Star Board Term Three Week Seven

Principal's Message

Kia Ora Koutou

This newsletter’s theme are Feathers.

I am not long back from attending the netball tournament in Hawkes Bay and what a treat it was to be there to support our people. I could not be there for all participating St Matthew’s tournament teams, so I am incredibly grateful to the staff and volunteers who assumed that mantle. I got back and was exhausted and at no point did I take a court, run on a field, or hit a ball on a turf- so these players and their travelling entourage will be well tired. I said in the Ata Mārie this morning of our returning teams that ‘we congratulate you on your successes but celebrate the learning from your losses.’

Teacher Only Days ahead

I have already advertised one and alluded to another so here is confirmation. These TODs are all about feathering our knowledge banks and pluming up what we need to know and do for ourselves as staff and for our learners.

Last week I gave you a heads- up about a Board requested day for additional PLD (Professional Learning Development) for ALL staff at St Matthew’s on October 29th . Please note that this day will extend Labour Weekend for our school by one day meaning all students will return to normal instruction on Wednesday October 30th. Please also note that the other Trinity Schools have been informed.

The Board has to of course be certain that we are ensuring compliance around the number of days a school must be open for instruction. I have given you as our school community, notification of intended closure for instruction, and can assure you that the board can still meet the minimum number of half days required under the regulations for the 2024 school year.

The day on October 29 will be used to give further training to staff to support the success of the STAND programme. The day will focus on Restorative Practices training for staff which is all about: preventing and constructively addressing conflict and harmful behaviour, building community and maintaining healthy relationships, helping students take responsibility for their actions, teaching conflict resolution and emotional skills, and fostering empathy and strong relationships. On the evening of the 29th Parents and Caregivers will be invited to an event to understand the importance of STAND and Restorative Practices.

November 8 is the second government allocated date for a TOD (Teacher Only Day) NCEA refresh training. All Wairarapa Secondary schools will use this day for related professional learning so there will be no formal instruction on this day. The delivery of this TOD has been made more flexible so schools can use this day to cover structured literacy approaches.

A Pillow Full of Feathers

I read this story to year 10 this morning who were an attentive audience. I want to tell you as parents we have amazing young people and by the end of the story and my dialogue with them, their subsequent actions have been a demonstration that they get it. They get the danger of gossip. Behaviour is taught, and we are teaching them: to own mistakes, that life is not perfect, that gossip can create harm, and not to run from problems.

Here is the story; ‘In a small town somewhere in Ireland lived a nice lady with a nasty problem: she talked too much about other people. She could not help herself. Whenever she heard a story about somebody she knew, and sometimes about somebody she did not know, she just had to tell it to her friends.

Since she was in business, she heard quite a lot of rumours and stories. She loved the attention she got and was delighted when they laughed because of the way she told her “Anecdotes,” which she sometimes embellished with little details she invented to make them funnier and juicier. Other than that, she was really a pleasant, goodhearted lady.

She kind of knew it was wrong, but . . . it was too tempting, and in any case, most of what she told had really happened, didn’t it? Many of her stories were just innocent and entertaining, weren’t they?

One day she found out something really weird (but true) about another person in town. Of course, she felt compelled to share what she knew with her acquaintances, who told it to their friends, who told it to people they knew, who told it to their peers, who spoke with their friends and their neighbours. It went around town, till the unhappy person who was the main character in the story heard it. She ran to the preacher of the town, and wailed and complained that she was ruined! Nobody would like to deal with her after this; nobody wanted to be near her. Her good name and her reputation were gone with the wind.

Now this preacher knew the people, so to speak, and she decided to summon the young person who loved to tell stories. If she was not the one who started them, she might at least know who did.

When the nice lady with the nasty problem heard from the preacher how devastated this other person was, she felt truly sorry. She honestly had not considered it such a big deal to tell this story, because it was true; the preacher could check it out if she wanted. The preacher sighed.

“True, not true, that really makes no difference! You just cannot tell stories about people. This is all slander, and it’s like murder—you kill a person’s reputation.” She said a lot more, and the lady who started the rumour now felt really bad and sorry. “What can I do to make it undone?” she sobbed. “I will do anything you say!”

The preacher looked at her. “Do you have any feather pillows in your house?” “Preacher, I am not poor; I have a whole bunch of them. But what do you want me to do, sell them?”

