The Week That Was.
A Message from Mr Fairley, Principal.
I would like to acknowledge the support of our wider community through the first two weeks of this term, it is greatly appreciated. Even more rewarding though is seeing those aspects of wider school life being able to commence again after months of restrictions and disruptions.
It was wonderful to walk the sidelines on Saturday and to see our values evident when our Under 15s Rugby Team played their pre-season game against Westlake Boys High School. Despite finding it tough going on the scoreboard, our boys played for each other, held their heads high and carried themselves with dignity and respect. Many thanks to their coach, Mr Taura for his work with this group. Their squad was depleted on the day but I know they will continue to grow and develop when their competition starts.
Similarly, our First XV were humble in their impressive first up win over Takapuna Grammar. They also played for each other and for their coaches (Mr Toko and Mr Pisi). Obviously, there were some standout individual performances in the game, but it was their work as a team that was truly impressive. Our First XV travel north to Whangarei Boys High School tomorrow (on our new Massey High School bus).
In both instances (and it is the same with all our teams who competed over the previous week) it was apparent that our students were just happy to be out playing again, given the major disruption to sport over the past two years.
This week also saw our inter House competition start, with relay events (for the body with the sprint relays, and for the mind with the puzzle and cube events) taking place on Wednesday and Friday and involving a large number of competitors and spectators alike. The events (all organised by our House Leaders and supported by Mr Curran and our Deans) will continue over the course of the next two terms.
Just last night, Year 12 student Tanzeela Ali won the Auckland regionals in the Race Unity Speech competition last night. She now goes through to the National Semi-final on the 25th June at the Manukau Institute of Technology.
The highlight of the week was the performance of Te Roopū Taiohi Tātaki, our Massey High School Kapa Haka group. Their performance on Wednesday night gave us a glimpse of what might have been had COVID not significantly disrupted their preparations for Polyfest 2022. More importantly, it gave us a glimpse of the real potential for this group moving forward – their performance was full of emotion, passion, technical acumen, and demonstrated the commitment of the students, tutors and whanau support. Matua Hone’s vision for their ascendance certainly appears to be on track. What was also great to see was the engagement of whānau. Our BRPAC was full, not only with family and friends, but also a good number of our alumni, who had come back home to support our current students.
I have spent much of this week connecting with our contributing schools, and these visits will continue over the next week. They have provided an opportunity for our Year 9 students who came from those schools to visit they Year 7 and 8 students and talk to them about their first few months at Massey High School. They have also provided me with an opportunity to talk with each Principal about what the relationship between our schools can look like, with a long-term view of further improving the transition from primary to secondary school.
Looking forward, next week is our inaugural ‘Tech Week’ tying in with the national festival of tech and innovation. Information has been sent out separately with regard to what will be offered through the course of the week. The programme that has been developed will provide our students with a taste of some of New Zealand’s rapidly growing creative and innovative pathways. It is also serving as a trial to see where we as a school can reduce our reliance on paper. As part of this is the drive to have our students bringing their devices to school every day.