Principal's Comment

 Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

Today we celebrated 'Pink Shirt Day' which is a concept which was imported from an anti - bullying campaign established in Canada. It has grown in popularity and sees our College become a sea of pink once a year.

I spoke with staff this morning about the importance of reminding our students that everyday needs to be an anti- bullying day and we need to do our best to ensure that our school culture is focussed on bullying prevention work and that when bullying does occur, we move to stamp it out. Schools are often the focus for communities of this kind of work because of our ability to reach a wide range of young people with a focussed message. However, as families the first lessons regarding bullying must come from home.

In speaking to the staff I reminded them that Christ delivered the best lesson around bullying when he said :"Do unto others as you would have done unto you". Schools have no more of a moral mandate or compulsion to teach young people to respect others than families have, and whilst we may have access to a range of anti bullying programmes, one thing we cannot do is be young people's primary role model.

I was speaking to a family about our surveillance policy yesterday. At the College we have 33 cameras in operation including cameras in some offices and meeting rooms. The reason for this is that, as teachers we can often be the subject of bullying from students or caregivers. Schools, like supermarket workers, police, call centre workers, parking wardens and an increasing number of professions have had to have a way of defending themselves from false accusations and bullying behaviour from other adults. Whether this is an assault on a coach on the sideline or an unfounded accusation, a student hitting a teacher or a staff member having to physically restrain a student, we live in an age where surveillance is a necessity. Our cameras delete themselves after a week and we have several protocols which we work through in ensuring they are used in accordance with the law, which have been developed over the decade we have had them.

Bullying, though often spoken about in conjunction with teenagers and children, is a whole of society problem which is currently exacerbated by the behaviour, both online and in real life of adults, whether it be politicians, parents abusing other parents, attacks on volunteers or by opposite sides of social debates. This pink shirt day, our message is that we are all teachers of prosocial behaviour, that as a community, that every day is 'Pink Shirt Day' .

Have a good weekend.

God Bless

Jo

Principal's Comment

 Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

I would like to begin by wishing all the Mums Happy Mother's Day for last Sunday.  I am in my second phase of this now after becoming a Grandma last year.  My granddaughter is an amazing wee girl who I love to pieces!  The bad news was that I got Covid for Mothers Day so I am working from home for a couple of days this week which has not been an ideal start to the term. 

I would like to thank all of the families who came to our open day last week.  It was great to have the opportunity to speak with you about the direction and expectations of the College.  As I alluded to in my speech, I think that because we are in an even greater state of flux than normal in education at the moment, it is really important for schools to be able to map a clear pathway for families in terms of what they have to offer as they move into the next decade.  

At St Kevin’s we are doing this in conjunction with our sister school St Joseph’s.  That our young people have a clear pathway through their education from primary to secondary education with shared values, approaches to learning and strategic vision seems to be something  very valuable that we can offer collectively.  That we can hope to offer environments from  ECE, all the way through the Year 13 where students identify with the signs and symbols of the faith and the values which that faith offers, to help form their lives and outlook seems to me to be a very good reason for us to pull together as a Catholic educational community.  

Over the next few weeks, in order to finalize the process, in conjunction with the Ministry of Education we will work to collate the community voice regarding the merging of our School Boards and the relocation of St Joseph’s to the St Kevin's site. Whilst both schools have been engaged in this conversation for some time, it is important that the Ministry of Education records this independently. We thank the MOE team in advance for their work and support in this process. 

God Bless

Jo

PS: In this picture, my Granddaughter is getting annoyed with me because I wouldn’t let her go paragliding ... .watch this space.. :)

Principal's Comment

Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

Welcome back for Term two to all of our families and students. Term two is arguably the most important term of the year due to the fact that much of the internal assessment for NCEA is done during this term and in the junior school summative assessments are being undertaken to help to give a picture to parents and caregivers of how their students are tracking. On the Cambridge front, we have the first of our students sitting their  initial IGCSE exams in May. This was the group which was fast tracked from extension English in Year 10 and who are attempting the language paper.

Term two can also be challenging in terms of student and staff welfare as the winter chills begin to bite and some of us get the 'blues' with the darker nights and colder mornings. If that is happening for your student, please let the Deans know so that we can help to support you to get your young person to school. Helping to support your young person to manage the demands of increased academic pressure is less about avoiding the pressure than it is about helping them to develop the best strategies they can to help them manage their workload and the stresses that come with it.

If we hope to raise young people who can lead our community in the future, who can tackle some of the challenges that are in store for them such as the climate or economic and technical challenges, we must teach them that stress is a normal part of life and that learning how to deal with it is the key. Our student advocate Esther can be a great help in supporting students to find what works for them and School TV also has some great ideas for you to check out on the pastoral tab of our website.

I will be emailing the families of students doing the Cambridge course shortly with an update regarding timings of examinations and the options students have around when to sit these. Please be on the lookout for that letter.

Open day is next week so please remind any friends or family who are hoping to enroll their Year 8 students that this event is on and equally that applications need to be in as soon as possible to avoid dissappointment.

Thank you to all of the families who came to parent interviews on Friday and especially to those who left feedback with regards to restorative practices.

Have a great weekend

God Bless

Jo