Tena koutou katoa

We have reached the end of a long but successful term.  It is always pleasing to end the term on a high and our Colours Assembly celebrating the academic success of our students in NCEA last year and the sporting and cultural achievement of our students so far this year is the perfect way to finish the term.  I have shared our success in NCEA previously but it was wonderful to see the hard work of our students and teaching staff displayed in the Southland Times recently.  Being acknowledged as one of the few schools in Southland as achieving above national averages at all 3 levels of NCEA is extremely pleasing as is our achievement when compared to other schools in Invercargill particularly being the highest achieving school in NCEA Level 1 two years in a row. While this success is some thing we can be very proud of  we are continuing work to surpass these outcomes for the students of the College and are confident that we can gain even greater success for our students in NCEA this year.

At Assembly this week I spoke to the students of the importance of remembering our heritage as a Catholic school and the values that have been passed on to us by the Marist Brothers and Dominican Sisters.  It is important that our values, Truth, Perseverance, Simplicity, Witness, Prayer, Whanau and Community Spirit, In the Way of Mary, Passion for Work are values that are lived every day by our students and that they are observable to those outside of our school and community. I challenge all of the students of the College to consider how they will demonstrate these values to others and how they can conduct themselves in a manner that others know and can see that they are students of a Catholic College.

Thank you to the community for supporting our PTA Oyster raffle and a big thank you to the PTA that have spent so much time collating and counting returned cards and money.  Also thank you to all those parents, coaches and community members that have supported our students achievement throughout this term.  Your assistance and time in supporting the achievement of the students of the College is greatly appreciated.

God Bless

Jarlath Kelly