St Andrew’s College
RECTOR – CHRISTINE LEIGHTON
THE ST ANDREW’S COLLEGE community has welcomed 2021 with great energy, and a sense of promise and anticipation. We are now in the third year of development under our Strategic Vision, Framing our Future, which continues to guide our priorities for the coming year.
First and foremost, St Andrew’s is a place of learning, with a focus on developing our students’ growth mindset and a love of learning. But the College is about so much more than that. We are strongly committed to the holistic development of our students, and central to all that we do is our purpose, ‘Together building better people for life’.
Our co-curricular programmes, whole-school celebrations, and service activities are an important way for our students to further develop their all-important key competencies – managing self, relating to others, participating, and contributing, which will prepare them for life beyond school. Being part of a team, whether that be in sport, choir, jazz band, debating, robotics, Theatresports, or Community Service, to name just a few, helps our students to learn many skills and attributes, which complement their academic learning.
Despite COVID-19, and the disruption caused by the lockdown in 2020, students at St Andrew’s College went on to thrive, with our academic and sports results better than ever by the year’s end. This was a testament to the resilience of our students, the hard work and dedication of our staff, and the programmes put in place, particularly our comprehensive online learning programme, which stood up to the challenges.
A focus on student well-being has perhaps never been more vital in the COVID-19 environment. We have a full programme of well-being strategies in place at St Andrew’s College, which helps students to develop a broad set of character strengths, virtues and competencies – so important in this unprecedented time.
There are many different leadership opportunities on offer at St Andrew’s College, and this year, we are delighted that our Head Girl, Tapenisa Havea, and Head Boy, Jack Calder, along with the Prefects, have come up with a clever theme, ‘Take One Step’, which encourages students to step into a new direction and try something new.
Our focus for 2021 is for the St Andrew’s community to continue to work collectively to bring our vision to life, and to live the College values of Truth, Excellence, Faith, Creativity and Inclusivity. These values mean so much more to us than words. They are a tangible and visible guide to how we treat each other every day and remind us of the importance of being aware of each other’s differences and needs.