As this issue of Piper Online goes ‘live’, the Term 1 school holidays will be coming to close. Easter and ANZAC day celebrations in April are of course times for reflection on significant events in our shared history. They both represent sacrifice and a time to consider how grateful we are for actions taken by those that have come before us. As a community, built on Presbyterian foundations and a strong values system, we will no doubt have paused and shown gratitude on these remarkable events that have in part defined our history.
Gratitude is something we have in abundance at Saint Kentigern. We are grateful to the Macky family for their vision, which proved instrumental in the foundation of the Shore Road campus. We were privileged to have members of the family to help open the Senior School block at our Shore Road campus recently.
Their attendance and the recognition of their contribution is an illustration of the three principles that will guide our decision making as we bring our updated Saint Kentigern strategy to life; our Presbyterian Faith, our Saint Kentigern Values and our responsibility as Stewards of Saint Kentigern for future generations. The Macky family exhibited these principles in the actions that they took on our behalf all those years ago.
As we are nearing completion of our new Saint Kentigern Girls School in Term 2 2022 and the expected completion of the Saint Kentigern Preschool in Term 1 2023, the Trust Board has now turned its attention to finalising plans for the Pakuranga Campus. These updated plans have put our students and their learning front and centre, and we are reviewing the way in which our Faith, our Values and our Stewardship role will be reflected in the physical design and flow for the Campus.
We are confident that we will have a plan that will minimise the impact on our College throughout the construction period and ultimately will create a campus that we will be proud of for generations to come. We expect to finalise our plans for the Pakuranga Campus by the middle of 2022, with funds already available to commence construction as soon as possible.
After a difficult and disruptive first term of 2022, I wanted to close with an expression of the Board’s gratitude to our community, including our students, families and staff, for the way in which you continue to show support in so many ways for Saint Kentigern. I am proud of our dedicated team that has continued to show resilience, pragmatism and empathy as they deliver on the educational and broader expectations that we all have for Saint Kentigern.
The Trust Board and this Community have much to be optimistic about for our future, including a number of exciting strategic initiatives underway. I look forward to meeting and talking with as many of you as possible over the coming months as together we continue the journey that is Saint Kentigern.
Fides Servanda Est
Mr Mark Conelly
Trust Board Chair