Mrs Mortimer's reflections at Grey High/Māwhera

  https://nzeals.org.nz/ll-article/leaders-in-action-2/ Tēnā koutou katoa Ko Mortimer toku whānau Ko Samantha toku ingoa I am Samantha Mortimer, a first-time principal at Greymouth High School , and I've been a member of NZEALS for a number of years. In this short article I am going to outline the process of applying for my principal position, the interview process and my first term. In 2020 when both of our daughters were planning to leave home, one to university and one on Rotary Exchange, I began to seriously look for a principal position outside of our area in the Waikato. I wanted to go to a school which aligned with my values; somewhere who welcomed and was successful for all rangatahi in the community and where equity and excellence went hand in hand. This school was Greymouth High School. The ad in the Gazette called to me as I believed that I could match what the school was looking for. I was impressed in the advert by their honesty about Greymouth having had challenges in...

I was very lucky that that board invited me to the NZSTA conference in Rotorua this year. I haven't attended one of these conferences before so I was looking forward to finding out about it! There were 6 of us who came from Greymouth High School and a number of us from the Coast. You can have a look at the programme below. https://www.nzstaconference.co.nz/ There were about 1000 people there so a big conference. There were boards from all over the country including the Stewart Islands which was pretty cool. We started on Friday morning with an amazing pōwhiri. The group who welcomed us were so talented - I could watched them for hours. My wairua was full and we all had tears in our eyes. There were a number of guest speakers and I especially enjoyed and was challenged by Karl Vasau - Principal, Rowendale Primary School, Manurewa and Kathryn Berkett - Educational Psychologist. http://www.engagetraining.co.nz/ The rest of the conference was a lot of learning - especially abo...

Tēnā koutou katoa Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou Starting with our NCEA celebrations assembly. We had fantastic results for our school in 2020 - they were amazing! We are very proud of everyone who received Excellence and Merit results in 2020, especially in such a challenging year. These students epitomise our school motto - “Whāea te iti kahurangi - strive for success.” They have put in the hard yards - ka pai! On Friday evening I went to the Open Mic night at the Nest, 34 Tainui Street. The Nest is managed by Bronte Roper and is a community creative space. I got to see a few performers From Grey High and I was very impressed. There is a lot of creative talent here at Grey High. Thanks so much to our Head of Arts Marty McDonald for supporting this venture and Arts at our school. On Wednesday night I am going to the MSA’s (Military Service Academy) parents information evening. I am very much looking forward to meeting the parents, spending more time with these students, and hearing about t...

Tēnā koutou katoa Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou I hope that everyone had a great Easter break and found some opportunities to relax! We are heading towards the end of the first term and our senior students should all be well into their NCEA journey for 2021. Please talk to your children about how they are doing and how we can all work together for their success. Students need to be at school every day unless they are unwell, as attendance is really important and we thank you for encouraging your child or children to get to school. If you would like some support with this please contact the office and the relevant person will get back to you to assist you. Our PB4L team is working with our students to ensure everyone is in class and on time. A heads up that on Friday 9th April there is an Open Mic Night @ The Nest from 8-10. It is open to student aged performers and we are hoping to see lots of interesting acts. Remember, if you are interested in joining the PTA they are meeting on Wednesda...

Tēnā koutou katoa Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou Thank you to everyone who attended our junior parents evening on Thursday night. It was great to see so many of you there and meet a number of you too. Thanks to everyone who came up and introduced themselves to me. If you were not able to make the evening or still need to talk to one of our staff members please call the school office to make appointments. Community is one of our school values and on Saturday morning I went to the Westland Recreation Centre to watch the netball grading. It is a great example of our students and staff building strong, positive relationships in our community by working hard on the courts as well as coaching and managing teams. I know how much dedication and hard work coaching and managing teams takes, so thanks to all of you out there - staff, students and parents! On Saturday night I got to experience a real sense of belonging when I was fortunate enough to be invited to a Passover meal which was a really fun ...

Tēnā koutou katoa Nga mihi nui ki a koutou It was a busy week at Grey High last week. We are well into the swing of it and everyone should be settled into routines. Akoranga is an important value at our school and all of our teachers are working hard with our students to ensure that they are making progress across their subjects. Our senior students should be focusing on NCEA and their career pathways. Our junior students have their first family meeting on Thursday and this is a great opportunity for us to work together to ensure our 9s and 10s are realising their potential. Still in terms of akoranga, I would like to remind you about the Akoranga Learning Hub which you can find on our website. Again, this is a great way for you to know what your young people are doing in class! Learning can happen anywhere and this is one of the reasons why we support experiences outside the classroom. Our year 12 Biology class visited the shore line at Punakaiki on Monday as part of their “Rocky Sh...

Tēnā koutou katoa Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou We were all hit pretty hard by the news of Simon Norris who passed away in a traffic accident. Whenever anything happens like this I always want to hug my own children close and be grateful that they are safe. The funeral was a sad but beautiful time and I was so proud of our students who came to say goodbye and our kapa haka group who did an amazing job. Ciaran Tangney and Jana Roos spoke beautifully for our school and really captured the essence of what Simon was like as a young man. I can only say again that our thoughts are with Simon’s family and offer support where needed to them and our community. The arch deacon who was co-ordinating the service talked about us acknowledging the loss and the grief and also celebrating Simon’s life and the contribution he made to his family, friends and our school which we have done on a page in this newsletter. He also talked about moving on and continuing with our lives; not forgetting Simon but carry...

