St Andrew's College

Welcome back to St Andrew's College for 2012. Term 1 is always a very busy one on the school calendar and 2012 will be no exception, with a number of important school events. An exciting celebratory event will be the Official Opening of the New Preparatory School by His Excellency Lieutenant General The Right Honourable Sir Jerry Mateparae, Governor-General of New Zealand, on Thursday 23 February.

I am sure all students will be returning to school with a sense of anticipation for all the opportunities that lie ahead. All students will be encouraged and supported in turning this enthusiasm into goals and actions that will enable them to enjoy a successful year in 2012 and continue to make a positive contribution to our College.

Campus Development
Once again, St Andrew’s College has been a busy place over the holiday break, particularly on the construction front.  Builders have continued the strengthening of Rutherford House to enable Years 9 and 10 boy boarders to be back on campus from the time school resumes. Work continues on the two new boarding houses, scheduled for completion by the end of this year.  Work has begun on the renovation of Strowan House and there were a number of other strengthening projects undertaken in the holiday break.  We feel very grateful that all our classrooms are operational and declared strong and safe by our engineers.  The campus has been inspected over the holiday break after each aftershock over a magnitude 5, and no further damage or weakening has been observed.

NCEA Results
This time of year always brings enthusiastic analysis of our College NCEA results and, with our focus on excellence, it is very heartening to report that at Levels 1, 2 and 3 the numbers of students gaining Excellence endorsements have once again exceeded our targets.  Excellence endorsements are not easy to attain so congratulations to all students who did so. Preliminary results indicate that at St Andrew’s 24 students achieved Excellence endorsements at Level 3, 32 at Level 2 and 46 at Level 1.  This is a significant increase on previous years and well above national percentages. Students who gained Excellence endorsements at all Levels are recognised in this newsletter and Level 3 students will be invited back to our academic assembly on 17 February to receive the Board of Governors Excellence scholarship. Overall NCEA results are also very pleasing, with 99.5% gaining Level 1, 96.7% Level 2 and 96.7% Level 3.  These results are also an improvement on previous years.

Strategic/Annual Planning
A set of Whole School Goals for 2012 under the strategic dimensions of Values and Culture, Teaching and Learning, Leadership and Governance, and Resources and Environment has been prepared by the Rector and Executive. These goals coupled with further reviews and a number of leadership and teaching and learning initiatives focusing on continuous school improvement will ensure that 2012 is also looking to be a very busy and challenging year for us all.

The Teaching and Learning Goals are the continuation of school-wide projects that are already underway and it is heartening that improving levels of student achievement indicate that these deliberate strategies for teaching and learning are having positive effects.

Term 1 is always a very busy one on the school calendar and 2012 will be no exception, with a number of important school events.  An exciting celebratory event will be the Official Opening of the New Preparatory School by His Excellency Lieutenant General The Right Honourable Sir Jerry Mateparae, Governor-General of New Zealand, on Thursday 23 February.

I am sure all students will be returning to school with a sense of anticipation for all the opportunities that lie ahead.  All students will be encouraged and supported in turning this enthusiasm into goals and actions that will enable them to enjoy a successful year in 2012 and continue to make a positive contribution to our College.

Christine Leighton
Rector

February 2012