Principal's Address

Building a New Future: Aranui High School

Kia ora! Welcome to Aranui High School! Talofa lava!

2009 is a momentous year for Aranui High School. We celebrate the 49th year of this school serving its local community and look ahead not only to our 50th Jubilee next year, but also to the complete rebuild of our school, commencing in February. This is the culmination of two yeas of planning and consultation.  We were delighted to host a visit of our Prime Minister in October of 2008 and to have her unveil a plaque marking this commencement.
As well as our excitement about the school’s rebuilding programme, we are also excited about the potential in our young people – the students.  We are constantly amazed by their talents, their  creativity, their resilience. It is truly a privilege to be part of the family of Aranui High. 
This school has thrived on innovation. One of the most significant features of our school is Aranui Academies. These academies were first established in 1990.  We are delighted to be able to offer a new academy programme this year: the Andrew Auimatagi Rugby League Academy. This academy will complement the wide range of academies which you can read about on this website.
Over the past year, the school has gained tremendous benefit from a most significant new development, the Aranui Services Academy. This military style programme is funded by the Ministry of Social Development, and we are very grateful for this support, as it enables us to cater for the needs of a growing group of young people, for whom conventional academic studies are not appropriate. I hope that you will take the time to look at the pages on this website which are devoted to this special programme, which has enjoyed so much success in its pilot year.
Every school has a distinct ethos or culture. Aranui High is a school which is driven by five distinct values. These are the values of respect; community; excellence; mana; caring or manaakitanga.  As a school, we aspire to ensure that these values are embedded in our school culture. We work hard to live up to these standards and as a community always look to adhere to them. They shape who we are and what kind of school we want to be.  It is our vision of our Board of Trustees for the school to truly develop into a community based school. Over the year before our jubilee, we will be seeking the views of our wider community to find out your thoughts and views about the school’s future. The marking of the school’s first 50 years makes this a timely process – we are looking forward to hearing what our community has to say about this most important issue.

The meaning of the name “Aranui” is culturally rich particularly appropriate for our school. It means “the broad pathway.”  At Aranui we seek to offer our students as wide a range of pathways as possible.  Catering for the educational needs of all students is challenging but our charter affirms our commitment to ensuring that all students succeed. Our school is also culturally diverse, with Maori, Pasifika and European cultures all well represented. The “Aranui” name is of  significance to many of our Polynesian neighbours. We are proud to share it!

Nau mai, haere mai! We welcome you to Aranui High School! 

 

John Rohs
PRINCIPAL

 

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