Kia ora Parents and Caregivers,

We’ve reached the end of Term 3 and, like me, I’m sure you’re wondering how we got here so fast. Two lockdowns have definitely disrupted the flow of the year, and I’m sure everyone agrees our students are ready for a break.

It’s a bit of a cliché, but true none-the-less, that it’s been busy as we’ve tried to condense all of our term’s activities into a shortened time frame. There have been casualties, like our cancelled Chinese Night, but also some great times of celebration – such as this week’s combined Gala Concert with Westlake Boys. One hundred lucky people experienced the concert onsite, joined by a virtual audience of hundreds from around the world who watched the live stream. It was a wonderful night, and a pleasure to see the hard work of our music students being recognised.

As this newsletter goes ‘to print’, Korean Night on 2 October will proceed in a somewhat similar manner. One hundred invited guests will be in attendance and the show will be recorded and placed on YouTube next term.

This week we celebrated our 2020 Prefects with an Afternoon Tea, attended by three successful alumni – Sam Scott, Jennah Wootton and Dayeon Lee. Our speakers shared their career stories and provided some fantastic advice on effective leadership. You can read more about the event in this newsletter.

In assemblies last week, I talked to our students about some of the great things they could do in Auckland during the break. Things like the Coast to Coast Walkway (hiking the width of New Zealand without leaving Auckland), or visiting Rotoroa Island – an hour’s boat ride from downtown. This wildlife sanctuary was off limits to the public for over 100 years and was only made accessible in 2011.

No matter what your plans are for the holidays, I hope you have a lovely time with your family.

Jane Stanley