Principal's Notes

This is the final Te Panui of 2021, and what a year it has been! We lost our previous principal in the second week of the year, we've had B-block under construction for the whole year, denying us five classrooms and our library, and we even had a tsunami warning back in March! On top of that we have experienced more COVID-19 lockdowns disrupting our teaching and learning programmes, and in the process, increasing the anxiety levels among many of our students. But despite all of this, we have had an incredibly successful year. I am expecting another fantastic set of NCEA results from our seniors, and we will have a record roll next year - in excess of 550 students. Our students and staff have shown that they are adaptable and resilient, and the support everyone has shown for each other has meant we have hardly skipped a beat. Thank you to our amazing parents, whānau and family for supporting our school. It really is an amazing community we live in.

COVID-19 Protection Framework: We are finding that more and more businesses and organisations are expecting vaccine passes from those 12 years and older. This is increasingly putting pressure on our ability to plan school trips. Our Y10 camp planned for Kai Iwi Lakes has had to be moved to school because of this. An upcoming DOE trip has also required a last minute change with DoC requiring vaccine passes for all guests in their huts and campsites from the 15th December. We have also received notice from the board of School Sport NZ that “all School Sport NZ sanctioned events in Term 1 2022 (including the term 1 holidays) will be restricted to fully vaccinated participants, aged 12 and over, only. Where practicable, this mandate extends to spectators attending also". It is becoming increasingly clear that unvaccinated children will struggle to fully participate in the full life of the school next year, despite our best efforts to avoid this. No doubt there are some parents who will take this as an invitation to fill my inbox with the usual complaints about discrimination etc but that is the reality of what we are now facing. If your child remains unvaccinated, I encourage you to consider getting them vaccinated over the summer break, especially with the Auckland border opening up next week. Not only do vaccinations represent the most significant tool we have in reducing the risk of serious illness in our communities, but if most of us are vaccinated, we can also reduce the risk of outbreaks.

Junior Prizegiving: A reminder that our end of year junior prizegiving will be held on the last day of school, Thursday 16th December. Only prizewinners and staff will be in attendance. School will finish at 12.30pm on the day and buses will be running as normal. There will be no timetabled class so students do not need to bring any books, stationery or equipment to school. An early lunch will be provided. Students who are not prizewinners will not attend school on this day.  Regrettably, due to COVID restrictions, parents, whanāu, friends and family will not be able to attend this event. We will be recording this event and posting it on our website, along with photos of our prizewinners.

School Magazine: I'd like to congratulate Mrs Christie and her magnificent year 10 Magazine Design class for putting together our annual school magazine. The finished product is a high quality, glossy publication with a professional look and feel. The articles are very student centred and the magazine is full of colour and great photos. A lot of hard work has gone into this and we are very proud of the work Mrs Christie and her team have accomplished.

Otamatea Music Album: Congratulations to Mr Blake and his music students for putting together the very first Otamatea High School album! Each song sounds like it has been professionally recorded, and our students' voices sound amazing. As Mr Blake described it - "it was a monumental effort getting this together, some of the recording sessions were up to 2 or 3 hours, then we would edit each song for up to 5 hours at times. We're excited to share it and for you to hear it. Send some credit and praise to the kids, they worked so hard and a lot of them are really scared about putting themselves out there in this way, but they're amazing".  https://sites.google.com/otamatea.school.nz/otamateathealbum/the-album

School Trips and Activities: We have had a busy week, with many school trips going ahead. Our 2022 prefects have been out selecting their uniforms for next year. Our AltEd students enjoyed a great day of surfing on Thursday, and on Tuesday our annual Golden Kauri trip  - this year to Adrenalin Water Park, also went ahead, rewarding those students who have most upheld the principles of the OTA way during the year. The inter-iwi quiz competition was also held this week. Well done to Ngāpuhi for taking the win. Next week, from Monday to Wednesday, we have our end of year camps and activities. Teachers have spent many hours planning these and I'm sure our students will thoroughly enjoy themselves, and finish the school year on a high. Hopefully the weather won't be as bad as is being forecast.

Community Feedback: It is always a pleasure to receive positive feedback about our students from members of our community. Awesome job Elle Galloway-Meekings and Jackson Brown. Your calm and mature efforts in helping to manage traffic in Mangawhai last week, when some dogs were creating a dangerous situation on the road, have been noticed. Well done!

Vaccine Pass for Fitness Centre: A reminder that only members that have provided the school with a copy of their vaccine pass will be able to use the fitness centre from now on. If you have not already done so, please email a copy of your vaccine pass to Kay as soon as possible, at kay.robinson@otamatea.school.nz

Ngā mihi
Dirk Smyth