The graduation dinner is always one of our favourite events. It is a time when we step back and marvel at how much our year 6 ākonga have grown and matured, and how truly fabulous each one of them is. Very sadly, we are curtailed by Covid restrictions this year, meaning we are unable to extend our usual hospitality to you all and invite you to come and be part of this event at this school.
We will still be holding our graduation dinner for our leavers, but the event will look quite different because only our year 6 ākonga and our staff can attend, unfortunately. In order to try and make the most of this and still make it a special night for our tamariki, will have made some changes to the event. Below is an overview of the evening.
- 4:30pm Arrive at school feeling fresh and ready for an evening of celebration
- 4:40pm Bus leaves for Awesome Bounce in Porirua (private charter bus and private hire event at Awesome Bounce - no members of the public will be there)
- 5:15 - 6:15pm Jumping and climbing craziness at Awesome Bounce. Teachers accompanying the group will be Andy, Onaitta, Gar Kee, Kalesha, Demelza, Urs. All other staff will stay behind and prep the dinner and the hall - thanks to you all!
- 6:30 Return to school on bus
- 7pm - 7:30pm Dinner and dessert
- 7:40pm - 8:15pm Sharing speeches in small graduation groups. Replies from Pōhutukawa teachers and gifting of taonga. This section of the evening will be privately live streamed and recorded.
- 8:15pm Final speech and waiata (song) in hall, accompanied no doubt by light snacking.
- 8:30pm Pick up your tired and happy tamariki from outside the school hall
We are really sorry that whānau will not be able to be part of this evening. It has always been very much a family event in past years, and that is the way we would always look to run it. However, we hope that the event will still be a happy and memorable one for our ākonga, and whānau will still be able to watch the speeches, which are by far the highlight of the evening for us. All other staff will also be part of this evening in different ways. Rachel and Michelle will also be joining the event to help farewell our special bunch of students.
We also appreciate that for some families, this will be the end of your association with Amesbury School. We are particularly sorry not to be able to spend time with you as part of this evening, and we very much hope we are able to catch up with you in some way before the end of the school year.
There is no cost accompanying this event - the graduation evening is our school gift to our leaving students. We do ask that you please fill in this very short RSVP form by Friday Nov 26th so that we can adequately plan and prep.
If you have any questions about any of this, please do not hesitate to contact me, or talk with your child’s whānau teacher.
Ngā mihi, Urs Cunningham
