We've come to the end of another school term. Our students have done so well. The earthquake appears as a distant memory, the smiles are back on faces and as always, the energy levels are at maximum.

During the week I had the good fortune to watch our netball girls competing in the Canterbury Champs. Well done girls, you are a credit to the school, your coaches, your parents and yourselves. The thing that stood out for me beyond the great court work was your obvious enthusiasm and enjoyment for the occasion.

Today at our Duffy assembly we hosted Jo Holley, a television presenter from Auckland. Jo reminded the children of the need to read and also provided several 'feet in the mud' techniques for public speaking. Thanks Jo, we trust the visit wasn't too earth shaking.

We will take a short break now. I know our staff have completed a busy term and after the events of this month the timing for them is very fortuitous. My thanks everyone for your solid efforts, enjoy your break.

I wish everyone in our scchool community a stress free and enjoyable break, see you all after Monday 11 October.

Welcome back to school. The events over the last week have been a challenge to many of us and it is pleasing to see so many happy children returning to school today. During the day I have managed to visit all of our classrooms. I have been impressed with the way the children have settled back into their work and they appear eager to get on with their routines. School really is a cool, secure place! Earlier today we provided a canteen in our hall where hot drinks and morning tea where available for any members of the community and parents who wished to stay on site. We are in the fortunate position of having no damage at the school and we managed to get our telephone message and website information updated fairly promptly. In addition the school received a host of offers of support and services. We are extremely grateful for these offers and we feel humbled that people can think of us at a time when others are so needy. Thank you. I would also like to acknowledge and offer my personal thanks to everyone in our team here who contributed to the smooth running during the local emergency. Our theme for the remainder of this term is very definitely Spreydon; we rock, we roll and we recover - with pride!

Once again our students have perfomed with distinction. Earlier last month a team of six represented Spreydon at the Literacy quiz. Only a few points separated the top teams and we managed a very creditable fourth placing. I watched our pupils during the night and their concentration and well controlled behaviour never faltered. Well done our literacy quiz team! Our thanks also to the team of parents who offered their support on the night and to our hard working staff. I know the staff members are very relieved to pass on the rather thankless organisation burden to others. In my experience, and speaking to these staff members, this organisational hard work is too often overlooked. A hearty thank you for all your efforts on behalf of all the competitors in this effort.

Today we had a crazy dress day. Some of our pupils [and the staff] are amazing. We had everything from coloured hair, jump suits through to ballerina costumes. It is always refreshing to have something as colourful as a dress up day, today was no exception. I believe we enjoy the dress up even more because we have such a strong ethic associated with our school uniform and the pride we have in wearing them.