Principal's News

Open Day: What a wonderful day we had on Thursday when we opened our doors to prospective students from all of our feeder schools in the area. With regular classes running on the day, Open Day was an opportunity for our visitors to see Otamatea High School live and "in action". The weather was fantastic, the school looked amazing and our senior students, who acted as tour guides on the day, were excellent ambassadors for our school, looking after our guests and helping them with their questions. The activities on display were engaging and there was a real buzz in the air when our visitors left at 2pm. We have so many new enrolments that we are now planning on a school roll of around 640 for 2023, a significant increase from our current roll of 560 students.

Work Experience for Year 10s: Well done to our year 10s for having a successful work experience day on Thursday. This is an opportunity, once a year, for our year 10 students, with the support of their parents/caregivers and whānau, to work alongside somebody in an area in which they have an interest. I have had some great feedback already, including students spending the day on the farm, with a legal firm, painting or in a cafe. I hope this day has helped our year 10s think a bit more about their future, and about the NCEA subjects they will choose for next year.

Mathex: I was delighted to see our year 7, 8, 9 and 10 students all getting involved in our annual inter-iwi Mathex competition in the hall. Students worked in teams and under time pressure, to answer challenging maths problems, and the hall was humming with excitement. Well done to Arawa for coming out on top.

Under 15 Rugby: I am so pleased to see that we are now fielding a full under 15 rugby team for the first time in many years. Nick Makea has been doing some wonderful work coaching these boys. They had a tough game on Wednesday, against a very strong Kaitaia team, and although the boys lost heavily, they learnt a lot from this outing and I am confident they will only improve from here.

Reporoa Exchange: I am looking forward to my first trip to Reporoa College on Sunday for our annual exchange. 37 students and five staff members will be heading off early on Sunday morning and returning late on Monday night. We will be playing basketball, futsal, volleyball, rugby 7s, netball as well as debating. It will be a busy two days and I'm sure our students will represent our school well.

Staff Only Day: A reminder that Tuesday 16th August is a Ministry of Education allocated staff only day designed for secondary school teachers to continue their preparations for the extensive changes to NCEA and the national curriculum that are being introduced over the next few years.

Enrolment Scheme: The Ministry of Education (MOE) has put the school's proposed draft enrolment scheme out for consultation. There have been some changes made and the proposed scheme now has a single home zone (for all students in years 7 to 13), as well as a grandparenting provision. Here is the link to the second consultation, which closes on Friday the 19th August.

Board Elections: These are coming up soon and nominations close at 12pm on Wednesday the 17th August.  The more nominations we receive, the more choice our community has in electing the strongest board possible. If you think you have the time and skillset to commit to a position on the board, please consider putting your name forward.

Policy Review: Each term a number of school policies come up for review, as part of our triennial review programme. If you wish to provide any recommendations on these policies, please click on this link, The username is Otamatea, and the password is bickerstaffe. We value your feedback.

Ngā mihi
Dirk Smyth