Getting Ready for Term 2

Friday, 26th April 2024 at 3:32pm

Kia ora e te whānau, I hope that the last two weeks have gone well for you and your whānau.

We’ve had a busy time at school over the holiday break with two buildings being re-roofed and the old C Block girls’ toilets getting a partial upgrade. The winter sports season kicks off in term two and I am really looking forward to seeing the teams in action. We want to encourage as many students as possible to be involved in winter sport, so please contact the sports office (817-8173 ext 233) if you have any questions about what is on offer.

Key calendar events:

• Week 3 Wednesday 15 May 2024: PPTA Paid union meeting (early closing 12.15pm)
• Week 4 Monday 20 May - Friday 24 May 2024: Common Assessment Activity (CAA) Digital Exams for Literacy and Numeracy
• Week 5 Friday 31 May 2024: Teacher Only Day
• Week 6 Monday 3 June 2024: King's Birthday (public holiday)

Uniform:

Demonstrating respect for our school by wearing the correct uniform is important. Our uniform has a wide range of items to choose from so all students should be able to find a suitable combination and we have plenty of uniform for students to borrow if they need to. As we head into the winter months, school jackets become an essential part of our uniform. Please make sure that uniform jackets are named so that if they are lost, we can quickly find the owner.

A reminder that socks should be plain black and any undershirts should be white. Please look on our website to find a full description of our uniform guidelines.

Phones:

Overall, our students did really well adhering to the new phone and phone accessory guidelines. While I know that the ‘Away for the Day’ guidelines are not universally popular, we saw a lot of positives throughout the term. Teachers have commented on the greater focus they are seeing in the classroom, and there are far more students being active at break and lunchtimes. The guidelines remain the same in term 2.

• Mobile phones to be turned off and placed in bags before entry into school gates.
• If a student chooses to bring a phone to school it must be switched off and in their bag when the bell rings for the start of period 1 until students leave the classroom at the end of period 5.
• If phones are brought to school, they must be kept in a student’s own school bag.
• It is important to note that if students do make the decision to bring a cellphone to the school grounds, they do so at their own risk.
• The school is not responsible for any loss or damage caused to any cell phone. If phone accessories (including buds, airpods and headphones) are brought to school, they must also remain in bags throughout the school day. Cell phones should not be connected to smartwatches.
• Any student with an exemption will be issued a pass through Deputy Principal Sandy Begg, this will be recorded on KAMAR and the student will have a physical pass.

A note for parents:

If you need to get a message to your child urgently during class time, please contact Student Services (817-8173 ext 205).

We’re looking forward to a fantastic Term 2. Ngā mihi nui, Fiona Barker PRINCIPAL