Congratulations to all our students, for another remarkable year at Burnside High School.
Just this weekend, we have seen students performing from year nine to thirteen on the national stage at the New Zealand Secondary School Athletics with distinction. We are very proud of your achievements. As we are of the juniors who have showcased their technology and art portfolios to their peers and families in the last week.
Congratulations also go to yesterday’s recipients at our year 9 and 10 prize givings. You should be extremely proud of your efforts and we know that you have set yourselves up to succeed in 2026. Investing in your future, is utilising your time appropriately now. Congratulations on finding the magic to make this happen in the years to come.
We are also very proud to share for the first time, our graduating students have been offered in excess of one million dollars in scholarships in 2026. For this to happen this side of Christmas is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our students, but also the staff and whānau who have work tirelessly behind the scenes.
My thanks also go to the staff that will be leaving Burnside High School this year. Each and everyone of you have made a profound difference to our school community, the future of both current and former students and we wish you well in your future endeavours.
Of particular note, we say goodbye to a number of very special Burnside High School staff. We have acknowledged the collective efforts and dedication of Warwick Taylor, Gina Fernandez, Penny Olds, Peter Maher and Carol Currie at our various prizegivings and awards in term four, but we cannot state enough the profound impact that they have made on our school. Their collective 128 years of teaching at Burnside High School will be sorely missed and we hope that we will live up to their exacting standards in the years to come.
I would also like to acknowledge our school community for all your support and assistance throughout the 2025 school year. We know that it takes a village to raise a child and we are thankful that we have such supportive whānau who work in partnership with us to help educate your teens. Thank you for everyone that has worked with our teaching staff, put their hand up to help or cheered on our students from the sidelines. We appreciate your efforts, as do our students.
The 2026 year, will without a doubt, bring new enthusiasm and challenges. One of those challenges will be roadworks around our school. We have been advised that Christchurch City Council contractors will be digging up Memorial Avenue and Greers Road come January. We have obviously requested this is completed before the school year commences, but now is the time to consider how students will get to school in 2026. It will seem that walking and biking would be a good solution for term one.
Back to school dates and requirements for 2026 have been cascaded previously in our Bulletin, but if you need to locate these once more, you need only look at the homepage of our school website. We will, of course, be in touch again in the weeks leading up to the academic year commencing.
My very best wishes to everyone for a safe summer break and festive period. We look forward to welcoming students back to Burnside High School in the first week of February 2026.
Ngā mihi nui
Scott Haines
Principal
