Kia ora e te whānau; It’s been fantastic to have a buzz around the school as we welcomed all students back for the start of the 2024 academic year.

It’s been great seeing friends reunited, swapping stories of their summer holidays. It's a big thing moving to a new school, and our new students have been settling in really well. I have been really proud of our Year 10 Mentors and the Year 13 Student Leaders who have been doing a fantastic job supporting our Year 9 students across their first few days. I know that it has made a real difference to our new Year 9 students, knowing that there are people looking out for you across the school. While the new phone expectations will take some getting used to, we’ve seen a positive difference already and it has been good seeing students out on the field, talking and enjoying being with their friends during phone-free breaks and lunchtimes.

Although we are only a few days into term 1, this is a packed newsletter full of student success and important information! The scholarship awards were announced this week and we are celebrating! There were 17 scholarships awarded to students in English, Media Studies, and Visual Arts - read more about it in the article below. I’m particularly proud of our 2023 Year 13 Dux Finn Grieve who achieved 3 scholarships including one outstanding award in photography.

We’ve also included information about our Level 1 NCEA information evening - taking place next week (Tues 13 Feb) - this will be a great event and gives you an opportunity to find out more about how NCEA works at levels 1, 2 and 3 at Green Bay HIgh School. Thursday night (15 Feb) is the Year 9 meet and greet BBQ and it will be fantastic to see as many of our Year 9 whānau as possible - further details will be sent closer to the date. There’s also some more information about the toilet refurbishment that was completed over the summer break - reach out if you have any questions!

Have a great weekend.

Fiona Barker, PRINCIPAL