School news

Nominations for Student Representative to Otamatea High School Board of Trustees for 2024 If you are a student in Year 9 upwards, and intend to return to school next year, you are eligible to stand for this position.  You will be required to attend the Board meetings, which are usually held in the evening. Nomination forms are in all whanau rooms and can be obtained from the main office. When completed (and signed by the candidate) they must be returned to the School office by noon on Tuesday 29th August 2023. (Only one nomination form per person is necessary.) When returning the nomination form, please include a Candidate statement (stating why students should vote for you.) This should be included otherwise the voters (your fellow students) will not know anything about you. Should there be more than one nomination, voting will take place in Whanau time on Thursday 14th September 2023. At the present time Sophie van Harlingen is your student representative, so if you have any questions about the position, ask her.                                                                                                                 Eileen Parsons, Returning Officer

Reporoa College – Otamatea High School Sports Exchange 2023  Sunday 13th – Tuesday 15th August (57 th Annual Exchange)

The 57th Annual Exchange took place at Otamatea this year with 32 Reporoa students travelling up for the occasion. 

After a mix up from the Rotorua bus company Reporoa arrived slightly late where the Otamatea Kapa Haka group welcomed our guests with a powhiri. 

Sunday afternoon, in front of a packed crowd, the girls’ basketball teams had an exciting game. The final score being 35 – 14 to Otamatea. The boy’s game was a comfortable win to Otamatea with their skills out on the court outclassing Reporoa. The final score being 79 – 33 to Otamatea. Thanks must go to the Otamatea coaches Blake Worsfold and Don Lawson and to our Referees Kalem, Blake and Don from Kaipara Basketball.

The basketball was followed by a yummy, shared meal provided by the Otamatea staff and students.

Rugby   As a team that hasn't played together in a serious game of rugby for school our boys combined well to play a great game. The game was 10 a side. The final score was 54 - 10 to Otamatea. Thanks go to coach Lance Nepia, manager Bron Hames and referee Llew Smart.

Kapa Haka  This is the first year for the Kapa Haka competition to be included in the exchange. The aim is to grow kapa haka between the two schools. It was wonderful to watch and listen to both schools perform. There were three sections judged on – Haka, Waiata and Moteatea. Reporoa won the haka and waiata and Otamatea won the waiata. Reporoa won the competition overall. Thanks to Matua Wiremu (Ota), Roimata and Taira for their work with the Otamatea team. Thank you to Huia Coll and Matua Wiremu from Reporoa for judging on the day.

Futsal  This was an action-packed game with plenty of excitement. The final score shows how close the game was. After the initial 10 minutes Reporoa shut down Otamatea’s attack, with no goals scored until near the end of the game. The result was 4 – 1 to Otamatea. Thanks go to Samid Buksh for coaching and refereeing the game.

Netball  The court conditions were good but unfortunately the weather turned with the rain coming in for the game. It was great to have many spectators watching with the game running during second break. Reporoa only had one training coming into the game and pride and determination. Otamatea won 68 – 2. Thanks go to Nikola Kemp for coaching and Kay for managing this team. Thanks also go to Leayah Buxton and Taira Phillips for umpiring the game.

Volleyball  The gym was full with exchange students keen to see how the game would unfold. The game was exciting to watch with great sportsmanship shown on both sides. Reporoa had the dominance of the game coming away with a 2- 0 set win. Thanks to Samid Buksh for his coaching the Otamatea team. Thanks also must go to Bruce Alison for Refereeing.

This year, Reporoa stayed at the Country Club along with some of Otamatea year 13 students. At the afternoon tea and evening dinner it was lovely to see the bonds between the students had grown with a happy relaxed atmosphere. A special thanks to Taira Phillips and her band of kitchen elves for the amazing Kai throughout the exchange.

The overall result from the seven events, Otamatea came out with a 5 -2 win to secure the Hathoway Family Shield.

All in all the exchange was a huge success with a wonderful group of students who made everyone proud to be part of Otamatea High School.

For more photos are available on our homepage

Duke of Edinburgh Programme - Celebrating 60 years of giving, leading and growing in Aotearoa  New Zealand. 1963-2023. Our warmest congratulations to past Otamatea High School students, Renee Allen and Alana Yardley, upon receiving their Duke Of Edinburgh's Hillary Gold Award certificates from Sarah Hillary at the award ceremony last Saturday at Kristin School. The girls' were supported by their very proud parents along with Principal, Dirk Smyth; Award Leader, Robyn Bruce; National Chair, Ken Hames and Board Member, Sharlene McCormick. Ken, Sharlene and I have spent many hours training, shadowing ,assessing and mentoring the girls through the bronze, silver and gold levels of the Award (not to mention all the very competitive games of 5 Crowns), so this was particularly rewarding and very meaningful for us to share this moment with them. The girls' citations in the Award hand book are as follows: Renee Allen: "Doing the Award fuelled my interest in the outdoors and instilled a passion for getting out and exploring what our country has to offer." Alana Yardley: "Between the blisters, wet socks, and Backcountry cuisine, I can confidently say this Award has made me a stronger and more resilient person. Not only did I learn many outdoor and navigation skills, but I learned that the most valuable experiences in life often happen outside of your comfort zone". We wish the girls' well for their University studies and their future. Your Mountain Is Waiting

Some Year 8 Social Studies groups have been focussing on different innovations in class.  Alex Ball and Dean Maki have been looking at the history of the Hinaki and how it has changed over time. They both did some research around how to make a Hinaki from scratch and have  created a timeline of key dates of the Hinaki’s creation.

They set the Hinaki locally and left it overnight, catching a fat Kaipara eel.

Both students found a smoked eel recipe and cooked up their sustainable catch for their class members. A great experience in past and present innovation right on Otamatea’s back door step.

Sam Phillips and Alex Linnell