by Kaiya Jones, Year 13 Student, Kaipara College
This last week before exam leave starts has been…quite the experience, to say the least! Year 13 Spirit Week! What a time! Spirit week involves an entire week of dress up and fun for our school leavers, and is a happy conclusion to a final year of secondary school. Each day had a theme, decided by our student leaders, which Year 13’s would dress up to match. The themes proceeded as follows: Monday- Anything but a bag day, Tuesday- Dress as your type/swap styles with someone, Wednesday- Dress as a dynamic duo, Thursday- Dress as your favourite childhood T.V. character, and Friday- Dress as a teacher. Monday brought about some very creative “not bags”, from shopping trolleys to tires, and even a bread slicer on which a student’s stuff was precariously balanced. Tuesday…yes, good ol’ Tuesday. Dare I say there were some rather masculine vixens walking around in most stylish dresses and crop tops, all of which I imagine were pilfered from some poor relatives’ wardrobe. Let no one say that the students of Kaipara College are afraid of committing to a little fun! Wednesday saw some wonderful duos walking about, my favourite of which was two monkeys and a banana, though that poor banana was vastly outnumbered by a surprising amount of minions from Despicable Me. Thursday sadly didn’t go ahead as a strike day fell on that day, but I’m sure it would have been just as good of a turnout as the rest of the days. Spirit week finished off with a barbecue and pool party, with notably more teachers in attendance than who work at Kaipara…ah, those weren’t teachers.
I can’t say many students are sad to be leaving secondary school, but then again, I’ve taken no survey. I for one, can’t wait to see the tail end of exams and welcome a summer of (hopefully) fun, before plunging into the decisions of next year. Meanwhile, Year 12’s will be getting ready to step up and fill the boots of the departing Year 13’s and make decisions on how involved they want to be in shaping Kaipara’s future. Opportunities for Year 12’s going into year 13 include, but are not limited to, Tira leaders, peer support, PSSP (though this is not limited to Yr 12’s), and extracurricular activities (e.g. sports) where students represent the school and set an example for junior students. I was a part of the peer support programme, and while I can say it was definitely a challenge, I think it was a good one, and a great step for anyone wanting to get involved in helping support younger students in their transition to high school life.
Let’s hope the new student board representative (congratulations Thea), Tira & peer support leaders, PSSP members, and principle serve Kaipara well in the coming year.
Summer is coming, Reader! Get in that sunshine before it becomes so intense you need 50 layers of sunscreen, a radiation suit, and a brolly to prevent your inner lobster from emerging. Look after yourself!
Kaiya J.
