Kia ora Parents and Caregivers,

We have really enjoyed seeing our senior students back in class this week, re-engaging with their teachers and connecting with friends. It was helpful to spend a day with each year level, as we established our new protocols and processes.

Now that we have those protocols and processes in place, we have a much clearer picture of how our school should operate over the next three weeks. Here’s our confirmed timetable:

Monday 1 November

All Year 12 and 13 students who are able to attend classes onsite.

Tuesday 2 November – Wednesday 17 November
All Year 11, 12 and 13 students who are able to attend classes onsite.

Thursday 18 November – Friday 19 November
Study Leave

Monday 22 November – Tuesday 14 December

NCEA Exams

As we head towards exams, I’m pleased to report that the vast majority of our students are tracking well towards achieving NCEA. This week in class we guided students to answer the following questions:

What are you trying to achieve?
What do you need to achieve it?
What are the gaps you need assistance with?

This is not a normal year, however understanding what you need enables you to prioritise time and set goals around what you like to achieve beyond this. Experience from 2020 has shown many students were unaware of how close they were to achieving their NCEA certificate or UE and going forward, they found completing this exercise, with help, was very motivating.

I hope you can have a conversation with your daughter this weekend about these topics, in her final preparation for exams. Every student should understand the Unexpected Event Grades and how they work. You can find an article on UEGs in this newsletter.

If any senior students who were unable to be in class this week and would like assistance to answer the questions above, please contact us. In the first instance they should approach their teachers, Deans or Senior Leadership staff member responsible for their year level.

One of the biggest disappointments for our senior school has been the cancellation of our end-of-year events. However, we will be celebrating and acknowledging our students, including a virtual Sports Awards ceremony next Thursday, 4 November. This will be pre-recorded with no students present, and available to view on Thursday. There are more details in this newsletter under “Sports” and we’ll also publicise it on our Facebook and website.

Have an enjoyable weekend – although the weather forecast doesn’t look conducive to holding outdoor picnics!

Kindest regards

Jane Stanley
Principal