Tēnā koutou katoa Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou As I started writing this newsletter during the weekend I didn’t have to factor in any mention of COVID 19. However, now I do! Thank you to everyone who is supporting us at Grey High in keeping all of our rangatahi, whānau and community safe. We will update you as soon as we hear any news. It’s a good reminder to ask everyone to join our Facebook page and download the free school app - Go to the App Store on your Apple or Android device and Search "SchoolAppsNZ' then Search Greymouth High - and when you do, check then regularly. Life in Level 2 does for the most part continue as usual, obviously making sure we follow the Guidelines set by the Government. So back to talking about other things. Last week at Greymouth High School was a full and fun one. Our first congratulations is to our Greymouth High School representatives who competed in the Coast to Coast last week. Callum Brown completed the Mountain Run with an amazing time of 4 ...

Tēnā koutou katoa Nga mihi nui ki a koutou As we all know we are back at Level 2. We are so fortunate to be here in the West Coast! This week has been a good week in terms of “getting things done” at school but we are looking forward to week 6 and being back at Level 1. Thank you again for all your support with our young people and making sure that we all behave in responsible ways to keep us all safe. I am now reflecting on last week and the great things that happened since our last newsletter. On Thursday we held our first of the year whānau hui for all Ngā Here Kahikatea rangatahi. The whare was full to the brink! It was a fantastic experience and I was so proud of all the rangatahi and the progress they have made. A massive thank you to Kylie, Joe, Gordie and the other kaiako who are making this work well for our rangatahi. Also ka pai to those who made the kai! There are many exciting things happening in Ngā Here Kahikatea including a planned hangi and te reo classes on a Saturda...

Tēnā koutou katoa Nga mihi nui ki a koutou As I started writing this newsletter during the weekend I didn’t have to factor in any mention of COVID 19. However, now I do! Thank you to everyone who is supporting us at Grey High in keeping all of our rangatahi, whānau and community safe. We will update you as soon as we hear any news. It’s a good reminder to ask everyone to join our Facebook page and download the free school app - Go to the App Store on your Apple or Android device and Search "SchoolAppsNZ' then Search Greymouth High - and when you do, check then regularly. Life in Level 2 does for the most part continue as usual, obviously making sure we follow the Guidelines set by the Government. So back to talking about other things. Last week at Greymouth High School was a full and fun one. Our first congratulations is to our Greymouth High School representatives who competed in the Coast to Coast last week. Callum Brown completed the Mountain Run with an amazing time of 4 ...

Waitangi Day at Arahura Marae — Mrs Sam Mortimer, Ms Aleta Chowfin and Mr Deane Milne (back row) Mr Bernard Adams and Ms Ann Kieran (front row) Tēnā koutou katoa Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa What another beautiful week on the Coast! The weather and the people have all been fantastically welcoming! Thank you to everyone who has introduced themselves to me and said hello! Some of you may have seen the article in the Grey Star about my first couple of weeks or so being “crazy busy”? Well that has been true! This term my goal is to meet with all of our teaching staff individually to really try to get to know them and find out what they are most proud of in terms of Grey High and what they are working on this year in terms of quality teaching for our students. It is heartening to talk to our teachers and attend meetings where there is real excitement around creating a fantastic learning environment for all of our rangatahi. Last week we put on a morning tea for our teacher aides, Annette...

Samantha and her family in Franz Josef — Sam with her daughter Iona, husband Paul and daughter Yolanda by Sam Mortimer Tēnā koutou katoa Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa It is my pleasure to write this first article as Principal of Greymouth High School. I hope that all of you managed to have fun and find some time to relax over the Christmas break. As I was appointed in early December I spent a lot of December organising my handover to various members of staff from my previous school, Te Aroha College. I also spent some time talking with Andy England and other members of the Senior Leadership team trying to ensure a smooth handover. In January myself and my family spent two weeks touring around the South Island. We even managed to come to Greymouth where I met up with some of my new colleagues, spent an hour or so at Grey High and an hour with Andy as he packed. We had fabulous weather on our trip around, including while we were in Greymouth, and we were told by many West Coasters that...

I have to begin this reflection with my two weeks in the South Island on holiday with my family. I was so lucky to spend three of these days in Greymouth where on the Friday I got to meet up with some colleagues for a drink and on the Monday went into school and met up with some others. I also managed to spend about 45 minutes with Andy which was excellent. I was so warmly welcomed - it was great! We also did some tourist things but not too much as there will be plenty of time for that. After our South Island holiday I went back to the Waikato and was in Te Aroha for three nights. Then I packed up on Friday 22nd January and I travelled to Greymouth via Christchurch and Hokitika airports. I spent the weekend in Greymouth where I managed to get into school and have a good look around and try to get my feet under the table just a little bit. On the Sunday I was visited by friends, whom I hadn’t seen for quite a while, who were on holiday in the South Island and happened to be near Grey...