Principal's News

Coming Up: This week we have the "My Iwi Rules" inter iwi competion running in H1, where students will compete to make the best pizza. I know the judges are looking forward to this. Year 9 and 10 end of year examinations start on Monday the 21st of November. Students need to be well prepared as these results will determine overall grades for the year, and set the groundwork for students going into years 10 and 11 next year. With many students away on Friday owing to the terrible weather, it is important that they catch up on missed work this week. Year 8s and 9s will also be making their option choices for 2023 later this month.

Kapa Haka: I was very impressed with our kapa haka group's full dress rehearsal performance at school on Saturday, as part of their weekend noho. Their hard work has certainly been paying off. The singing and choreography was excellent and the group looked stunning in their full dress. This Thursday they will perform for the whole school in the gym.

Study Leave, Tutorials and NCEA Examinations: Senior students who have not been granted study leave have been at school for the past week completing outstanding work, and earning additional NCEA credits. As part of this, on Monday and Friday, a group of seniors completed a Life Skills course in the library which, from the feedback I have gained, they found to be very valuable. NCEA examinations continue this week, and all students must arrive on time, be well prepared, in full school uniform and with their examination admission slips. Teachers continue to offer a number of tutorials during the exam period and I strongly encourage students to attend these.

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.

COVID and NCEA Examinations: If a student tests positive for COVID-19 and is not able to sit their exams during the period that they are required to isolate please email Huia Coll and let her know.  Students will need to provide a screenshot of the text they receive from the Ministry of Health upon reporting the positive case to them.  This is all the evidence required for the school to apply for a derived grade. Please do not go to the doctors to get a medical certificate. If students arrive at their examination with cold or flu-like symptoms, they will be asked to complete a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) and will only be permitted to enter the exam room if the test is negative. Students are encouraged to wear masks.

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