Principal's News

Round the Loop: Last Friday 187 Otamatea High School students took part in the annual "Round the Loop" race around the Maungaturoto Country Club walkway. It was a perfect day for the run with little wind and warm conditions. Well done to year 12 student Morgan Bull who won the race for the second consecutive year, finishing in a time of 12.45. Second place went to year 7 student Leo Fenney ahead of third place Dean Sheppard. Year 13 student Natalia Orchard took out the girls race in a time of 17.03, followed by Jaime McCarthny and Alicia Moir. Overall iwi results were as follows: 1st Whātua 2nd Maniapoto 3rd Arawa and 4th Ngapuhi. Well done to everyone who took part.

COVID: A reminder that COVID continues to circulate throughout our community so please remain vigilant. Positive cases still need to self-isolate for 7 days but asymptomatic household contacts can return to school subject to daily RATs. If your child displays COVID symptoms at school, it remains our policy to contact parents/caregivers to collect their child as soon as possible. We do have spare RATs available if needed.

Senior prizegiving and study leave: On Friday the 4th November we host our 2022 senior prizegiving in the school hall. We welcome back parents, family and whānau after being absent last year, so please join us for a 1.30pm start. There is no school for our year 7, 8 and 9 students on this day and buses will run as normal at 3.30pm. Seniors will find out this coming week if they have earned study leave from the 7th November. Those who have not yet earned study leave will continue to attend school to complete outstanding work and to earn additional credits towards their NCEA.

NCEA examinations: These begin on Monday 7th November and finish on Friday the 2nd December. Students must remember to bring their examination admission slips with them to each exam session, and to ensure they arrive early and in full school uniform. Teachers will be offering tutorial sessions during the exam period and students wanting extra help with their preparation should make the most of these. 

Senior Option Choices: Year 10, 11 and 12 students have now received their 2023 option forms to be completed by this Friday. Year 10 students must select English, mathematics and science, plus three other subjects - one from each option line. There are no restrictions for year 11 and 12 students, although year 12s may select only five NCEA level 3 subjects for next year, with their 6th being a study line. Please support your child with these very important option choices. Our 2023 Course Directory is available on our school website (under Our Curriculum) and provides detailed information about each course. 

Cellphones at School: Further to our consultation process over the past few weeks, the board of trustees has agreed to a schoolwide ban of cellphones for all year 7 to 10 students from the start of 2023. The current restrictions will remain for senior students. Thank you to all who too part in this survey.

Chromebooks 2023: A reminder that all year 10 to 13 students will need to bring a Chromebook in a hard shell case to school each day from the start of 2023. We encourage you to support our amazing local supplier 100% Fergus Appliances for your Chromebook purchase, but we have also partnered with PB Tech and Cyclone who have some good deals available. See our website: Our School => Student Chromebooks for more details.

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.

Dirk Smyth
Principal