Acting Principal's Notes

PTCA: Our amazing PTCA (Parent Teacher Citizens Association) members are meeting on Tuesday evening, at 7pm in the student centre (Rongo). The PTCA are a friendly, welcoming and hardworking team who do an incredible job fundraising for our school. It would be great to see some new faces on Tuesday night.

Free Period Products: We have now opted in to the Government's Free Period Products programme, which means we can order these products at no cost and have them available to our students whenever they need them. Across New Zealand, approximately one in 12 students report having missed school due to lack of access to period products. Students can miss out on learning, sporting and cultural activities, and feel embarrassed and ashamed if they can’t access products to manage their periods. This negatively impacts their achievement and wellbeing. We have put our first order through and students can now go to the student centre (Rongo) before school or at break times to access these products.

Academic Mentoring: All of our 2021 three way parent/student/teacher conferences for senior students have now been completed. The feedback I have received has been very positive and our seniors now have a much clearer understanding of what they now need to do in order to meet the goals they have set themselves for the year. At the end of next week our seniors will be half way through their academic year. It is important that they keep on top of all their internal assessments so that they are not scrambling for credits at the end of the year. 

EOTC: Next week is a busy week on our calendar for EOTC (Education Outside The Classroom) activities. For a relatively small (yet growing) school, we offer a wide range of activities for our students. Please encourage your children to get involved. There is plenty of research showing that students who are actively involved in the broader life of their school are usually those students doing well socially, emotionally and academically. 

School Social: We are hosting a school social on Thursday night. This is a fundraiser for our school ball and is a great way for students to enjoy themselves in a safe, supervised environment. If your child is planning to attend the social, please read carefully the rules that apply (see advert below). It is especially important for the safety of our students that all children are dropped off and collected from the school foyer. 

Long Weekend: Enjoy the long weekend and please stay safe on our roads, especially with poor weather on the forecast. 

Dirk Smyth