“No, just bring me one.”

The young lady was mystified, but she returned a bit later to the preacher’s study with a nice fluffy pillow under her arm. The preacher opened the window and handed her a knife. “Cut it open!”

“But Preacher, here in your study? It will make a mess!”

“Do as I say!”

And the young woman cut the pillow. A cloud of feathers came out. They landed on the chairs and on the bookcase, on the clock, on the cat which jumped after them. They floated over the table and into the teacups, on the preacher and on the young woman with the knife, and a lot of them flew out of the window in a big swirling, whirling trail.

The preacher waited ten minutes. Then she ordered the young woman: “Now bring me back all the feathers, and stuff them back in your pillow. All of them, mind you. Not one may be missing!”

The young woman stared at the preacher in disbelief. “That is impossible, Preacher. The ones here is the room I might get, most of them, but the ones that flew out of the window are gone. Preacher, I can’t do that, you know it!”

“Yes,” said the preacher and nodded gravely, “that is how it is: once a rumour, a gossipy story, a ‘secret,’ leaves your mouth, you do not know where it ends up. It flies on the wings of the wind, and you can never get it back!”

She ordered the young woman to deeply apologize to the person about whom she had spread the rumour; that is difficult and painful, but it was the least she could do. She ordered her to apologize to the people to whom she had told the story, making them accomplices in the nasty slander game, and she ordered her to diligently study the laws concerning slander every day for a year, and then come back to her.

That is what the young woman did. And not only did she study about slander, she talked about the importance of guarding your tongue to all her friends and peers. And in the end, she became a nice young woman who overcame a nasty problem.

Tournament Anecdotes worth sharing and with a few feathers in our caps

I adore this school. I am in my eleventh year and still enjoying it. I could share some sob stories but it is the ‘great stuff’ that reminds me and us all about why we do what we do. Here are some season and tournament stories shared about how amazing our people are and what positivity looks like :

‘I have had a lot to do with football this season. It has been enjoyable being a part of this, and seeing the girls develop and enjoy themselves. Whether they are winning or losing, they all seem to be having fun and trying which has been great to see.’

‘We can keep the legacy going of being a top hockey school (we remain in Fed Cup). More importantly our girls have had everything go against them (as tournaments do) from disallowed goals, cards against them which shouldn't have been and injury. They have got up sometimes twice a day to keep going and that resilience is what we can be most proud of. It has been an absolute emotional rollercoaster and brought me to tears at times but it has shown me how much their school means to them so we should be proud of them all. One of my lasting memories will be the Year 13s in the team sitting in a circle crying on Tuesday morning as they thought they were letting the school down and then seeing them draw against Westlake the third ranked team in NZ that night who rocked up with entourage equivalent to the All Blacks.... We will all enjoy the reflected glory’

‘The netball team played against PNGHS and they were an incredibly slick opposition. What stood out was not the score against us. It was the SMCS hugging circle and the value they placed on each other as team members. Win or lose they were there together’

‘It is great that the 2nds got to be in tournament week; that’s what development can look like’

Kahu Huruhuru

At a recent Assembly, Kahu Huruhuru (Feather Cloaks) were presented to: Head of Batten, Head of Cooper, Head of Sheppard, Head of Wake, Head of Academia St Matthew’s, Head of Culture St Matthew’s, Deputy Head Boy Day Students Rathkeale, Deputy Head Girl St Matthew’s, and Head Boy Rathkeale.

The Kahu Huruhuru or Māori Cloak holds immense cultural value for the Māori and people of Aotearoa. It is worn as a mantle of prestige and honour, symbolising leadership and embodying the obligations of leadership within the community. The name "Kahu Huruhuru" itself carries the weight of this significance. It is not just a piece of clothing; it represents the respect, authority, and mana (spiritual power) associated with leadership in society.

The Kahu Huruhuru is a taonga (treasure) that embodies their heritage. Each Kahu Huruhuru is meticulously crafted, with intricate patterns and designs to tell a story. Additionally, Kahu Huruhuru hold significant cultural importance in rituals and special occasions. It is often worn during important ceremonies, such as weddings, funerals, and celebrations.

What made this particularly special was that the makers were sisters of recipients and members of Houses presented. These Kahu Huruhuru along with already presented Korowai, now our school’s taonga, will be worn with honour for years to come.