. In order to fundraise for your sport, please contact the College and we will help you work through the Board process.

Please familiarize yourself with the portal. This is a hugely helpful system which doesn't take long to set up, is secure, is also linked to reports and attendance and is at the heart of our student management system. If you need help, please do not hesitate to ring the office and they will talk you through it. You can also pay part payments in the portal or pay through the office if the portal is not an option.

Finally, please communicate. We would much rather know there was a problem before things get out of hand. The last thing we want is for caregivers to be intimidated about coming to school simply because they are struggling.

To all of you playing sport over the weekend, best of luck!

God Bless

Jo Walshe

Principal's Comment

 Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

Yesterday I spent the day reviewing documents online with our new ERO (Education Review Office) review officer. In the past, ERO has visited schools once every three to five years for a few days at a time to check that schools are compliant around things like fire alarms and policies and also to check that they have some strategic direction in place. As of this year, that model has changed. ERO review officers will now work every year with schools to help them stay on track. This is much more of a partnership model and I feel a much healthier and supportive way of doing things. Like every business or institution, St Kevin's College needs to be constantly challenging itself to do things better. We need to constantly adapt for a changing world and every leader needs a critical friend to challenge their assumptions. I am looking forward to continuing this relationship.

It has been great to see sport continuing this week with some great results in rowing, cricket and volleyball to name a few. We are also seeing the winter season sports beginning to gear up, albeit slowly with the constant disruption of isolation for students. What I am cherishing most of all is seeing our students excited, happy and healthy as they participate in activities that have been interrupted over the past two years. 'Being Active' is a key message from the five ways to wellbeing research. The more our young people can physically challenge themselves, the happier they will be.

I would like to thank Mr Harris for organizing our Green Mufti day for St Patrick's Day and for our communion service to celebrate that special day. The money raised will be donated to the St Patrick's Parish to help to support vulnerable people in need.

Have a great long weekend.

Go Otago!

God Bless

Jo Walshe

Principal's Comment

Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

It has been another busy week at the College this week having had Ash Wednesday, the cricket game against the Willows cricket club in Christchurch, the swimming sports championships and the start of our Friday options for years 12 and 13.
The Willows game, unfortunately, did not go our way but I am reliably informed that our team was a credit to the school. I would like to thank those members of staff and whānau who travelled up to support the team and the past students who came to both play and watch the match.
As it was Ash Wednesday, I was back at the College participating in our distribution of the Ashes. It was a privilege to be able to give out the ashes to the staff and students and it reminded me very much that our Catholic rituals help to articulate the most important aspects of our humanity. The ashes, as a symbol of our mortality, remind us that no matter how important we think we are, we are still only a moment in time. It serves to remind us that the valuable things in our lives are the relationships we have with each other. I would also like to thank Mr Harris and Father Wayne for their excellent organization of the service.

I chose this image today of two friends having a chat in the sun because it captures a moment of being young, enjoying friendship, discovering new learning, enjoying nature and laughing.  All essential ingredients for a happy healthy life. 

We have had no further Covid cases today.  Our next update will be on Wednesday next week. 

God Bless

Jo Walshe

Principal's Comment

Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

Today we were very lucky to have had good weather for the swimming sports with a blue enough sky that we could convince ourselves that we were warm! I would like to thank those students brave enough to have climbed into our chilly school pool today to earn house points; for their participation. Swimming sports can be a challenge as no one wants to feel foolish in their togs but our senior leaders and staff really stepped up to ensure that everyone enjoyed the day and had some fun with bright house colours, lots of cheering and lots of loud music. I would like to thank the PE department, those staff involved with supporting the students today and especially our groundsmen for the time they have put into keeping the pool running.

Today it was announced that interschool sport can go ahead without the need for vaccine passes.  This feels like a positive step in terms of a slow emergence out of restrictions which we know is the plan, however, there are a few things for schools and sporting bodies still to work out given we remain in the RED phase, so I ask for your patience around this.  Remember, you can best support your young person in sport by volunteering to coach, manage or drive them to events and by being a role model of sportsmanship on the side lines. 

Have a great weekend!

Jo Walshe

Principal's Comment

 Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

Today we were blessed with a brilliant day for our Athletics Sports! I would like to Thank Mr Hose and Ms Sarah Clapperton for their excellent organisation of the event as well as the volunteers and ground staff who set up and packed down the fields for us. Your work is appreciated.

