Kia ora e te whānau,

Very quickly we have arrived at Term 4 amidst a year of change that has impacted on staff around curriculum assessment and NCEA.  While I am aware that the upcoming industrial action will impact on you, there seems no other way for the PPTA members to move forward on their salaries and conditions claim that is currently under negotiation.  Our current Minister of Education has openly applauded teachers across Aotearoa for the efforts that they have made to implement curriculum change, but clearly a 1% wage increase does not reflect that sentiment.  Having a highly trained and motivated education workforce is critical to any country's future but, sadly, we are now seeing many of our teachers moving offshore to gain better salaries and conditions of employment.  Please be patient with this process as I can assure you staff at the College and across the country do not like impacting on the learning of the students they value so highly.

Despite all of this we still have lots to celebrate as life at the College continues.  We have recently had three students attending Outward Bound short courses and they have all returned with glowing reviews around their time at Anakiwa with particular focus on personal growth and leadership.

It is timely that I now am able to invite you all to celebrate our students' successes, commencing with the Sports Prizegiving which will take place on Wednesday 22nd October, followed by our Senior Prizegiving on Thursday 30 October, both at 7.00pm.  I look forward to seeing whānau at these events, which are always a major highlight in my calendar.

We are also expecting a visit from the Education Review Office during Week 4.  Despite this being the last week of term for our Seniors and the national testing week for our Year 7&8 students, I am certain that we will be able to show the team what an exciting and vibrant place the College is for our students.  I look forward to sharing their report with you in the future.

 Ngā mihi nui,

Andy Fraser