The wet weather forced us indoors, but the Marcellin Gym was an impressive venue for the formal pōwhiri to welcome our Year 9 students and their families into our community on their first day at St John's College.. This is a huge milestone for these young men, and Mr Tong acknowledged that many of them would be feeling a little nervous about their next few weeks as they learn to settle. But there was loads of early fun and support in their first two days of orientation. Year 12 Tuakana spend time showing them around the school, teaching the haka and school song so that they'd be ready for their first full day of classes, and when the rest of the student body returned. 

This is the largest student cohort we've ever seen at St John's - a whopping 940 students! With some classrooms out under construction, our timetablers have been very creative about finding spaces to fit us all in. Students enjoyed the brand new toilet block which is open for business, and we expect to be in brand spanking new classrooms in the coming weeks. It's going to be great year!