In Covid times, schools have to make difficult choices around curriculum events such as Athletics. We have decided that, on balance, it is important for these events to go ahead for the mental health of our students. The downside is that we have to exclude caregivers in order for this to happen.

We hope to be able to return to a more normal arrangement soon and ask that you support and encourage your student to keep participating in sporting events as and when we are able to offer them. Being active is one of the 'Five Ways to Wellbeing', a healthy body supports a healthy mind.

Another event which has been interrupted has been our annual 'Meet the Teachers' evening. We thought hard about this as the size of our cohort would mean that not all caregivers would be able to attend under current Covid rules. We also felt that meeting the teachers for the first time and not being able to see their faces, would be problematic so we have produced a virtual 'Meet the Teachers'. The link has been emailed to Year 9 caregivers and caregivers of new students in other year levels. Please forgive the 'ums', 'ah's and shuffling, being in front of a camera is not natural for any of us but we do hope you enjoy what we have done! Thank you to Mat Harris for his fantastic editing and to James Devereaux for his support for Mat in making this happen.

Have a wonderful weekend

God Bless

Jo Walshe

Principal's Comment

Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

This week, although short, has been a busy one at the College as we are organizing our summer events including regular sports games, our school athletics and swimming events. Unfortunately with our being at the Red traffic light setting, we will not be able to welcome whānau to the events as we normally would, but it is our goal to continue with as many sporting opportunities as we are safely allowed to; for the mental health and wellbeing of our students.

Part of the '5 Ways to Wellbeing' focus we have at the College focusses on physical activity as vitally important to promote all aspects of health in our young people. I have reiterated to many classes this week that under the current rules, it is very important to be wearing masks in indoor environments to avoid being deemed a 'close contact' and subsequently missing sports events through having to isolate.

Pre -season training has commenced for Netball this week, new HOF of Physical Education Mr Hose is taking his first group to Volleyball in Timaru tonight and we have cricket games coming up against various teams, so we are getting moving - literally!

This week we are also acknowledging loss in our community. We were saddened to hear of the death of Frank McAtamney, past pupil and All Black who died aged 87 this week. We extend our thoughts and prayers to his family.

On Sunday I am also taking a group of staff and students to bid farewell to Sister Mary Horn and the Dominican Order who are leaving Oamaru after many many years of dedicated service. Our College has the dual charisms of the Christian Brothers and the Dominican order. With the departure of the last of the order from our midst, we do feel an added responsibility to ensure that we consciously continue to deliver a curriculum in which 'Veritas' is a cornerstone.

Have a great weekend!

Jo Walshe

Principal

Principal's Comment

 Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

Welcome to the first formal post of the year from me in my new role as Principal. It has been a somewhat surreal start to the year with the emergence of Omicron in the community in New Zealand, but after a holiday season where we got sunshine on Christmas day and a successful start to the year for our new students and teachers, we do feel as prepared as we can for what is to come.

The messaging to the school has been very clear. We understand that this year we will have to work with Omicron so we are preparing to have 'business as usual ' as much as possible by finding new and innovative ways to connect. Mr Devereaux has kindly lent us his expertise from Auckland where schools have been operating with hybrid learning models for 18 months. It has been wonderful to be able to tap into his experience.

Mr Devereaux using 'Google Meetings'

We are encouraging staff to get creative in their thinking around how we communicate. Mr Harris has worked on a livestream option which we used with our Prefect Induction Mass today and we have a very energetic team putting together a 'meet the teachers' presentation which we hope will give parents who are new to the College an idea of who we all are, even if we are unable to meet each other face to face just yet.

Te Ngakau Nui, our Home and School organization is very keen to recruit new members. You can join this lovely group by contacting the College and we will pass your name on to the organizers. This group is for both men and women. You can join the committee or simply add your name to the list of willing helpers for fundraising events. Meetings take no longer than an hour and are held sparingly.

I wish everyone a safe and relaxing long weekend.

God Bless

Jo Walshe

Principal's Comment

 Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

Happy New Year to all of our College family! I just wanted to drop a note today to let everyone know that we are getting everything ready at the College for the return of our students.

I took this picture of the flower beds by the library this week as they looked so beautiful! I would like to thank our gardener Tracy for the hard work she has put into planting these out. We are very blessed to have a beautiful environment at the College which has a positive impact on the way we feel about ourselves, our work and each other.

I look forward to seeing you all soon!

God Bless

Jo Walshe