Principal's News

Parent Teacher Interviews: Thank you to all the parents and caregivers who attended our second parent teacher interviews on Wednesday afternoon. We had almost 1000 appointments on the day and although most of the parents I spoke to were happy with the children's progress, quite a few students will need to work much harder for the rest of the year to achieve the results of which they are capable.

Chromebooks for 2023: Our prefects handed our fliers at our parent teacher interview evening on Wednesday night, explaining that all year 10 to 13 students will need to bring a Chromebook to school each day from the start of next year. These Chromebook will need to be protected in a hard shell case. We need to provide our students with access to the best learning opportunities possible, and e-learning is an essential part of that. Multiple lockdowns over the past two years have also highlighted the importance of remote learning, and students with dedicated access to a reliable and suitable device are able to learn from home more effectively, with minimal disruption. We understand that the start of the school year brings many expenses. However, having a Chromebook is a sound investment and an important part of your child’s journey through the school, and ensures they are able to participate fully in the teaching and learning in their classes. We want parents and caregivers to have plenty of time to prepare for 2023. We are currently working with several Chromebook providers to offer you the best Chromebook deals available and will be making this information available to you over the coming weeks. If you cannot afford a Chromebook for your child please contact Mrs Coll at huia.coll@otamatea.school.nz to find out how we can help.

Science fair projects: These have been on display this past week at the Maungaturoto Country Club and I have been very impressed with the quality of work our students have produced. Well done to all students who received awards for their projects. Who would have thought that plants prefer opera to Hip Hop music, or that you could extract the actual iron particles from breakfast cereals.

Open Day: Our annual Open Day is coming up on Thursday the 11th of August. We have been promoting this day to our feeder schools so please mark this date in your calendars if you have children intending on coming to Otamatea High School next year. Open Day is a fun, interactive day that showcases many of the exciting subjects that we offer here, and is very popular with our visiting primary school students.

Work Experience for Year 10s: There will be no school for year 10s on the 11th August. This is their annual work experience day. Year 10s are expected to arrange, with the support of their parents/caregivers and whānau, a day working alongside somebody, in an area that they have an interest in. It could be a family member, a neighbour or friend. Please contact Mrs van den Berg, our careers advisor, should you have any questions about this day.

Staff Only Day: A reminder that Tuesday 16th August is another 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 now 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 the 19th August.

Board Elections: These are coming up soon. Nominations are now open and close on 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.

New History Prize: Thank you to the The Board of the Kauri Museum whi have agreed to award our top history student at Otamatea School with a cash prize of $250. This will encourage an interest in history and acknowledges the skillset (research, literacy and critical thinking skills) required to succeed in history. The prize will be awarded at senior prizegiving.

Sporting Success: Congratulations to all students who have been participating in sporting events this past week. Next weekend we head to Reporoa for our annual exchange, a tradition that has been going for over 50 years. I am confident we will continue our run of recent success, and make some new friends in the process.

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