Kia ora e te whaanau o te kura tuarua o Te Oko Horoi,
Dear parents / caregivers of Cambridge High School,
This is my last week as Principal at Cambridge High School and I wanted to take the opportunity to say thank you to our staff and the community. It has been a privilege to work with people who are passionate about the high-quality learning environment that CHS offers our community. In the farewells this week we re-visited experiences from my seven years in the role, and it was incredible to reflect on how much of a positive impact we have on people here. This role has the potential to make a real difference, creating an environment which supports and extends others so they can be at their best. In one example, my recollections of the COVID time are not facemask mandates or the torture of contact tracing teenagers. My memories are, instead, of the ways we helped people make it through an incredibly uncertain time, going the extra distance to care for people, ensuring students continued to experience as many normal experiences as possible, receiving the learning they needed to have the best options open to them on graduation.
I have been thinking a lot about the student experience at CHS and opportunities that exist to grow as people, explore their potential, finding new interests and making friends. We have strengthened the sense of belonging and connection to the school and we see this through increased student involvement in leadership, high rates of extra-curricular involvement and performance and strong engagement in class. There is such a high calibre of students in our community that it is a humbling experience to be in the audience or at sports venue and I often find myself in awe at what a teenager can achieve in the right conditions. There are also many students who work hard to make improvements across their time at CHS. They may not cross the stage or receive the top accolades, but they leave CHS in a stronger place than when they joined, having successfully navigated their teenage years and with the capacity to continue learning in their work or studies. This is a privileged role, and I have enjoyed seeing the full range of student success made possible by the support and expertise of our staff and the community.
There has also been a personal aspect to this role for me. I want to acknowledge the people who have supported me and my family as we found our feet in the town, adjusting to life in NZ after living in Hong Kong. Cambridge has had a large impact on us, and we will take wonderful memories of the people and our time here. I would especially like to acknowledge those that have deepened my understanding and appreciation of Te Ao Maaori. Thank you to the whaanau from Ngaati Korokii Kahukura, especially Karaitiana Tamatea, Harry Wilson and Poto Davis and the Ngaa Poutiaki whaanau. And a special thank you to Mahaki Corbett for your help with tikanga and your training (and patience) with my reo. Thank you to my senior leadership team and the middle leaders at CHS. I leave CHS in very capable hands and want to thank my team for their support over the years as we have continued to explore improvements and greater meet the needs of students in our community. Our leaders do a fantastic job balancing the needs of students now, while maintaining an eye on the future and the importance of the work that we are doing today to prepare for ongoing success.
I am fortunate to work with outstanding educators who care about the school purpose – “CHS empowers every student to grow, realising their potential in an inspiring and supportive learning environment.” The informal feedback at the conclusion of the Education Review Office (ERO) visit earlier this term was incredibly positive about the learning environment and the school’s identification of, and deliberate focus on, areas for further improvement. On top of this review, we recently analysed our performance against the strategic targets for 2025. I am pleased to share this with you today as it highlights just what ERO observed. We have deliberately targeted areas to strengthen and this has improved outcomes for students in the school.
I also want to take this opportunity to share with you the strategic plan for 2026 – 2030 (this is included in the above link). Thank you for your input into this plan. The feedback of staff, students and the community enabled us to focus the priorities for our school as we navigate the changes over the coming years. With so much that is going on in education, this plan does a great job of simplifying our areas of focus.
The following is a summary of the key changes to the plan:
The front page has been changed to have a singular purpose and also highlight the importance of upholding Te Tiriti at CHS.
We reduced the areas of importance to four – Excellence in Learning, Excellence in Teaching, Opportunity rich learning environment, Infrastructure and Resourcing.
Within each area there are enduring themes that we expect to remain constant over the five years of the plan.
Underneath this are the actions that will help us realise this each year and the italics indicate the measures that help us know when have succeeded.
Thank you once again. I will follow with interest the ongoing developments and success of the students of Cambridge High School.
Ngaa mihi nui
Greg Thornton
Principal
