New Appointments
We warmly welcome Ben Winders and Danique McRae to our staff and school community. Ben, of course, is already part of our school community.
Ben is a very experienced teacher having
taught in England, Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands
and New Zealand.
He is a practising
Catholic and has a Masters degree in Religious Education. He is both a primary and a secondary teacher, having
taught at high school level at Verdon College and Waimate High School over the
past seven years. Ben has a farming background and has particular strengths
in agriculture, performing arts, music and Education Outside the
Classroom. He is a former Central
Southland rugby player.
Ben is married to Nicola Winders and his daughter, Anika, is in year 7. His son
is a Special Character leader at St Kevin’s and he has a son at Otago University and his eldest son has just graduated from Waikato
University.
Danique has seven years teaching
experience teaching at all levels of the school. She is also a practising Catholic and is presently
the new entrant teacher and Director of Religious of Studies at St Joseph’s
School in Balclutha. She is moving to
Oamaru with her husband, Mitch who is going to work for Sport Waitaki. Danique is a very effective teacher. She was also a competitive ballroom and Latin
American dancer for 13 years.
I would also like to congratulate Sara
Jones-Hogan who is our new Assistant Principal, and Leanne Brookes who is our new
Director of Religious Studies (along with Nicola Winders). Leanne has also been appointed permanently to
the role of Junior School Syndicate Leader - a role she has been doing very ably this year.
Lena Klenner is going to job-share with Morgan Tangney. She has been working across the junior school this year. We are lucky to have Lena, who is an experienced and knowledgeable practitioner with a wealth and depth of experience. She also has a lovely, positive way with the children and runs a structured and interesting classroom program.
We have also appointed our within-school
Community of Learning Teacher who is Nicola Winders.
We have one more appointment to make which
should be finalised by early week 8 and I have good reason to feel very
positive about this appointment.
Staffing for 2018
NE - Y r2 – Leanne Brookes (DRS, Junior
Syndicate Leader)
NE - Yr 2 – Tua Misiloi (Pasifika
Coordinator)
Yr 2-3 – Morgan Tangney (Across School
Community of Learning Teacher) and
Lena Klenner
Yr 2-3 – Danique McRae
Yr 4-5 – Nicola Winders (Deputy Principal,
co-DRS, COL within school teacher)
Yr 5-6 – To be confirmed
Yr 7 – Ben Winders
Yr 8 – Sara Jones-Hogan (Assistant
Principal, Special Education Needs Coordinator)
We are aware we have a large year 7
class. Please trust me that we will accommodate
this class very well. We have an
excellent combination of teaching skills and talent in Intermediate and all
children will benefit from the skills and enthusiasm of both teachers. Our prime aim is a broad, interesting and
relevant curriculum with a continuing focus on maximising achievement in
literacy and numeracy, extending able learners and providing extra support
where needed. We are particularly hoping to embrace STEAM in 2018 which is the combined focus of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Design and Maths in an integrated curriculum.
Welcome
Mass
Thank you to all our families who came to
the Welcome Mass on Sunday - it was very special.
End
of Year Reminders
Please bookmark our end of year
prize-giving mass on Thursday 14th December. It would be lovely to share this end of year
farewell with the whole community. The
juniors will be performing their Nativity pageant. The new Just Like Jesus awards will be
presented to the most outstanding role model in each year group. Plus of course the year 8 prizes and
farewell. To make it manageable to our younger students, we have
cut all the speeches. The head boy and
head girl speeches will be at our final assembly at 2.00 pm on Friday 15th
December.
God
Bless and Aroha,
Lorraine
Frances-Rees
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