Te Pānui o Otamatea
School Notices 22 March 2024
Calendar of Events |
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| Monday 25 March | EOTC Waipu Cove Zonation Trip | |
| Tuesday 26 March | ||
| Wednesday 27 March | EOTC L2PHED & SPLD Urupukapuka Trip EOTC Tennis Champs EOTC Paddleboarding Y7-8 |
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| Thursday 28 March | EOTC L2PHED & SPLD Urupukapuka Trip | |
| Friday 29 March | GOOD FRIDAY - no school | |
| Monday 1 April | EASTER MONDAY - no school | |
| Tuesday 2 April | EASTER SCHOOL HOLIDAY - no school | |
| Wednesday 3 April | Board of Trustees Meeting | |
| Thursday 4 April | EOTC Learner Licence Theory Test EOTC Northland Swimming Y9-13 |
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| Friday 5 April | EOTC Stand up Paddle Board Y9-13 | |
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From the Senior Leadership Team
Each week we offer a number of EOTC (Education Outside The Classroom) and extra-curricular events at Otamatea High School. Participating in such events enriches the educational experience of our students, promotes personal growth, and prepares them for success in various aspects of their lives by promoting teamwork, developing leadership skills and helping to foster friendships and a sense of belonging among our learners. Congratulations to all students who participated in our annual triathlon event on Wednesday. The weather was fantastic and it was great to see so many students doing their best on the day. On Tuesday our four head prefects had an opportunity to meet the head prefects from Dargaville High School (who hosted the hui), Ruawai College and Rodney College. This happens each term and we will be hosting this in term 2. It was a great opportunity for the head prefects to share their experiences and to get to know each other. Tomorrow our year 13s head to Trigg stadium in Whangarei for this year's Relay for Life event - a fundraiser for the Cancer Society. Our students have already raised $11000 - an incredible effort! We have an excellent reputation at this event and I know our year 13s will thoroughly enjoy their weekend, although there will no doubt be some very tired legs come Sunday morning. See here for more details.
On Thursday afternoon we had a practice emergency evacuation at school. Our staff and students knew the drill and we were very impressed with how quickly and orderly everyone gathered on the courts for the roll call. We plan on doing these each term.
The board of trustees is making good progress on the appointment of our new principal, for a term 3 start. You will find more information about this process in this newsletter below Community notices. Parents/caregivers and whānau will have an opportunity to meet Michael Leach, who is advising the board on the appointment process, on Monday the 8th of April from 2.00 pm until 6.00pm.
Grip Leadership Conference
Last Thursday the prefect team had a very early start and left school at 6am with Mr Cooling and Mrs Baker to travel to Auckland for the GRIP leadership conference, where we had the opportunity to learn valuable leadership skills, from public speaking to running school events and the skills that make a good leader. The day was very long but the speakers managed to keep the large number of school students engaged through many leadership skill based competitions where Matai even had the opportunity to showcase his moonwalk. There were different electives available for us to choose between which gave us plenty of ideas of how we can help contribute to making Otamatea a better school environment and provided us with new skills which we look forward to making use of in our roles as student leaders of the school.
Sophie Lawson Deputy Head Girl
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Showcasing previous students doing amazing things!
Well done to Ben Morrison, who was a previous student at Otamatea High School.
Over the weekend, Ben finished 3rd in the New Zealand Grand Prix!
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School news
Northland Athletics
We took 22 Students to the Northland Athletics at Kensington Stadium in Whangarei.
Our amazing students who placed in the top 3 were:
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Junior Boys |
Intermediate |
Senior |
It was an amazing day and all the students made us proud. Congratulations to our winners and to all students who competed.
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Secondary School National Sprint Champs
Finley competed on Monday 18th and Tuesday 19th at the 2024 Secondary School National Sprint Champs held at Tikitapu in Rotorua. He competed in the U16 Boys - W1 250m race. The blustery conditions made racing a little challenging, he had a slow start but managed to finish 8th. This meant he qualified for Te Takere division semi-final. Finley was more prepared for his heat and managed 4th, his time was fast enough and put him into the finals. Finley's final was a more even encounter, with the field pushing each other all the way to the finish line. Finley placed 7th in his final and he was so excited with his performance. We are all so proud of Finley's awesome achievement.
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2024 School Triathlon
A perfect windless sunny day set the scene for the triathlon. Congratulations to all the students who participated.
A huge thankyou to all the students, staff and community individuals who helped with set up for the day and marshalling during the races. The inter iwi competition was very closely fought. 1 st Whatua, 2 nd Ngapuhi, 3 rd Arawa, 4 th Maniapoto.
