Te Pānui o Otamatea
School Notices 8 September, 2023
Calendar of Events |
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| Monday 11 September - Tuesday 12 September | L3HOSP to MIT in Auckland | ||
| Monday 11 September | Inter-iwi Rippa Rugby Senior Gateway students to Tara Iti EOTC Yr 9 - 13 11 a-side Hockey |
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| Tuesday 12 September | Inter-iwi Rippa Rugby | ||
| Wednesday 13 September | Inter-iwi Rippa Rugby EOTC U16 Boy's Rugby game after school |
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| Thursday 14 September | Inter-iwi Rippa Rugby Election day for 2024 Student Trustee Board of Trustees VA-8 and VA-10 assessments (Yr 8 and Yr 10) |
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| Friday 15 September | Inter-iwi Rippa Rugby VA-8 and VA-10 assessments (Yr 8 and Yr 10) Media Studies Film Festival 5pm - 7pm 2024 Prefect nominations close |
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| Sunday 17 September | EOTC L2PHED NorthCloud run at Whangarei Basin | ||
From the Senior Leadership Team
Congratulations to our boys basketball team for their excellent performance at the recent national tournament in Palmerston North, finishing 12th out of 23 teams. A couple of their losses came against some of the top teams in the country. Our boys have made massive progress this season, and for a relatively young team have great potential. Well done also to our two year 7 and 8 basketball teams who competed at the recent AIMS games in Tauranga, finishing 15th and 21st. It is great to see basketball flourishing at our school.
We had a practice lockdown drill on Wednesday morning. Our students responded well by following our procedures, keeping quiet and away from the doors and windows. We will have another practice next term.
Congratulations to Mrs Baker and her Business Studies students for running a successful market day on Thursday. This annual event was the biggest ever, and the hall was packed during interval, with students purchasing the delicious treats and other items that the Business Studies students had prepared. Market Day is a fantastic opportunity for students to get real life experience running a small business; including developing their product, managing their costs, marketing and selling their products, and dealing with competition. Well done also to Mr Stevenson for running his first Olla Podriga event on Tuesday night, and to all the students who bravely took the stage. What a wonderful success it was! There was a great turnout and the audience was very supportive of all the perfomers. Mel Turner Bennett sang beautifully and was the deserved winner.
The inter-iwi chess tournament finished this week and after three days, and 24 games of battle, the results were 1st: Maniapoto, 2nd: Arawa, 3rd: Whatua and 4th: Ngapuhi
On Wednesday, the year 10-12 students attended our annual options afternoon to browse the displays and discuss the 2024 subjects on offer with HODs and other staff. The hall was abuzz with informative, future-focused conversations.
Students should now have brought home their first option choice form where they are asked to rank their subject choices. They are to discuss this with their families and get it signed by a caregiver before returning the form to their whānau teacher by Friday, 15th September. Please support your child with this process. Our course directory will outline details about the courses and where they lead. You can also email our HODs or the teacher in charge of the course (listed in the directory).
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Our senior practice exams run from Monday 18th to Friday 22nd September. Year 13 students have study leave for this week and only need to attend school for their exams. Y11 and 12 classes will still run and students are expected to attend when they are not in an exam. Breaks will be given if they have just completed an exam. Please consult the End of Year Exam Timetable 2023 provided to help your student organise their week and refrain from booking appointments at these times. Senior students and their caregivers were emailed out a page of study tips, along with the exam timetable, last Friday. Year 10 Science students have been studying genetic conditions and the implications on human body systems. As part of their studies they have been carrying out a variety of dissections including hearts, lungs and full fetal pig organ systems. Our students have shown a real enthusiasm for the topic. We have been impressed with the level of respect the students have shown throughout the dissection process. If you have any concerns or queries about your child’s learning you are advised to email their teachers directly. All our teachers' email addresses are on our website in the 'Our Staff' section. |
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School news
On Friday 1st September the Year 12 Geography class attended a field trip to the Bream Bay Coast. The trip was to gather data for their research internal assessment. Students gathered data at 3 different locations: Ruakaka Beach, Uretiti Beach and Waipu Cove, and information included dune features and profiles, vegetation transects and observations of climate and other conditions at each site. The purpose was to see if there is a relationship between dune profile and dune vegetation. Thanks to Otamatea Community Services for the use of the community van
Tournament of Minds Challenge Day 7 students make up a team for Tournament of Minds. They come together to work on a creative challenge set by the national TOM director’s panel. They must do everything themselves, from getting the ideas, writing the script, making the props, and producing the presentation in front of judges. And then they have a round of facing a spontaneous challenge with another panel of judges.
This year, for the first time, Otamatea High School had a Tournament of Minds team. They aptly called themselves the oTOMatea team and came away with a worthy second place in the Secondary School Language Literature category.
The team members were Klyde Clarke, Micaiah Cochrane, Lili Gallo, Chloe Green, Emily Harvey-Lovell, Max Senior and Hunter Sim (who sadly fell ill on the morning of the challenge and couldn’t be there).
There presentation centred around the installing a statue of Wall-E (from the Disney movie) in Copenhagen in celebration of the city’s 50th year of being eco-friendly. The team’s Wall-E prop attracted much attention from members of the public and a comment by the judges that the “Wall-E statue (prop) was out of this world.”
In the spontaneous challenge they were judges as “excellent” in their group thinking processes and how well the students work together.
The team is looking forward to next year and hope that there will be another young team or teams coming through to build on the success this group has had.
Examination Supervisors The 2023 NCEA examinations take place between Monday 6th November and November 30th. Some of our examination sessions are very large and require extra supervisors. If you are interested in helping or would like to find out more information, please could you contact: Sarah Bearne: sarah.bearne@otamatea.school.nz These are paid positions, training is provided. Police vetting is required.
We are currently seeking exam assistants - reader/writers for the upcoming end of year exams. Some of our students need support to show their best efforts during the end of year exams. If you are available during the school day in November, and have good basic literacy skills please contact the Learning Support Coordinator by email: jessica.whitehead@otamatea.school.nz, or contact the school office to leave a message with your details. Police vetting is required, training is provided and this is a paid role.
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AIMS 3v3 Basket Ball 2023 This year 11,733 athletes from 373 different schools ventured to Tauranga to participate in the 2023 AIMS games. On Friday 1st September the Otamatea 3v3 Aims Basketball team traveled to Tauranga to play in a tournament against 27 other schools. Both mixed teams played their hearts out, and showed impeccable sportsmanship. Team A ended up 15th place, while Team B placed 21st. AIMS games is such an amazing experience for Year 7/8 students in so many different sporting codes. There will be information about AIMS games 2024 in Term 4 Te Panui. Term 4 sports events and training registrations open now. All students have been sent an email to their school email address with a google form included. This form needs to be completed if students wish to take part in term 4 sports. Round the Loop Race Our hugely popular annual race is on Friday 13th October. More details and how students can register can be found here. |
Sporting Achievements Has your child succeeded in any sports this year? There are sporting nomination forms available at the HUB for students to complete to ensure sporting achievement recognition. These forms will also be used to select the end of year prize giving major awards/trophies.The form can be emailed to be completed. Please email tina.holst@otamatea.school.nz.
Community Notices
Pet Day 2023
The date for Pet Day this year is Friday 13 October, Pet Day is open to all Otamatea High School students – you can rear and compete a Lamb, Calf or Chicken. For further information or to enter contact Pepe: jimandpep@xtra.co.nz Entries close last Friday of term 3.
