by Georgia Shivnan, Year 13 Student, Kaipara College
Year 9 students completing orientation day activities
The commencement of a new school year creates opportunity for both challenges and successes. After a few weeks of adjusting to a new timetable, classes, and expectations, the chaos that is the beginning of Term 1 is receding and we, as students, are gearing up for another busy (and quite likely disjointed) year at Kaipara College.
In early February, the Peer Support Program successfully inducted seven new Year 9 whanau classes to the school, with the return of all students on February 3rd for their timetabled classes. It has been a hectic few weeks for everyone, with students across all year levels settling back into the routine of full-time on-campus learning for the first time since August. Our school grounds are bustling with students again and the daily notices are full of upcoming events and opportunities.
Sport at Kaipara College is now underway with registrations open and tryouts being held for our badminton, basketball, netball, football, and hockey teams. The whole-school heptathlon being held on February 25th has, however, been cancelled and is now only open to competitive athletes due to current traffic light settings.
Our annual school swimming sports also took place on February 16th with Jasper Evans, Maya Duckworth, Paraone Ratima, Jade Sutherland, Harry Daniels, and Jessica Cameron placing 1st in their respective age divisions. Paraone also broke our school record for the 3 length freestyle race, which has been held since 1996.
Clubs, both new and pre existing, such as the Book Club, Student Council, and Duke of Edinburgh, are also welcoming new members. And for Valentines Day, the PSSP group were busy delivering chocolate roses to students around the school for whom they had been anonymously purchased, a tradition that has been at Kaipara College for a number of years.
Our Board of Trustees Student Representative elections are also taking place after being disrupted by lockdowns at the end of 2021, seeking to find an individual to represent our student body on Kaipara College’s Board of Trustees and to help nurture our school in a direction that meets the needs and expectations of their peers.
Towards the end of February, due to staffing shortages caused by isolation requirements, it was necessary for our senior students to complete distance learning on a rostered system in order to give remaining staff the ability to relieve existing classes. So it was back behind our computer screens at our home desks, completing work set for us on Google Classroom, feeling a strange sense of deja vu.
Disjointed or not, this school year will be a year of firsts and lasts for all of our students, and will undoubtedly bear witness to each student’s own trials and triumphs.
