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Principal's Blog: Term 1 Week 6
Friday, 3 March 2023
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Kia ora whānau Our annual Athletic Sports were a triumphant celebration of inclusion, participation, enjoyment and individual excellence and accomplishment. Students were in fine fettle, arriving at Newtown Park resplendent in House colours and gorgeous get-ups, full of energy and enthusiasm. With our highest-ever attendance rates at Athletics Sports, the stands were largely empty throughout the day with participants fully involving themselves on the track and in the field with all of the activities and disciplines on offer. Highlights of the day were the march past, chant-off, dance-off and House relays, along with some spectacular individual performances. Congratulations to the House Captains and their deputies for setting the tone and for leading with such vigour and verve. Throughout the latter part of 2022, we engaged with an external review of Marsden sport, which has culminated in the recent adoption of our Sport & Active Recreation Plan, ‘Every Body Active’. Thank you to everyone who participated in some large or small way in providing voice and inputs throughout the iterative process undertaken, which has been widely consultative. We were thrilled to have a good amount of student input also, reminding us all that it is the hauora of our young people that is at the heart of all that we do. Bringing the plan to life in an authentic and meaningful way will be ongoing mahi, and the very first step will be the recruitment of our next permanent Director of Sport. The hardworking Cameron Burns has been engaged with us in an acting capacity since late last year, and we are incredibly grateful and appreciative for all he has done, and continues to do, in the promotion and organisation of sport at Marsden. Additionally, our Sports Administrator, Caitlin O’Sullivan continues working remotely alongside her netball commitments at Mainland. On top of her administrative responsibilities, Caitlin oversees sport in Years 1-8 and all of our netball organisation; no mean feat. We wish Caitlin continued success with her sporting journey, and look forward to welcoming her back for Primary School Swimming Sports and winter sport musters in coming weeks. In a continuation of the theme of co-curricular pursuits in this week’s comment, it has been excellent to have education outside the classroom activities featuring regularly on our school calendar again presently. There have been a wide range of authentic learning experiences on offer already this term, ranging from a Biology trip to Zealandia to investigate a pattern in an ecological community, to a Physics flying lesson to explore the physics of powered flight, including the concepts of force balance, lift and thrust, g-force and circular motion. Just fabulous. Next week, our Year 5, 6 and 8 students are away at their respective school camps. Thank you to the staff and volunteers who sacrifice time away from their own families and professional lives to make these experiences possible. It is very much appreciated. All the best to our rowers, who are preparing for their North Island regatta in advance of the possibility of a Maadi Cup campaign, and to our volleyball side who are also in the throes of preparing for Summer Tournament week. There is plenty on the calendar, and that’s just the way we like it. Ngā mihi nui Paula Wells |