GBHS Newsletter (Week 2: 16 - 20 October 2023)

It’s been another great week and the weather has definitely been a bonus. The annual Sports Awards evening was held last night and was a fantastic celebration of achievement across a wide range of sporting codes. I want to thank our fantastic Sports Department - Hamish Mackay, Georgia Spears, and Leo Drake-Rogers for organising the awards ceremony last night and for a great year of sport at GBHS.

Senior students have only one week left before study leave begins. I can’t stress enough the importance of both working hard for and sitting all external examinations. During the disrupted covid times, NZQA awarded Learning Recognition Credits (LRCs) to support students to achieve their NCEA qualifications. For many students, LRCs meant an additional 10-16 credit ‘top up’ before external examinations began. We’ve now returned to ‘pre-Covid’ credit requirements with no LRCs which means that many students need to pass external exams in order to either achieve their qualifications or achieve with endorsements. Sometimes, if students are close to passing their qualification, the temptation is to be selective about which exams to sit. This is a high-risk strategy, and every year we see students miss out on qualifications as a result. We’ve got lots of support in place to help students prepare for their external exams, with faculties running revision lessons during class time and tutorials once study leave begins.

As I mentioned last week, we’re getting underway with the refurbishment of four toilet blocks. See the article in this week's newsletter for more details and get in touch if you have any questions.

I hope you all have a fantastic long weekend!

Fiona Barker, PRINCIPAL