Year 7 and 8 – 200 m swim/3 km bike/1.5km run
Girls
1 st Molly McCarthny - 28.23s
Boys
1 st Jack Brown - 31.32s
Teams Girls
1 st Ellisa Mackenzie, Zene Prinsloo, Marley Sheppard - 26.02s
Teams Boys/Mixed
1 st Maci Hutchinson Griffin, Shaka Kimani, Mia Asuncion - 21.08s
2 nd Mason Forsyth-Hall, Sam Hoddle, Reef Gardner-Baker - 22.29s
3 rd Hunter Gardner, Cam Davies, Esme Worsfold - 23.10s
Year 9 – 13 Triathlon – 300 m swim/3 km bike/3 km run
Girls
1 st Denika Clooney - 30.20ss
2 nd Alicia Moir - 35.50s
Teams Girls
1 st Jade Fox, Jessica Cowpland, Aimee Harrison - 34.49s
2 nd Jaimee McCarthny, Krystal Reynolds, Ella Sheppard - 39.02s
3 rd Zoe Prinsloo, Genevieve Donn - 39.11s
Teams Mixed/Boys
1 st Sonya Steiner, Harrison Quinn, Oliver Rippon - 27.44s
2 nd Blake Forsyth-Hall, Allistair Martin, Luca Troost - 28.37s
3 rd Harry Wood, Kyle Sheppard, Feinda Garton - 38.57s
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First Aid Course
On Tuesday, 20 of our senior students successfully completed a First Aid course with Mark Judge from First Training. This course was organised by our Gateway Coordinator and funded through the Gateway programme. As well as gaining their First Aid Certificate the students also all earned five Level 2-3 credits to put towards their NCEA qualification.
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Channeling your inner awesomeness!
Good2Great is a great initiative from a fantastic organisation, Youthline. They run four of these days a year, for four lucky schools. This year Otamatea was one of them. Good2Great is a full-day workshop for rangatahi and is all about recognising their inner awesomeness and unleashing it on the world. We all encounter tricky situations and this programme gives rangatahi simple tools to manage them. They learnt skills to manage stress, built self-confidence, unpacked some understanding regarding boundaries, developed their communication skills, and completed some self-reflection. It is not about fixing anything, it is about recognising that we are great and this course gives our students opportunities to unleash their inner greatness upon the world. This fits in really well with our school vision ready for the world.
The guest speaker was netballer, Maia Wilson - Northern Stars captain and Silver Fern. Having someone like this come to school doesn't happen very often. She was really engaging and got the Year 10's moving.
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2024 Suess reading
Our annual Suess in the library was held on the 1st March this year. As usual, our lovely Aunty Bosch read to our excited students. Reading aloud helps create connections to each other and is beneficial to people of all ages. Dr Suess' books help foster rhyming, word recognition and creativity. Yertle the Turtle is a firm favourite, every year. Picture books, in particular Sophisticated Picture Books have a high ratio of complex words and themes. Our thanks to Andrew at The Nook Bookshop in Wellsford for our new copies of some our favourites.
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Photolife - School Photos
Parents/caregivers have been emailed their child’s unique Key Code to go online to view and purchase 2024 School Photos.
Please check your spam folder if you haven't received an email.
***FREE DELIVERY EXPIRES Midnight Sunday 7th APRIL ***
Parent Queries – Please contact Photolife on: enquiries@photolife.co.nz
Otamatea Netball Club
Fees for the 2024 season are: Yr 7-8 $110 and Yr 9-13 $135. Fees need to be paid by the 9th of April (cash or direct credit to bank account 12-3095-0017174-00 ref child's name).
Players will not be able to take the court until their fees are paid or payment arrangement is made with the club.
If you are unable to make full payment by the 9th April please contact the club (otamateanetball@gmail.com) by the 27th of March to make a payment plan.
Community Notices
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Principal Recruitment Update
Kia ora Otamatea High School Community,
The school’s search for a new Principal - Tumuaki, is well and truly underway. This represents an exciting opportunity for the school board to select a high-quality candidate to lead the school moving forward.
As part of this process, we ask for community consultation on the attributes you want to see in our next leader.
The board has engaged Edsolnz to help us appoint the next principal. As part of this process, the board is eager to engage with the community about the skills, qualities, and characteristics you want to see in our next principal.
Michael Leach (Edsolnz) will gather this information by being available in the office at the school, on the 8 th April, 2024, from 2.00 pm until 6.00pm for in-person feedback.
They can also be contacted anytime via email at Michael@edsolnz.co.nz or Peter@edsolnz.co.nz.
As stakeholders, we hope you will participate in this consultation, as your thoughts and ideas will be invaluable.
Click here for Principal Appointment Process
Ngā mihi nui,
Otamatea High School Board of Trustees