A final word from our beloved Superintending Chaplain. Rev Ali'itasi Aoina-Salesa who will be leaving us after 20 years at Wesley. You will be sorely missed!!

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and a very belated Happy New Year to all our Staff and students, as well as our wider Wesley College Family. If ‘procrastination’ is defined by how long one can avoid completing a piece of work, then I am guilty of the said crime. In my defence, as this is the final contribution I will ever make to the school Collegian, it becomes a journey of memories and reminiscing. After 20 years at Wesley, please forgive my sentimentality.

Three principals, weddings including a principal and sadly funerals, mark two decades of my life at Wesley College and when I say, ‘my life,’ therein is the real marker of the intention and purpose of my time at this wonderful school. How I come to be at Wesley is a story which I can only credit to our God in whose equally wonderful way provided the opportunity and means by which in December of 2005, I arrived at Wesley College to take up the position of Head of Life and Faith. Back in the day, Life and Faith the religious studies subject was compulsory, and I taught the entire school from Yrs 9 to 13. It made for long days but what a wonderful way to build relationships and make connections with every student … they couldn’t hide though many tried.

I was welcomed by the Chaplaincy Team which became the ‘Tight Five’ … Ian Faulkner Principal - Methodist, The Superintending Chaplain Rev Sylvia ‘Akau’ola Tongotongo Methodist, DP Boarding Rev Stephen Tema Methodist, Chaplain Maori the late Paewhenua Nathan Methodist and myself. There was no doubt what the Special Character of the only Methodist school in New Zealand stood for or was about. We ‘walked the talk’ of the Methodist ethos and as a living principle, we lived and breathed what it was to be Methodist. It made for a time when everyone was treated with respect and with dignity. There was the greatest sense of everyone was valued and cared for. It was a time when pastoral care was a priority and was everyone’s responsibility as members of the Wesley family and community. I am indebted to the former members and staff of the Chaplaincy Team who laid the foundation for a journey I could not have experienced anywhere else other than Wesley College and for that, I continue to give thanks daily to God.

I also want to make mention of the former Chairperson of the Wesley College Trust Board, the Rev Diana Tana whose guidance and wisdom I was fortunate to have been blessed by in her time as leader of the Trust Board. THANK Rev Diana.

We who have lived and worked together at Wesley over the last two decades have been through a lockdown, the influenza epidemic, the Royal Commission of Inquiry into abuse in State and faith based institutions from the 50s-90s, numerous ERO and Ministry visitations, the placement of a SLM within the College, the closure of the Hostels for the first time in the College’s history and the loss of jobs for staff directly affected by the closure. The associated wave of articles in the media throughout the year has been both difficult and relentless. Despite these events and happenings, our school - staff and students as well as our Wesley community have remained steadfast and true to what we know and believe our school to be. THANK YOU for your faithfulness.

Thank you to our school and the Methodist Church for the blessing of ministry in this place called Wesley College. I was born into the Congregational faith, became a Presbyterian through a church merger in the 70s and then chose to become Methodist in 2008. I have experienced God’s hand at work in all of these different faiths and as John Wesley described his conversion ‘my heart is strangely warmed’ so too has my heart been strangely warmed by the people called Methodist particularly here at its one and only school.  

My fondest memories will be of the numerous young people who have blessed my life throughout the 20 years, those who made me laugh every day, who kept me grounded by telling me what for when I needed to know, who allowed me the privilege of serving them and our school, who never said NO to anything that I asked of them, who reminded me everyday of the call God has made on my life to serve, to care for and love them. THANK YOU for blessing my life and ministry.

To all the staff over the years whom I have had the privilege and opportunity to work alongside, thank you for the ministry we have all been involved with here at Wesley. At the forefront has been the care, education and wellbeing of the young people entrusted to us and together we have worked towards this very goal faithfully and with diligence. THANK YOU for your love and care of our students and for our college.

As I prepare to leave I do so with a heart full my cup runneth over. The multitudinous God has blessed me in many a multifarious way (lyrics from one of my favourite hymns ‘Fancy Noah’) and I am forever thankful, forever grateful, forever mindful of God’s insistent and provoking providence and blessing. The Lord bless you and keep you our Wesley College Family.

Blessings
Soifua ma ia manuia
Rev Ali'itasi Aoina-Salesa
Superintending Chaplain

Congratulations to our 2026 Senior Prefect, Head Girl, Head Boy and Prefects

Jay-Dee Lea – Senior Prefect	Lineti Tu'uta – Head Girl	Sete Loseli – Head Boy

Prefects

Catherine Anitoni	Lylah Baker	Levi Byers	Save Cakaunivalu	Sosina Lavulo

Jerry Moce	Noah Porter-Wichman	Kaitlyn Sikulu	Te Rangikaheke Te Wao-Rangiuaia	Brooke Tilton-Mist