Principal's News

Coming Up: NCEA examinations continue next week. Students attending these important end of year exams need to be at school on time, in the correct school uniform, with their admission slips. Seniors not granted study leave need to continue attending school until their outstanding work has been completed. We want all seniors passing their NCEA before the summer break.

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. Year 8s and 9s will also be making their option choices for 2023 later this month.

Staff Only day and PUM: Please note that Friday the 25th November is a staff only day. This is a Ministry of Education day for teachers to prepare for the extensive NCEA changes that are being rolled out from next year. We will be at Ruawai College for the day, along with teachers from Rodney College, and Dargaville High School. There will be no school for students, although seniors sitting NCEA exams will need to attend as usual. Buses will be running. On Tuesday the 29th November there is a paid union meeting for teachers at Rodney College, starting at 1.30pm. As a result, school will finish at 12.30pm on this day.

Kapa Haka: What an amazing performance from our kapa haka roopu who looked fantastic in their full dress, performing in the gym in front of the whole school on Thursday. Their practice at the weekend noho certainly paid off. The singing was in harmony, the choreography was excellent and our staff, students and guests were clearly very impressed, with rowdy applause after each piece. So proud of these students. Tino pai!

COVID: The number of COVID cases nationally has been trending upwards recently. A reminder that 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