7 December 2020

Newsletter Articles

Kia Ora

It was so great to see so many of you at the WPA Christmas Dinner on Friday night – always a great night with plenty of laughs!

This is the final Monday Mailing of 2020, so a short one from me today just to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Who knew that 2020 would be such a ride and that we would all be blindly leading schools through a global pandemic – surely 2021 can only get better!

Good luck for the craziness of the end of term 4!

Enjoy your well deserved break

Nga Mihi
Chrissy Wakeman
Orini Combined School

WPA Dates

A message from Marcus

Kia Ora Koutou

We’ve almost made it. For most of us we have only another 6 or 7 ‘get-ups’ and we can put 2020 behind us, in terms of school anyway. 2020 has been a year like no other but often adversity brings out the best in people. I think our WPA motto of ‘Principals supporting Principals’ has really been in evidence this year. There has been a real sense of comradery and people looking after their colleagues. Being a Principal can be a lonely job and there are always lots of people ready to ‘have a go’. It’s great to know that your colleagues are there to help and lend a ‘supportive ear’ when needed. Hopefully this will be positive, lasting legacy from COVID.

To those of you who are leaving the profession I wish you all the best and thank you for your contributions to the Waikato education community. Thanks Dianne for the invite to your farewell your ‘Mellvies’ did you proud and it was a beautiful assembly. It was also great to say another farewell to Tony Mangan at the NZEI Retiring Principals dinner. Tony reminded us that we going through some big changes and once again our Kaupapa of ‘Principals supporting Principals’ is important.

Thank you to everyone for your support of your association this year. An association is only as strong as its members and your support of the events and activities helps us thrive. Thank you to all our business partners. Remember when you are spending your 2021 budgets to give them a chance to quote and hopefully win your business. Finally thank you to our WPA exec team Geoff, Nathan, Leslie, Chrissy, Linda, Drew, Hamish and Sandra. You are an amazing team who have made 2020 successful despite all the challenges we have faced.

I hope everyone has an awesome summer break and I look forward to see you all at our first event in 2021.

Marcus Freke
President

Learning Lab

2021 Retreat

The 2021 Retreat will be held in Rotorua at the Millennium Hotel from the 18-19th of March, facilitated by Mark Osbourne. Lock these dates in your calendar!

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