Thank you Middle Years Team

A mosaic is a creation of colour shape and endless possibilities. Well, the 11 months of landing the Middle Years of Elim Christian College has been just that! So with a washing machine of thoughts and a heart full of thankfulness, here is my unstructured poem and prose.

Compressed and stretched we have been

Concerned comments we have seen.

Exams saw new schedules, venues and serious conversations 

Finding our feet and scrambling out from under the proverbial TERM 4 bus of difficulty was made easier with willing hands and hearts keen to serve.

At Elim Christian College the fragrance of Christ lingers long after those who serve are applauded. 

Dare I list all those who have contributed to a bumper term in the Middle Years program?

Like the words in the song ‘I want to be a nobody who makes somebody encourage everybody...’ 

Yes I will...

Jeanne and Robyn your organization for SAC’s of Y9/10 exams. 

Christine Earl your measured reassurance has built our confidence that we are doing our very best to ensure each youngster learns well, learns collaboratively or learns differently. 

Yvette your attention to detail and direction at meetings keep us thinking deeply about our systems. Your capacity to listen is phenomenal.  There is something so reassuring when someone listens long enough to make you feel like you have been heard. That you are known. 

Andrew your determined and tunneled focus to deliver on the mandate of getting the Middle Years curriculum online has been a mammoth task that also included those 4 Eduflow workshops which were well attended by staff. Well done. The foundation is set. Great progress has been made. Thank you for being the curriculum coach especially when you just didn't feel like it anymore. 

Rachel your determination to grow a love for research, books, and the modern library is emerging.  

Jeanne and Steve a delayed welcome home from me and a massive thank you for taking and returning the Japan team. And showing up on Monday!!!! You have grown our community in a marvelous way. Thank you also for the brilliant online traveling journal. 

Thank you Janelle for superbly executing the reporting process. Thank you for beavering away at the Prizegiving certificates Never before have I felt to say this, ‘so many have contributed so much to a system that remains to me mysteriously demanding’.  But that’s KAMAR and you’ve conquered the ‘mountain’.  Well done to our amazing Whanua team for proofing and guiding the checking process. The reports were issued on the due date! 

Alicia you have been a faithful patient teacher. Even when you wanted to pull your hair out you didn’t scream at this ‘teenager’. Thank you for keeping the umbilical cord between BC and GC healthy! 

Angela and Neetha its been a joy to get to know you more and have such in-depth discussions about curriculum overlaps and gaps!  Thank you for welcoming me into "the office". 

Thank you Glynis for the 2020 timetable showdown, you are winning. It’s clearly not a sprint race but an ultra-distance marathon for sure. The layered complexity of more than 70 staff across 3 campuses and 50 subject or options slots woven into 30 lines for 5 days makes me need more coffee. This excludes JY. Clearly, maths is not my strongest skill! I used to play battleships with my father and after 3 hours could just never win. He always had more yellow coordinate pins on the board and would say "go deep and wide but watch your blind spots." MEH! 

The loudest thank you goes to the team of contributors who made our inaugural Middle Years  Prizegiving a wonderful event! 

I was beaming the whole night because my beloved hubby Grant sat through the entire evening. His relentless support this year has helped keep me focussed on the job I chose to take on.  

Lydie and Christina the support for the Kapa Haka team worked so well. 

Angela thank you for buffing our trophies, Jackie and Lyn thank you for the arranging, sorting and carefully managing that trophy table. Lyn good call to ditch the flowers there was no space and the staging looked lovely. Jackie next year we won’t make you sit so close to the drum zone! Lol.

Suzi, Andre, Chermayne, Tody and Lydie there was no task too big for you. Suzi and Andre should you ever have some spare time, you should take up an event management course. Just like I did. Totally relevant at this stage of the year. 

Lydie that dance item at the end was breathtaking. I loved it! Thank you for believing in the girls and supporting them even as one pulled out. Ooh I’d love to see more of that gracious expression of worship at our school.

Karen and Yung the musical items were on pointè. How delightful are our students? Their talent is so impressive. Karen, I applaud you for blending what you’ve done before, listening to Lydie and Yung and then figuring out how to change keys to blend the ensemble into the National anthem.  

Congratulations to Yung for the relentless support of all our young musicians. You really call the best out of their growing potential. 

Thank you also Nathan for the organization of the worship team, June Kang for the tireless way you served our event by getting the sound desk well supported. You are always just there for us. You are amazing.

Annami the staging of the student ART was so effective. Your idea for the Year 10 mural worked so well. It's impressive! Thank you for coming back. You are fabulous.  

I have once again enjoyed the delight of teamwork, the enthusiasm of ideas and commitment to making this Middle Years journey the very best for our youngsters. 

Thank you to Wendy for passing me the ‘ baby’ while she had her own handsome one. 

Raewyn you are my unofficial professional mentor. You have a knack for flipping my grumbling into a ‘what next conversation’, I so appreciate the ongoing affirmative coaching and the seriously lame jokes we laugh at. 

Mark Naidoo for popping over to GC at the drop of a hat when the experienced male voice was needed and being our assembly guest. Gary thank you for the measured assurance that there is always a solution to the daily grind.  I just didn’t feel like the leader I wanted to be because I simply had no answers for the bombardment of questions about AP goals, budgets, parent expectations, learning stanines, relief teacher requests and meeting clashes that came my way... along with the strategic WSL waltz to ensure my Inquiry was being effectively shaped. 

Lastly to Murray. Sir you are something else. Thank you for the dynamic way you steer Elim Christain College education. As John Maxwell states in his book Leadershift. You lead from the front, from behind and every so often effectively from either side. Your intimidating questions when I interviewed for the role made me wonder if I really could switch codes successfully. Could I leave my confident Y12/13 English ego and cross-code to pursue the Middle Years (exhausting) program? 

Could I overcome moments of loneliness at the feelings of loss of colleagues and BC friendships? Would I be able to use the leadership training and systems that have been invested and pressed into me? Could I honestly make a difference? The tenure as Middle Years assistant to Middle Years lead happened so quickly! 

Thank you Murray, for carrying a vision and enabling me to be a small part of its emergence.