Kia ora Koutou

What a week it has been for the Junior school. I had the pleasure of attending the junior Catholic schools tournament.  I was impressed with both the standard of competition and the good spirit shown between students from the different schools. This tournament is a very special and unique opportunity for the students involved. It provided our students with opportunity giving our students a chance to compete in a large tournament and gain valuable experience. It also helped form links between the four catholic school in the region and hopefully friendships will develop between players that will last for many years to come.

I also had the pleasure of attending Southspell competition this week where Verdon College had three teams entered. The students competing did very well. It was great to see the teamwork by our students, busily figuring out spelling and negotiating the right answer as a group.  I was very proud of how well the students represented the College with one team narrowly missing top honours in the final rounds.

Mentoring of senior students is well underway it has been a very positive experience for senior staff to meet with students during this process. Overwhelmingly the feedback to me about the students and their progress has been positive with a great number of students setting extremely positive goals and well on the way to achieving their NCEA certificates with a large number targeting both merit and  excellence endorsement.  I would like to encourage all senior students with their work in their pursuit of this years academic goals.

God Bless

Jarlath Kelly