From the Senior Leadership Team

Thank you to all the year 6 students and teachers from our feeder schools who came to Otamatea High School today for our annual fun day. This is a wonderful opportunity for next year's Year 7 students to get to know the school a little better, and to meet some of the year 7 teachers. Despite the showers, they all had a great deal of fun and there was a real excitement about them coming here next year. Well done to Mrs Antunovich and her team for organising such a fun day.

At the end of this year we will farewell Ms Huia Coll - our Deputy Principal in charge of teaching and learning. Ms Coll will be taking up a new position at Whangarei Boys High School in 2024. Ms Coll is a natural leader, and with her strong educational expertise, her calm purposeful leadership qualities, as well as her communication, interpersonal and oranisational skills, she will be sorely missed. I know it is only a question of time before Ms Coll becomes a principal herself. Recently we have been looking for a replacement and I am very pleased to announce that Nyree Antunovich will be joining our senior leadership team next year as our new deputy principal. 

Last night was our annual Leavers Dinner, held at the Three Furlongs in Kaiwaka. This event is an opportunity to say goodbye to our year 13s and to celebrate this outstanding group of young adults who are on the cusp of going out into the world on their own. This cohort of students have weathered a storm unlike any other, navigated uncharted territory, and somehow managed to emerge from this stronger and wiser. Yes, I'm talking about the COVID period, the flooding, the cyclone, the road closures, and all the teacher strikes - a time that has tested not only their patience but their collective resilience and adaptability as well. A special thank you to our head prefects Carla and John for their strong leadership this year. 

Next Friday the 3rd of November is our senior prizegiving, which will be held in the hall from 1.30pm to 3.30pm. All family and whānau are invited to attend to celebrate and acknowledge the successes of our senior students. There will be some drinks and nibbles in E-block after prize-giving has ended. Please note that there is no school for year 7, 8 and 9 students on this day.

Congratulations to our chess team who recently participated in the chess Nationals at Alfriston College last week. The school team is also participating in the Northland Chess Championship in Kerikeri tomorrow and we wish them all the best. We will include a full write up of their success in next week's Te Panui.

1) Next week some year 10 Students will be sitting their Literacy and/or Numeracy co-requisite assessments.  By now, your child should know which standards (Reading, Writing or Numeracy) they are sitting. If they are not sure, please ask them to check with their English or Mathematics teacher (or Huia Coll) on Monday.

ALL year 10 students must bring their own chromebook to school for these assessments.

Your child must also have a log in to access the NZQA website.  Most students will have this already, but will need to check that they know what their password is to access NZQA.  Mathematics, English and Whānau teachers can support your child with this.  Without this login, your child will not be able to sit the assessment.

The assessment schedule is as follows:

Tuesday 31 October - Period 1	Wednesday 1 November - Period 1	Thursday 2 November - Period 1
Writing - hall	Reading - Library	Numeracy - hall

2) A reminder that all senior students should have log in credentials for the NZQA website by now.  This allows them to access digital examinations and their record of learning.

Senior Students (Y11-13) Examination Tutorials - End of Year 2023

Otamatea High School teachers are running the following tutorials to assist students in their end of year examination preparation. Year 11 and 12 students must wear the correct school uniform when attending these tutorials. All students must sign in and out at the Rongo or at the main office, when arriving or leaving school. Students needing a study space after or before their tutorial session should go to the study classroom.
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With only three events left, inter iwi competition remains strong with the only My iwi rules and the quiz to go the eke noa” Hoe (the paddle) is very close with only 6 points separating the top three placings at the moment. The champions cup has only one event to go. Whatua has an unbeatable lead but second place is very close with a win in the junior Athletics being worth 15 points.