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