School news

Camps and Activities Week

During Week 8 of this term, we have Camps and Activities Week. All Year 10 students will attend a four-day camp at Kai Iwi Lakes. Years 7, 8, and 9 will follow their regular timetable from Monday to Wednesday.
On Thursday, December 5th, and Friday, December 6th, students will have the opportunity to participate in a variety of school-based activities and trips no timetabled classes will be running on these days.

A really inspiring Inspiring the Future event

On Wednesday 20 November all the Year 8 students were involved in an Inspiring the Future event. Through a website developed by the Tertiary Education Commission, a number of “role models” were invited and to make up the number we needed we recruited members from the community to come along.

First the role models come in and answer students’ yes, no and maybe questions. Students then guess the role models’ careers. The role models go out and change into their work clothes or bring in some props to show what they do.

We were privileged to have the general manager of Te Arai Links, the store manager of Farm Source in Maungaturoto, Kaipara District Council’s Senior Resource Planner, a forester and a molecular protein engineer and his assistant who is a nurse and also his wife.

Everyone had a unique perspective from which the students could benefit. After students knew what the role models’ careers were, they had time to make small groups and ask more in-depth questions.

The photos show the students talking to the role models, the role models after the reveal and Dr Armand Nosovich explaining about the DNA and protein “machines” he makes to combat cancer. These “machines” are a nanometer small and look like the toy on the desk.

Business Sprint Day 2024

On Tuesday, the 12th of November, Otamatea High School hosted a Business Sprint Day for Year 10 Commerce Students and a select few year 9s who were interested in taking Commerce next year. This single day event is facilitated by The Young Enterprise Scheme and is about the students working in groups to come up with a solution to a problem with a product that interests them, while considering how it could be made more sustainable. 

Five teams, comprising 24 students worked together to conceptualise, design and plan their products. After a day of vigorous activities and small competitions, the students presented their final product to the other teams and a panel of 3 judges from our community. 

All the students came up with fantastic ideas and it was wonderful to see students overcome their hesitation with public speaking. There were two winning teams, with 'ESP' showcasing their well thought out paintbrush product, and 'Eco-link' who wowed with the presentation of their magnetic computer mouse. 

A special thank you goes to Terri, Eileen and Elizabeth who judged the event and gave useful feedback and encouragement to the students. 

School Athletics day year 7 and 8

This year athletics was held on Friday 8th November. The day was hot and sunny with a nice amount of cloud cover throughout the day.
The students showed great athleticism in both the track and field events.

Congratulations go to the following students who broke records on the day.

Mia Asuncion – Year 8 girls
200m record of 30.60s, beating Aleisha Brett’s record of 30.74s set in 1995.

Tama Freer-Aperehama - Year 8 boys
Shot put record of 11m 8cm, beating Dakota Jamieson’s record of 10m 6cm set in 2023.

Triston Smythe - Year 8 boys
High Jump record of 1m 50cm, beating Dakota Jamieson’s record of 1m 45cm set in 2023.

Tina Holst
Sport Coordinator

Library News

The library has opened back up this week, after a short closure period for exams and stocktake.  Excitingly, our order for extra Summer Reads from the National Library has arrived and have made it to the shelves. These are available to be loaned throughout the summer holidays and are due back at the end of February 2025.There are lots of great reads with red covers, perfect for filling that bingo square.  

I have received lots of questions about the Summer Reading Bingo. It is a read to your ability, which does sometimes mean you read a book  you have read before or one that is at an easy reading level because it's more enjoyable. Not finishing a book is fine as well, not every book is interesting to everyone. Audio books qualify as do magazines and picture books. All I ask is that you are honest with yourself when completing the sheet. I am always looking for book recommendations and reviews.

For those who are interested , The Grace Year by Kim Liggett is this Terms Staff book club read. We have several copies in the library available. We have chosen to run the book club in an informal style, where there is an optional set read but gatherings are more around what we have read recently,  want to read, genre discussions and general bibliophile discussion. 

Nestled amongst the books, this term, are the Fabulous artworks of the Y10's who's folios have replaced the Level 1's that were on show for the Senior Prize-giving.  It is really interesting to see the different interpretations and the students' creativity. There has been some lovely feedback, and remarks, and it's been a pleasure to have them up for display. 

Not only does Art develop creativity which helps with problem solving but it is also an important component of literacy development. As an artist it is important but also as the viewer. Being able to view something be it a sculpture, a painting or photograph and to critically analyse it and form an opinion are the same skills tested in literacy standards across the schooling system. 

Thank you to Ms Barclay-Clist, and the Level 1 and Y 10 art students for sharing your work and your creativity with us. 

Our annual Ōtamatea Toi Māori Kapa Haka Festival is happening Saturday 30th November held at the High School.

Great family day out with performances from schools all around the Kaipara area and stalls, raffles and giveaways.

Come along for a family day out.
This event is cash only

Kaiwaka Athletic Club

After having several years in recess we are planning on meeting again.

We will be having a muster on Wednesday 6 th November at 5pm. This will be at Otamatea High School – field by the swimming pool. We cater for all ages (including pre-schoolers).
We do have an expectation that caregivers will stay for the duration as we need help with events as well as supervision of the youngsters.

Please remember a drink bottle and warm clothes as the evenings can be cool.

We are fortunate to have the support of the High School and will be operating until Wednesday, 11th December 2024. In 2025 we will commence on Wednesday 5th February and finish on Wednesday 3rd April (this is just prior to daylight saving ending).

If you have any queries, don’t hesitate to call me on 021 142 0357 or email me at: eileen.parsons@otamatea.school.nz.

Kind regards - Eileen

School Stationery

We would like to encourage our families to order their 2025 stationery on-line from OfficeMax or OPD (Baigents Whangarei). The school can earn rewards. 

The OfficeMax online site will be opened beginning December  click on link https://www.myschool.co.nz/ to access stationery lists.

OPD link to the website is www.nzschoolshop.co.nz

Chromebooks

At Otamatea High School, it is expected that all students from years 10-13 bring a Chromebook to school each day to assist with their learning. The Chromebook should be charged and in a protective case. 

If whānau are not able to provide a Chromebook each day for their child(ren), it is vital we know as early as possible so that we can support you in providing this important piece of equipment for your child's learning.  

Please fill in and submit the form below whether or not you are able to provide a Chromebook for your child.

https://forms.gle/YtWvikcHxMNHqfWJ6

'Stray Chromebook Return Amnesty'

Please check under beds in bags, laundry hampers, wardrobes etc. 
Any chromebook to be returned to the library in any condition no questions asked.
Takoha chromebooks exempted, unless no longer needed.

Report an absence

You can notify the school of an absence using the portal, by phone at 0800 682 628, option 1, or by email at absence@otamatea.school.nz.
The old google form is no longer in use, our school website will take you to the portal if you click on 'Report an Absence'. Please note that you need to log on to the portal before you will see the option to do this.
Our school portal has been updated and the new address is https://otamatea.school.kiwi/
If you need help with accessing this please email Mrs Cadman alison.cadman@otamatea.school.nz

For any bus passes, after school arrangements, student needs or requests, please email studentcentre@otamatea.school.nz