WELCOME BACK 2020!

After a summer break that we hope was filled with joy as well as plenty of sunshine, it is with great pleasure that we welcome back our Saint Kentigern families to the new academic year, with a special welcome to the families joining us for the first time. We hope you have all had a most relaxing break and are looking forward to the year ahead!

We are pleased that each of our schools is starting the year with a very positive roll and all teaching vacancies have been filled with some fantastic new additions to our staff on each campus. With many schools around the country reporting they are starting the year short-staffed, we are delighted to have attracted such a high calibre of new teachers.

There was a mix of excited chatter and, for some, a little first day nerves, as the Middle School  students gathered to get their first term underway today. Senior School will follow tomorrow with the Boys’ School and Girls’ School returning at the start of next week. The preschoolers are already well-settled and busily engaged in their learning programmes, having returned to Preschool earlier in January.

The first of our new College students to arrive looked smart in their new uniforms as they mentally prepared for their first day at a new school; their arms full of new schoolbags, boxes of new stationery, laptops and new lunch boxes!

This is a year of firsts not only for our students but also staff at the College as we await the arrival of the new College Principal, Mr Russell Brooke, who will be joining us at the start of March. In the interim, Head of Saint Kentigern, Mr David Hodge welcomed the students this morning saying, ‘What an amazing group of young people we have been blessed with! Here at Saint Kentigern you are blessed with a very special opportunity to get an outstanding education while developing as a very special person with a wide range of skills. You are at one of the best schools in the world and you need to make the most of it. So, get organised. Grab every opportunity that comes your way. Take a risk, reach out and stretch yourselves.  Walk around with your eyes open, listen and learn, ask questions. Find out what is on and then get involved. Remember you do not have to be great to start, but to be great you need to make a start. Your journey starts now, your greatness starts now.’

Our staff fully understand the significant commitment many families make to provide their children with the excellence of a Saint Kentigern education. We know the importance of working together with parents to ensure that each boy and girl makes the most of their time at school, taking every advantage that comes their way. A big part of this is encouraging each student to take a full part in school life - engagement in the classroom, enjoyment of a number of co-curricular activities and full participation in the special character of Saint Kentigern, particularly around Chapel life and service to the community.

These early days are sometimes a time of nervousness, as new students settle into their classrooms and tutor groups, establish new routines, reconnect with old friends and discover new friendships. It is often an equally nervous time for the parents! If the sound of happy chatter and laughter during interval is a measure, then be assured, the new school year is happily underway!

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