From the Senior Leadership Team

It is hard to believe we are already at the start of term 3. We finished last term with our annual inter-iwi haka and waiata competition in the school gym, and the performances were outstanding. Well done to Whātua for taking first place this year, and thank you to whaea Mina and whaea Mata for being our judges this year. Over the holidays we had our school ball in the hall. The theme was Enchanted Forest and the decorations were amazing. The photo booth was very popular and our school band The Rubber Bands played a fantastic set. Our students conducted themselves very well and it was wonderful to see the effort they went to getting dressed up for the evening. A huge thank you to Ms Meachin for organising this event.

This term we welcome three new permanent teachers to our team: Evelyn Rippon and Tom Clarkson join our English department, and Jonathan Thorns joins our science department teaching junior science. We also welcome Tom de Haan who will be teaching PE and Health to our juniors. Tom is a fixed term appointment covering for Ms Croskery who is on maternity leave. We also welcome Sarah Bearne and Quentin Clough back to our science department for term 3 who are kindly covering these classes until our new overseas appointment arrives in term 4. 

We now have six extra classrooms, which is a welcome relief given how rapidly our school role has increased over the past two years. These new classrooms will be known as G-block; two will be year 7/8 syndicate classrooms and the remaining four will be senior English classrooms. The Ministry of Education is currently arranging for another six classrooms to be on site from October this year, ready for 2024. Our year 13s will be very pleased to have their study room available to them this term.

Term 3 is a busy term, with parent teacher interviews on Wednesday the 26th July. With so many students away from school due to sickness at the end of last term, this is an important opportunity to touch base with your child's teachers and ensure your child is on track to succeed this year. This is especially important for seniors who will have their practice examinations at the end of term. Open Day is on the 10th August this year and it promises to be bigger than ever, with our roll expected to increase to well over 700 students next year. A reminder that although we do have an enrolment zone, we will likely have some places next year for out of home zone students in years 7, 12 and 13. Our enrolment evenings this term are on the 23rd August and the 6th of September.

We also host Reporoa College from Sunday the 13th to Tuesday the 15th of August. This will be the 59th year of this long running exchange and we look forward to another exciting few days of inter-school sports and debating.

A reminder that it is illegal to vape (or smoke) at school or on the school buses. We take a very strict approach to students who breach this law, which could result in stand-downs and suspensions for repeat offenders. Please ensure that your child is not bringing vaping devices to school. Students found vaping on the bus will, at minimum, be banned from riding on the bus, and will have to find alternative ways of getting to school each day. For more information on vaping, please see this link

Mid-year progress reports were emailed out at the end of term. If you have not received a copy for each of your children please contact our school office. The booking system for parent interviews is now open. A separate email with details about booking interviews was sent last week. Instructions are also included later in this newsletter. We encourage you to meet with your student's subject teachers and if you have pastoral concerns about your child it may be beneficial to book an appointment with their dean or whānau teacher as well.