Welcome Back! Term 4

Friday, 11th October 2024 at 10:00am

Kia ora e te whānau,

I hope that you have all had a great holiday. It’s been a productive term break with lots of teachers and students on site, taking part in workshops and tutorials - it’s really good to see students motivated to do well. Welcome back to the senior art students and their teachers who went to Wellington during the break. I’m really looking forward to seeing students and staff next week.

Looking ahead:
For our senior students, Term 4 is short and sharp with only two weeks before study leave begins. For our junior students, there is lots to look forward to across the rest of the Term with our Beach Education programme, Softball Day, and BP Challenge. Below are some important dates for the start of Term 4:

Week 2:
Thursday, 24 October 2024: Sports Awards
Friday, 25 October 2024: Last day for senior students (study leave)
Week 3:
Tuesday, 29 October 2024: Year 11 and Year 12 awards ceremony, and Year 13 INFORMAL Graduation
Week 4:
Tuesday, 5 November 2024: NCEA exams begin

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. School jackets become an essential part of our uniform during the winter months. Please make sure that uniform items are named so that if they are lost, we can quickly find the owner. Please remember;

• Socks should be plain black and any undershirts should be white.
• Backless slides are not appropriate footwear for school.
• Sports hoodies are not part of the school uniform.
• Please look on our website to find a full description of our uniform guidelines.

Phones:
A reminder of our school guidelines;

• If a student chooses to bring a cellphone 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 cellphones 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 cellphone. If phone accessories (including buds, airpods and headphones) are brought to school, they must also remain in bags throughout the school day. Cellphones 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 4.
Ngā mihi nui
Fiona Barker, PRINCIPAL