Dear St Paul's Community
We have started the term on a very positive note, with a record School roll of 675 students of whom 254 are boarders.
In 2012 we welcome eight new teachers:
Mr C Lewis (English), Mr C Neethling (Mathematics), Mr H Wilson (Technology), Mr J Rapana (Te Reo Maori), Mrs T Harfoot (Spanish), Mrs H Munn (Science), Mrs A Reid (Digital Technology) and Mrs B Hansen (English).
Construction work will continue on the Dining Room over the term and we can already see the improvements in the time it takes to serve the meals, the accoustics and the benefits of an enlarged space. Later this term, there will be disruption to lunches as the kitchen wash-up area is renovated to make way for two new dishwashers.
Our athletes enjoyed fantastic success over the Christmas holiday period, gaining two Golds, two Silvers and two Bronze medals in the NZSS Championships and we hope this is a sign to come for all of our summer codes in Term One.
Our results in Cambridge and NCEA were excellent. Encouragingly, ten Level One, 11 Level Two and 11 Level Three candidates gained Excellence endorsements. Our overall pass rates of 92% (Level One), 89% (Level Two) and 83% (Level Three) positively reflect the efforts and hard work of both staff and students.
It has been great to introduce Spanish at Year 9 and Ag. Hort Science at Year 11 and to reintroduce Art History, Classics and the Construction Class at Year 13.
The introduction of the new Mentoring classes is an exciting initiative that we hope will give Year 12 students greater opportunities to show their leadership ability and create a close bond between students of different age groups and House staff.
The installation of wireless for the academic centre of the School has been well received and continues the significant strides we have made in our ICT infrastructure over the past year and a half.
I hope that 2012 is an enjoyable, stimulating and rewarding one for all associated with our School.
