Principal's Pānui
30 April 2023
It’s great to have Term Two underway, and what a great week it has been.
My first week started last Friday. I travelled to Manukau to see our MDC (Massey Dance Crew) compete in the HHI National Championships. Our students were outstanding, finishing fourth. This achievement all the more remarkable given that they were one of the only school crews competing against professional dance studios. It was a joy to see them in action, given they are a young crew they have a bright future ahead. Thank you to our Dance staff – Tracy, Maddie, and Shalom for shaping this wonderful group of young adults.
Monday (teacher only day) saw teachers from across our Kāhui Ako converging on Massey High School for a day long conference. It was an opportunity for our teachers to connect with their Primary colleagues, share practice, and for all to gain a holistic view of the learning journey our children undertake. It was an important day in terms of discussions around what our local curriculum looks like. My thanks to the organisation committee, led by the Principal of West Harbour Primary, which included Mark Jones and Tania Mitchell. Thank you also to our many sponsors for the day – SAS Sports, TTS, Craig Walker Building Removals, Westie Pies, Crombie Lockwood, Markovina Vineyard Estate, Kumeu River Wines, Bunnings Warehouse, Soljans Estate Winery, Farro and Keylinks Scholastic.
On Tuesday morning Deputy Principal Hayley Garratt and I had the privilege of attending the ANZAC service at the Swanson RSA with our four Head Prefects. It is the first such service to be held since COVID and the turnout reflected that. It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces there, including past students and staff, and a number of parents of past and present students. As always, our Prefects represented our community with aplomb, participating in the march to the RSA, and laying a wreath on behalf of Massey High School.
Ka Ora, Ka Ako – Healthy Lunches in Schools
Our new lunch programme got underway on Wednesday, with lunch being served at 11.05 from various stations around the school. It was humbling to see our students being provided with a hot lunch (Mac and Cheese, Anzac cookie, and fruit) in such a short amount of time. The meal was well received, and feedback from students was overwhelmingly positive. A top up snack, and leftovers were then made available at 1.30pm. Leftovers at the end of the day were distributed to students taking part in trainings, with others being sent out to community organisations.
Thursday and Friday were just as efficient. Thursday was a teriyaki chicken wrap, and Friday was nachos. Appropriate substitutes for these were available for those students who had identified dietary needs.
The provider of the lunches supplies over 15 other schools and they remarked that Massey High School students were the most polite and gracious students that they had encountered. What has been heartening has been the way our students have embraced using the appropriate bins for the waste – very little litter (if any) was left around the school. Thank you to our students, and to our parents and caregivers.
The meals continue on a rotational basis, with menu options being introduced or removed on a regular basis to ensure that menu fatigue does not set in.
I’d like to thank Colin Riseborough for his organisation of this, and special thanks to Anna North in particular for the herculean effort with administration of the dietary requirements.
PPTA Industrial Action
As you may be aware, PPTA industrial action continues this term, with confirmed action thus far being the continuation of the relief ban being complemented by a ban on attending meetings outside regular school hours (please note, this does not impact on extra/co-curricular activities).
We have been advised that the action may extend to rostering home of different year levels over the coming weeks. Whilst we have yet to receive formal notification of this, we have had preliminary advice that Year 11 students will be rostered home on Thursday 4th May. We are planning for this action.
We will keep you updated as to ongoing industrial action through the course of this term.
Attendance
You may have seen that nationwide attendance and achievement figures have been released. Attendance in particular is a major focus of the current Government. As you are aware, we have long placed emphasis on the importance of regular attendance at Massey High School. As such, our attendance (and achievement) statistics are well above national figures. This is not just the result of the work of our staff, it is also due to the values of our parents and caregivers, ensuring that their children attend regularly – or if absent – ensuring that the school has been advised of the reason for that absence. Again, thank you to our parents and caregivers for this and I ask that you continue to be pro-active in contacting the school should your child be absent.
Winter Sports
Many of our Winter sports codes get underway this weekend (our First XI Football kicking off on Friday night, and most of our netball teams in action across the weekend). I am looking forward to getting across to Westlake Boys on Saturday at midday to see the first game of the season for our First XV. As with last year, I will endeavour to take in a wide range of our sports teams across the next two terms. As mentioned previously, the role sport plays in developing well rounded young adults is hugely important, and it is also a privilege to see our students taking part in activities outside the classroom. Invariably, our students always conduct themselves admirably – win or lose – and I know that they will continue to walk our values both on and off the court/field.
Thank you to all of our parents/caregivers/teachers who give their time to coach, manage, or transport teams. A huge thank you as well to our Sports Department – Nikki and Georgie, for the work they do in ensuring our students can compete.
Ngā mihi
Alastair Fairley, Principal