Relay for Life Concert: A massive thank you to Mr Blake and his team for putting together last night's Relay for Life fundraiser concert held here in the school hall. It was a wonderfully entertaining evening, with stellar performances from staff, students, and our very special guests John E Clist, Raniera Littlejohn, and the popular Mangawhai band Sojourn. Next weekend staff and students will be in Whangarei for the Relay for Life event at Kensington Stadium.

Strike Action: Secondary teacher members of the PPTA have voted for a second one-day national strike on Wednesday the 29 March. The PPTA and the Ministry of Education have been in mediation over the last week and were meeting again today, so there is still a chance that the strike will be called off. Secondary teachers across the country are serious about getting a new collective agreement - the last one expired over 6 months ago - with salaries and conditions that will stem the worsening secondary teacher shortage throughout New Zealand, so I urge you to please show your support for our hardworking teachers. I will provide a strike update to our school community on Monday.

ASH Survey Results: The latest ASH results have been released. This is a survey of year 10 students across New Zealand, looking at their smoking and vaping behaviours. It shows that although cigarette smoking is very uncommon among this year group, vaping levels remain high.  Please remind your child that vaping at school is illegal and potentially harmful to one's health, and that we take vaping on school grounds very seriously. If your child does vape, please make sure that no vaping devices or equipment are brought to school.

Cyber Bullying: This week we have been investigating very serious incidents of cyber bullying/harassment against one of our students. Several photos, including one very disturbing photo, have been shared via social media, in what appear to be deliberate attempts to humiliate and harm the student concerned. This matter has been reported to the police and to Netsafe and there are a number of legal issues that may be looked at, including: making false claims about the identity of those in the photos; sharing images online without consent, breaches of the Harmful Digital Communications Act, and possession of harmful material. Following our own investigations we have decided to take disciplinary action against three students. 

I encourage all parents/caregivers to discuss cyber safety with their children over the weekend. Netsafe is an excellent website, full of help and resources on how to stay safe online. It is almost impossible to reverse the damage done through cyber bullying because of the permanent digital footprint that is created - essentially creating a "cyber tattoo" - that cannot be removed. Otamatea High School has a schoolwide cellphone ban for all students in years 7 to 10. We need parents/caregivers' support in enforcing this.  Since introducing this ban we are seeing students being more sociable and playing more games together during break times. It is also reducing distractions in the classroom. Without constant notifications and social media updates, students are paying more attention to their lessons. Please ensure your Y7 -10 child's phone is at home when they leave for school each morning. If you are allowing your child to bring their phone to school, then you could be contributing to these types of poor behaviours.

Kapa Haka: Congratulations to our kapa haka roopu on a successful noho here at school last weekend. A small contingent of our students also had the privilege of opening the Earth Beats festival in Topora this week, which was a wonderful experience for these students. Our kapa haka roopu are working hard in preparation for the upcoming Te Tai Tokerau Festival in May, and have another noho here at school next weekend. 

Ruawai Trip: On Monday the principal and the head prefects visited Ruawai College. Otamatea High School, Rodney College, Dargaville High School and Ruawai College take it in turns hosting these termly get-togethers, and they are wonderful opportunities for our student leaders to meet the leaders of our neighbouring schools, and of course for the principals to network and share ideas with each other. Our prefects conducted themselves extremely well and were a credit to our school. Next term we'll be visiting Dargaville High School. 

On Tuesday we held a Careers Roadshow in our school hall for Year 9-13 students to explore some of their options for future career and study pathways.  We had 50 representatives from 35 different organisations, including universities, armed forces, NZ Customs, trade organisations and technical institutes. Many stall holders offered free pens, lollies and interactive games to attract the students to their displays so they could talk to them about the opportunities on offer.  A highlight for some was the large MOG and canon that the army had on display outside. Many students took information home to discuss with their whānau. Please encourage these conversations as it is never too early to start exploring, and planning for, possible careers.

Chromebooks: A reminder that all year 10-13 students should be bringing their chromebooks to school each day, fully charged and in a case, ready for learning.  There is a small number of students who are still not bringing their chromebooks regularly which impacts on their learning.  Teachers are including the use of chromebooks in their lessons and for senior students chromebooks are an essential part of their assessments.  Thank you to those who continue to meet our school expectations around Chromebooks.

Coming up on Thursday 30th March we have our first school mufti day to raise funds for Relay for Life.  A gold coin donation would be appreciated in support of this fantastic cause.  A reasonable standard of dress is expected of students, please refer to our website for details.

Thursday after school from 6.30 to 9.30 we will be hosting our first school social for the year.  All students are welcome to attend.  The cost is $7, food and drinks will also be available to purchase, please bring cash as Eftpos will not be available.   Students attending the social must be dropped off at school by a parent or caregiver between 6.30pm and 7pm and collected at 9.30pm.  All funds raised at this event will be donated to Relay for Life.

"From the archives"

This beautiful black and white photograph of a school band was found deep in the archives but we aren't sure who the students are!  If you recognise anyone in this photo, or have any other information (such as where they might have performed) let us know.  

Our Science Department

On Friday the 17th of March, the Level 2 Biology classes took a day trip to Waipu Cove. This was to gather data for investigating the patterns on the Rocky Shore NCEA assessment. The weather forecast was dubious but we had no rain and it ended up being a beautiful day, with lots good data and seeing some interesting species; octopus, crabs and various tidal zoned organisms. We even witnessed some interspecific competition for the prime placed transactions lines between 2 other rivals school. Thanks Mr Burnell and Mrs Baker for organising it. 

Our Social Sciences Department

Last week the Year 11 Business Studies group was lucky enough to have Debbie Hastie from Fonterra come and visit the class. She led a fascinating discussion about how Fonterra recruits and operates, and it was wonderful for the students to gain such an in-depth insight into the workings of such a major local business. Students were interested in the different types of recruitment and recruitment tools, what it was like to work for a large corporation, different job profiles within the company, the difference between union-negotiated contracts and individual contracts, as well as protocols and processes around induction, site safety, and food hygiene. Perhaps the most popular element of the discussion was that around salaries, and students were very keen to learn about remuneration! This was great opportunity for our students to glimpse into the workings of New Zealand's largest company, which is responsible for almost a third of the world's dairy exports. We would very much like to thank Debbie Hastie from Fonterra for taking the time to provide this learning opportunity for our students.