Principal Message... Week 2

Our Purpose: To prepare students to be active participants who will contribute to their community.

Tēnā koutou katoa, Malo e lelei, Talofa lava, Bula vinaka

I would like to start this week's newsletter by expressing my gratitude for the supportive, caring school community. Starting with the students who are truly embracing the OIS IDEAL values and our parents and whānau who continue to support our programmes and opportunities that we have for students. To our incredible staff, the teachers, the admin team, the support staff, the cleaners, and the caretaker, OIS boasts the most dedicated, caring, compassionate, and incredible staff, hands down. Thank you for making OIS such a positive place to be.

We are well and truly in the swing of a new term that may be one of the busiest yet. Children will be working hard this term not only in the classroom but also participating in a range of different activities, such as technology, Kapa Haka, Choir and Pasifika groups. Our winter sports programme is about to get underway, and our sports exchange trials have started. Thank you for your support in organising your child with the correct gear and getting them to games and training on time. Students keep up to date with information regarding opportunities via our daily notices each morning.

The Out-of-Hours Music and Arts programme has begun at OIS, and we are fortunate to have Andy Gilmore and Jancie Joiner leading these programmes. If you are interested in learning more about this opportunity, please email Anneke Catto: annekec@oamaruint.school.nz for the coming terms. We are also looking for spare guitars! If you have any guitars at home that you no longer want, we can rehome them at the school.

I was incredibly proud to represent the school at the ANZAC service on Saturday alongside Carmen Sim, our House captains, and Head Prefects. It was a profoundly moving service. To conclude my newsletter, I'd like to share the closing message from Kelli Williams' speech, delivered on behalf of the veterans. She encouraged listeners to apply the lessons of the ANZACs to their daily lives, emphasising that everyone has the capacity to make a positive difference, even when circumstances seem uncontrollable, by operating from a place of love within their families, communities, and workplaces.

“So today, as we remember the ANZACs and all who have served, let us take that lesson into our own lives. Even in a world that can feel out of our control, we each hold the ability to make a positive difference. If we operate from a place of love – in our families, our communities, and our workplaces – we can together create ripples of hope, compassion, and change for humanity.

Let us honour the history of all those who served, not just by remembering war, but by carrying forward their courage and care for one another, so that the light of humanity continues to shine, even when we find ourselves in the darkest of times.”

Lest we forget.

Rebecca Meek