Kia ora, e te whānau

We’ve had two weeks with some or all of the students back and it’s been a pleasure to see them all again. The new timetable system has kicked in; the mobile phones system we started last year continues to work incredibly well; our new staff and students are finding their way around and everyone is making the most of the last month with some sizeable grass on site.

Unfortunately COVID is still around, in both the staff and student body, so please don’t send students to school if they are unwell - we don’t want to risk a large outbreak. We do have some unexpired RATs at school if you need a packet - just send your child to Reception to get one. First come first served.

And the demolition work continues. The Board will send out some information about the property work soon, but the quick overview is that we’re keeping a close eye (and ear) and if things get too noisy in Pipitea, classes are moving to the Library this week. We’ve got about two more weeks of noise apparently.

Our 2023 NCEA results were really good - the whole country has experienced a drop in results in recent years, but our relative position has stayed the same. To help you read the graphs below, we’re blue; schools a bit like us (socio-economic index based) are green and national results are in red.

The endorsement graphs are much messier to read, so to quickly summarise, 84.0% of our Level 1 students gained an Endorsement; 70.2% at Level 2 and 53.2% at Level 3. 

And congratulations to the 11 students (including two Yr 12s) who got a Scholarship. Ten students got one each and one got two including an Outstanding scholarship for Statistics. Other subjects that students got Schol in were Biology, Chemistry, Dance, Design, English (4), German, History, and Photography.

We’re delighted to welcome our new staff:

Stephanie Arnott (English); James Barber (part time Te reo Māori); Beth Bryson (part time PE/Health); Emily Dine (Sports coordinator); Oliver Duke (Social Sciences); Sumer Harker (PE/Health); Janet Hulbert (part time commerce); Georgina Lee (Social Sciences); Jenny Olsen (English Language); Diego Gracia Plazas (PE/Health); Michelle Porter (English Language); Matt Richards (Computer Studies); Christine Shuker (Maths); Jade Wang (Chinese); Ave Wilson (DP & English); Kristy Wilson (Library Manager)

Welcome back to Stacey Bascand (part time PE/Health); John Clark (Maths); Lisa Duggan (Acting HOD Learning Services); Grace Jorgensen (part time PE/Health)

And congratulations to Mel Eade who has moved from HOD English to DP Curriculum; Helen Savage who has moved from Asst HOD to HOD English and Rebecca Morris who has become Asst HOD English.

Help needed:

As one outcome of the Board’s Sports Review last year, we are about to set up a Sports sub committee of the Board. We’re looking for two parents to be on it. Ideally one would already be involved with WGC sport as a Coach or Manager and the other wouldn’t be, but would have some experience in sports governance or with other sporting organisations. If you are interested in helping, please email me - julia.davidson@wgc.school.nz - and let me know what you could offer us. This won’t be onerous - one meeting a month would be the usual expectation.

2024 dates:

It’s always about now we get a stream of questions about this year’s key dates. So here you are, in one place…we’ve tried really hard this year to clump days off, so that families can make the most of a long weekend - particularly if you have other children in local schools.

If you have students in Y12 & 13, the last term is incredibly short this year!

TERM 1

Thursday 28 March - Kāhui Ako Teacher Only Day

Friday 29 March - Tuesday 2 April inclusive - Easter break

Friday 12 April - Last day of term

TERM 2

Monday 29 April - First day of term

Friday 31 May - Wellington Loop teacher Only Day

Monday 3 June - Kings’ Birthday observance

Tuesday 4 June - MOE Teacher Only Day

Friday 28 June - Matariki

Friday 5 July - Last day of term

TERM 3

Monday 22 July - First day of term

Friday 23 August - Mid term break (and Wellington Tertiary providers’ Open day)

Friday 27 September - Last day of term

TERM 4

Monday 14 October - First day of term

Friday 25 October - Last day for Yr 12 & 13

Monday 28 October - Labour Day

Tuesday 29 October - Prizegiving

5-29 November - NCEA exams

Friday 15 November - MOE Teacher Only Day

Friday 22 November - Last day of school for Yr 11

Friday 13 December - Last day of school for Yr 9 & 10

Looking forward to seeing you over the course of the term as activities kick off for the year.

Ngā manaakitanga

Julia Davidson