Dear Parents, Caregivers and Children,

A very warm welcome back to Term 3. Over the school break I was fortunate to receive a decent dose of both culture and sport. Week One our son Flynn played in the Waikato Wide Gwynne Shield Tournament held at Hautapu Rugby Grounds. Each team played 10 games over 8 days. Needless to say their was plenty of rugby and Flynn along with his team mates got a real taste of having to manage themselves from sleep to nutrition. An excellent week, where new friendships were formed and an experience he will take with him for many years.

In addition to this we made the voyage up to Auckland to indulge ourselves in the Arts, watching both the Lion King Production and the Madagascar Musical (not on the same day). The Lion King as you may have experienced for yourself or heard from others, was exceptional. The thought and multi layered talent on display left you in awe. However, during the Madagascar Musical, Flynn, Harry and I got a lesson around patience and seeing something through to the finish. At half time all three of us wanted to stage left and head to Pokeno for an Ice Cream. Amy was simply not having it and we stayed to watch the second half. If you ever wanted to see two boys and a Dad with their bottom lips out, arms crossed, having a little sulk, this was it. Never the less, we are now better for it and it made our ice cream taste that little bit sweeter. 

The lesson I guess, is that patience, persistence, perspective can all look and take different forms and when exercising these behaviours there is not always a 'reward' at the end. Sometimes the reward is being given the opportunity to practise them and slowly (bit by bit), see them as a way of being. If we complement these three elements with effort and good judgement, we are on track to achieve some pretty special outcomes, whatever the line of sight is for you. 

Obviously, the Olympics is a current context for the above to be seen in action and our team are enjoying using this event as a theme in the classroom. As a school we are keeping a close eye on ex Puketaha kid, David Nyika as he strives for an Olympic medal. 

Finally, I know that many of you will be back into the logistics of after school activities and winter sports this week. Good luck to all involved. To the adults, I encourage you all to start any post game chat with your child or grandchild by saying "I really enjoyed watching you play today".

Warm Regards

Geoff