At a principals meeting I attended this week, there was a robust discussion about the ongoing barrage of media surrounding teachers and education more generally. Lately it has felt like there has been a concerted effort from the media to blow up any story of a teacher doing something wrong or for politicians to take any opportunity to suggest that teachers are collectively either complacent or failing our learners.

Conversely, among the principals in the room, the collective feeling was that, day in and day out, we see teachers working incredibly hard and with a great amount of care and passion about the success of their students. Naturally, teachers don’t always get it right – we are humans working under pressure and things won’t always go as planned – but it seems farfetched to so regularly see headlines about teacher misconduct in the news.

I decided to investigate this a bit more to try to figure out how these two things might exist together at the same time. The estimated number of primary and secondary teachers in New Zealand is just under 70,000. Based on that number, if we had a headline grabbing story once a week in the media where a teacher has been reprimanded by the teaching council, that would amount to 0.07% of the teaching workforce. Another way of looking at that is that 99.93% of the teaching workforce is out there doing great things with the youth of Aotearoa. Even if we increase the frequency of these stories to a daily occurrence, which I’m confident is not the case, this would represent 0.5% of the workforce or 99.5% of the teachers of Aotearoa working effectively with our young people.

I’d say the true number is likely somewhere in the middle of those figures, but this is lost in something of a barrage that is designed to remind us regularly that teachers are failing our students. It seems to me that the collective lived experience of principals can be true, and so can the current situation with the media consistently reporting the biggest mistakes of our profession in large print. Sadly, the bias toward the negative stories loses most of what is important to celebrate and can contribute to whānau feeling less confident in our education system and, in particular, our educators. What I feel is getting lost is the missing statistic where 99.8% of the time, parents should be confident that teachers in New Zealand are working very hard and generally achieving great results with their students.

The paradigm in the media seems to trend heavily toward the negative – which is a shame, because there is so much to celebrate, but perhaps it doesn’t generate the revenue when compared to that which shocks and causes consternation.

As for myself, I wanted to take the opportunity to use my small media reach to provide a counter to the narrative and show that, overwhelmingly, teachers in New Zealand are hard working, professional and highly skilled, and that parents should be confident that all across New Zealand – Waiheke included – our teachers are overwhelmingly doing great work, and our students are overwhelmingly achieving great things.

Ngā mihi mahana,

Cameron Flude

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She’s also been nominated for the AMA’s People’s Choice Awards. You can vote for her or any of the talented artists here: peopleschoice.aotearoamusicawards.co.nz >>

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Recently I’ve been speaking with some of our students about rising academic demands inherent to this time of the school year, where many internal assessments come due at once. It has been interesting to hear the different stressors that our students face which vary greatly from person to person. Work, relationships, family, sports – the list of varied commitments is often long and each of those has their own particular stressors too that ebb and flow, just like school. Just as each student has a unique circumstance, so too does each student have their unique response to their circumstances. What works for one student may not work for another; a stressful situation for one student may be a complete breeze for another.

Across many years in education, it’s been clear that some students are consistently building their resilience while other students struggle with their response to hardship. It is important to recognise that while we all have unique challenges and respond to these differently, becoming resilient is a skill that we can get better at – and it is something that we can help students develop by challenging them within safe contexts.

I believe that this is a crucial skill for our young people to learn if they are to have a strong platform for facing the challenges that they will come up against in our lives. As parents, it is natural for us to try to protect our children and to shield them from the tough moments. We need to be ready to fight that urge and let our kids sit with discomfort and challenge in small, safe chunks, so that they have the skills to deal with the larger challenges of tomorrow. The sad fact is, life can be hard and we will all experience bad times that will exhaust us and beat us down. We won’t overcome this by always having rainbows and sunshine or someone who rides in to save the day – this will, in fact, leave us unprepared when the storms come.

Resilience is not about having the perfect response to life’s challenges, it is about learning to take ownership of our response to them. Young people can be placed in challenging situations and thus slowly learn by being put in situations which are uncomfortable and test their limits. Regardless of the method, each of us will be challenged to respond to times where we think we don’t have the capacity to deal with a situation. While we don’t have the opportunity to choose what life throws at us, we have the opportunity to respond and, through learning to harness this, we can build the resilience to tackle tough times in the future.

At times, the different pressures of being a high school student will seem too much and our students will be bending under the pressure of life as a teenager. When they stumble and get stuck in a difficult spot, and then subsequently find their feet again, they will be much better equipped to get back up again next time they find that pothole. Parents and teachers can support them by acknowledging that they are going through a lot while also encouraging them to make a positive choice in how they respond that will help them progress along the path they are walking.

Ngā mihi mahana,

Cameron Flude

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With the site now secured and the screw piles in place, things are really starting to take shape. Our first official build day took place on Saturday, 11 April, which made it even more special as it lined up with Waiheke High School’s 40th Anniversary.

A huge thanks to Rodney Pope and Thomas Robb from Waiheke Home Builders, who led the day and worked alongside our students as they built the subfloor. It was awesome to see everyone getting involved, working as a team, and making such solid progress in just one day.

There was a great buzz on site, with students supporting each other, learning as they went, and taking real pride in what they were building. That’s exactly what this academy is all about.

We’re also incredibly grateful to our sponsors. This project wouldn’t be possible without their support, and it’s exciting to see it all coming together.

We can’t wait to share what’s next as the build continues.

Full information on the Building Academy here >>

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The end of a term provides an opportunity for reflection and celebration. It was a real pleasure to recognise some outstanding performers in our final celebration assembly for Term 1, acknowledging students who consistently uphold our WISE values and apply themselves fully in their learning.

I’d like to specifically mention Ghiezelle Ricalde and Olivia Stinton for receiving the most recognitions this term for Pakatoa and Rangitoto respectively. India Trevett was both the top student in Ponui and her year group. Most notably, Mae Gould not only topped Rakino house and her year level but also achieved the highest overall recognitions in the entire school for Term 1 – an outstanding achievement.

Our engagement scores directly reflect each student’s work and highlight our school’s learning leaders. Special mention goes to Lea Bollinger (Ponui), Mae Gould (Rakino), Silver Hutchieson (Pakatoa), and Somolon Todd (Rangitoto), who topped their respective houses and especially Solomon who maintained the highest overall school engagement score at 3.86 out of 4 throughout the term.

While we often recognise leaders in sports, arts, and service, the quiet leadership shown through diligent learning and embodying our values day after day is perhaps our greatest asset. And so today it was important to celebrate these students and encourage others to follow their lead – well done to all of those students listed above.

We are delighted to report an absolutely outstanding 78 students (roughly 20%) attended 100% of Term 1, more than double last year’s number. Thank you to these students for their diligence and to their parents for supporting this fantastic achievement. Furthermore, 288 students (just over 75%) have an attendance rate of over 90%—a massive improvement from 2025. As attendance is a key driver in achievement, I congratulate these students on taking this crucial step in investing in their future.

I also congratulate our paddlers and sailors who recently represented our kura at national and regional tournaments. Both groups persevered through difficult weather conditions, putting forward their best effort and achieving great results. We will celebrate these students more fully in Term 2 with an upcoming sporting assembly.

With the 40th Anniversary and Reunion upon us over the holidays, I hope to see many members of our wider community at some of the events. I wish every student a restful term break, providing a chance to recharge, ready for a brilliant Term 2.

Ngā mihi mahana,

Cameron Flude

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