Last Friday the teachers of Y7 – 13 students donned school uniform and performed some skits illustrating and reminding us of our school’s values. After a good deal of consultation a couple of years ago, it was decided that a C.O.A.S.T.A.L. acronym (standing for Co-operation, Openness, Aroha, Sustainable living, Tolerance, Accountability and Leading our Learning) gave a meaningful value base to fulfilling the school’s vision.

There has been a groundswell of discussion for many years now about the need to affirm the values that were perhaps once ‘taken for granted’ and commonly agreed upon as the foundation of a person’s character and necessary for good citizenship.

As a common thread in all young people’s lives, in 2007 the Ministry of Education made it a social imperative for schools to “encourage, model and explore” the commonly held values or deeply held beliefs that un- derpin ‘the way we do things around here’. More re- cently it has encouraged the adoption of programmes aimed at developing ‘Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L)’.

Last year Years 1 – 6 introduced our Coastal Values programme. Now we will be able to have a school wide, consistent approach which is run by students, for students, and will help equip our students for life.