50th Jubilee 2011
Dear Alumni and Friends,
Thank you for attending the 50th Reunion for Pakuranga College this year.
I hoped you enjoyed the event and the opportunity to catch up with past friends and colleagues. Over the weekend I had the pleasure of talking with many past pupils and staff, and learning more about the college’s proud history.
These conversations affirm my belief that Pakuranga College is an outstanding school that has served well its local community and New Zealand, both through its outstanding pupils and its educational leadership in New Zealand. Our college has a rich history and has produced a great number of high calibre men and women who have contributed to the community - locally, nationally and globally.
In my opening speech, I emphasised our intention for this reunion to strengthen the college’s relationship with its alumni. To that end, I now invite you to join the Alumni & Friends of Pakuranga College.
This organisation’s focus is to help past pupils and staff of Pakuranga College stay in touch with each other and with ongoing events and developments at the college. Through regular newsletters and communications, we look forward to keeping you informed about your colleagues and life at the college. To join the association or to find out more about it, email alumni@pakuranga.school.nz.
I also want to offer you the opportunity to support the ongoing work of the college.
I believe that schools play an essential role in shaping our nation. I ask you to invest in the future of our country by helping us to provide our young people with the highest quality opportunities in and beyond the classroom.
Today’s government funding is barely adequate to provide the basic education needs of our young people. The college recognises the need to look beyond this to philanthropic contributions that will enable it to offer the best possible facilities, teaching and educational opportunities for our young people to excel.
You may be interested to know about two funds that will advance the educational opportunities of our young people.
The “Principal’s Innovation Fund” fosters high quality teaching at the college by supporting professional development of staff and providing 21st century learning spaces and resources. The “Sports Development Fund” promotes high quality sports programmes for our students - helping us to recruit and train high calibre coaches, and provide them with first-class training facilities and resources.
Further information about these funds is available online. If you can contribute to these funds, directly or in kind, please complete and submit the online forms by email alumni@pakuranga.school.nz. Our Alumni Development Manager, Pearl Sidwell will contact you.
Finally I would like to acknowledge the work done by the organising committee - Raewyn Brebner, Graeme Brown, Denise Cole, Jane & Barry Dowdeswell, Sian Evans, Susan Gorman, Kim Hillgrove, Pam Stone and Peter Woodcock. This event has been years in the planning and these people have given up a great deal of their time to make this weekend so successful. We sincerely appreciate their efforts.
Thank you again for attending the 50th Pakuranga College Reunion. I wish you well in the years ahead and hope it will be less than another 50 years before we meet again.
Yours sincerely
M Williams
Principal