He kura mīharo tō mātou – Our school is amazing! Check out our prize winner Archie Thorburn and our whole school Teacher only day updates.

Congratulations to Archie Thorburn (11), who was a finalist in the 2026 Tūhara Photography Exhibition! With over 9,000 entries, this exhibition showcased the very best wildlife, landscape, and botanical photographs from Otago and beyond. Entitled ‘Sun’s out, tongue’s out’, Archie’s photograph of a local sea lion was a finalist in the Wildlife Youth section. Ka pai!

Carmen Harris

Kaiako/Teacher, Ōtepoti/Dunedin

Teacher-Only Days Update

Our teaching and support teams are freshly back from our two teacher-only days. Our programme was packed with workshops on dyscalculia, the refreshed Year 9–10 Mathematics curriculum, de-escalation strategies, and the effective use of artificial intelligence (AI) in education. We also welcomed 10 new staff members to our team due to roll growth. We are looking forward to getting to know them over the next few weeks.

Members of our Southland team who were unable to attend this whole-school professional development were constantly in our thoughts. Zara and Eve are recovering from a car accident and were deeply missed; we wish them both a full and speedy recovery.

Ngā mihi

The SHS team