Principal's News

He Maara Hou: He Maara Hou is a programme offered at Otamatea High School that aims to support young women to complete secondary education by providing resources and tools, and by enabling reconnection with cultural heritage and identity through whanaungatanga. We have a number of girls involved in He Maara Hou and under the guidance of mentors Gabriel Paikea and Tashae Paikea these students are building their confidence and capabilities, as well as building connections to their whānau.

On Thursday the He Maara Hou girls invited staff to a free lunch in the hall, and what a treat it turned out to be! The girls had done all the fundraising themselves, planned the menu, prepared the tables and organised a delicious hangi for staff to enjoy. The dessert was amazing too. They even organised a Matariki quiz to keep us entertained. I am extremely proud of these girls and the staff were all very impressed with their efforts. Tino pai!

Senior Study Day: A reminder that there will be no school on Monday the 29th August for year 7, 8, 9 and 10 students. All senior students (years 11 to 13) are expected to attend. We are running a compulsory study skills and coaching programme to equip our seniors with the skills required to be successful students, and to have confidence to go into the workplace. Seniors may wear appropriate mufti to school on Monday.

Year 10 Food: Congratulations to each of the groups in Ms Meachin's year 10 Food Tech class who, last Friday, prepared three course meals for a group of hungry staff members, who were the judges on the day. Each group prepared a starter, a main meal and a dessert and the quality of the dishes was excellent. It felt a bit like Master Chef Otamatea. I hope these students will continue with level 1 Hospitality as a subject next year.

Boys Basketball Success: The senior boys team went to Whangarei on Wednesday to take part in the senior boys basketball cup competition. The team did well in their pool games, winning all three matches, against Kamo High, Okaihau, and Kaikohe schools. In the semi final they faced Tikipunga and produced an excellent performance to put them into the final. Kaitaia College were their opponents and proved too strong for our boys. It was an excellent day, with the boys being a credit to the school. Well done!

                                        Basketball team                                                                                                                                                         Alternative Education trip to Mt Ruapehu

2023 Enrolment Evening: We enrolled over 90 new students on Wednesday night and it was a real pleasure to meet so many of the students who will be joining us next year. Our next enrolment evening is on the 6th of September. We will have an enrolment scheme in place for next year and any out of zone enrolments must have their applications in by the 7th September at the latest. This includes the enrolment of any siblings who are entitled to enrol under the "grandparenting" provision of the enrolment scheme. It is likely that the school will have a number of out-of-zone places available in years 7, 12 and 13 for 2023. 

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.

All the best to our netball team who are off to compete at UNISS 2022. Howick Pakuranga Netball Centre are hosting the tournament and with the 2020 and 2021 tournaments having been cancelled due to COVID, I know the girls are itching to improve on their 2019 placing. All the best also to our mixed hockey team who are competing in tournament week in Whangarei. The team has been practising hard and I am looking forward to hearing of their results. Our kapa haka group are having another noho this weekend, the second in a row. I am impressed with the dedication these students are showing, many of whom will have been at school every day for the past two weeks.

Ngā mihi
Dirk Smyth