Wednesday 18 February 2026
The year has started well for our King’s College Community Service programme with students quick to sign up for many of the old favourites as well as new initiatives.
The programme will run very much as it has over the past few years with a mix of weekly slots, Monday - Thursday at 3:00pm. There are lots of opportunities for students including visiting Ōtāhuhu Town Hall four times a week where students are involved in after school care and crafts, grass-roots sports and helping with homework.
The Anglican Trust for Women and Children has traditionally been the recipient of not only weekly help from our students, but also one-off fundraisers and drives for blankets and other essentials for displaced families.
The Ōtāhuhu Library has some new options for our student’s involvement from 3:00-4:45pm. At the end of last year, they received hundreds of books from the generous donation of our King's families, many of these went into the library and some were given directly to families in the Ōtāhuhu community.
I am pleased to announce a new initiative on two afternoons a week with the Panama Road School. We commenced activities with them on Tuesday 10 February, helping with sports, homework and crafts. As I am writing this, I have a meeting after school with several students and the Middlemore Hospital to discuss options for weekly involvement both school-based and on site. Visiting the Refugee Relocation Centre has always been a very popular activity for our students, and this will commence again in March with their second intake of refugees for the year. Finally, there are many on-off activities during the year from fundraisers, to help with major community events and clothing and food drives.
On Saturday 7 March we have the Ōtāhuhu Fun Day, a great event in the local community calendar. We already have over 50 students signed up to be involved with everything from baking cupcakes to waste management on the day (and much more in between).
It is always great to see so many students being involved with caring and contributing to those here in our local community and beyond. We are happy to acknowledge those students who log hours with us for these community events and their various other self-initiated activities which make a positive difference.
I look forward to updating you as the year progresses.
Ngā mihi,
Mr Horacek-Glading