25 February 2026

Another busy couple of weeks as we approach the halfway point of Term one already.

The highlight of last week was the return to school of those students who enjoyed success at the highest level, NZ Scholarship Exams. We are incredibly proud of those students who secured 22 Scholarships (including 5 Outstanding Scholarships), a testament to their hard work, and the dedication and inspiration of the teachers that worked with them. Of particular note is Lucy Ward who in gaining 5 Scholarships (including 2 Outstanding) was recognized as an Outstanding Scholar – 1 of 57 across the country. The full list of recipients, and the teachers who worked with them are listed below:

To put their achievement in perspective – gaining a NZ Scholarship puts that student in the top 3% of the cohort across the country, an Outstanding Scholarship the top 0.3% of the cohort.

We thank those students who came back in to be recognized at a special assembly last week.

Around the school, our Building Academy students have been working tirelessly building new seating and fences (while they await the finalized house plans from Kainga Ora), their work looks amazing and will provide students with wonderful new seating areas. Through the course of the year, they will refurbish the interiors of the Board owned classrooms adjacent to the courts.

New artwork is going up around the school as well (the first being 4 new windows in the BRPAC), each panel providing students with information on the Skills, Experiences, and Achievements that we want them to attain at the end of each year level.

Our Year 9 students are in the midst of their Year 9 Activity Days – a day long, fully funded activity for each House which is designed to strengthen House bonds and allow our new Year 9 students to get to know each other, their Academic Mentors, and their student leaders better in the run-up to the first full school House event – Tabloids Day. Keep an eye out for amended bus times on the day.

It has been great getting around the new Academic Mentoring sessions and meeting our Year 9 students as they settle into their new school and as they begin to acquire the skills necessary for their success. Similarly, it was great to see the turnout on our Year 9 whanau evening. The number of parents and caregivers that had come in to meet teachers and each other was up again on previous years – it is always heartening to see high levels of parental engagement with the school. It was also great to see students excitedly showing their parents around their new school.