The last term of 2022 is upon us and I hope that all of our Year 10 akonga and whanau have managed to have a good Term 3 break. At the end of what was a very successful but extremely busy Term 3 the need for batteries to be recharged was evident.

Term 3 was packed full of opportunities for our Year 10 students and I was very proud to see a number of students making the most of their time. We had students involved in a range of activities from our school’s production of Jesus Christ Superstar to the World Vision 40 hour Famine as well as Winter Tournament Week thrown in the middle of this all. There are a couple of outstanding highlights within the term which I wanted to mention. Firstly to those students in our U15 Rugby Squad who won their Section 2 Final, Izaak Broughton-Wealleans, Luke Houthuyzen, Izack Masoe Beech, Jacob Mayers, Joe McLister, Ollie Newcombe-Maule, Harper Rollo, and Miguel Santos, a wonderful achievement for these boys.

Another top sporting achievement was our Girls 1st XI Football who won the Lotto SportsWear Tournament during the Winter Tournament Week. Congratulations to the Year 10 squad members, Maisy Cowie, Savvy Olsen, Aimee Richardson, Florence Toombs, and Minah van Dam. Along with these two achievements a special mention to Fenella Chittock-Greenwood who was a member of the Senior Girls Basketball who qualified for the National Tournament for the first time in 10 years.

We have also had some outstanding academic achievements in Term 3 highlighted by the success of Year 10 students at the Canterbury-Westland Science Fair. Auraeyah Harris and Mia Aramowicz gaining 3rd in Year 10, Ben Gabites and Jackson Gately gaining 2nd in Year 10, Lucy Kelly, India Hood and Keira Yeakley - Winners of NZ Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Science Category. We also had two individual students recognised as having the best projects in their area of interest, Millie Palmer – Environmental Sciences, and Hamish Legg – Ecology in the Avon Heathcote Estuary. It is great to see such a large number of students achieving highly in the Sciences.

Term 4 is a short but very important term for Year 10 students as it represents their last few weeks as juniors at Cashmere High School. The focus for this term is our Junior examination week in Week 5 of Term 4. These examinations are an important opportunity for students to demonstrate their progress through the year and their readiness for Year 11. Along with strong academic results it was pleasing to see that 88% of our Year 10 students gained 80% or better in Year 10 Graduation Grades. Amongst this we had 50 students gain a perfect 100% across all three terms to date. These students will be awarded with their graduation badges at the start of next year.

I wish all of our cohort the best for the upcoming examinations and looking further forward I hope all of our whanau have a wonderful summer. With 2023 rapidly approaching and NCEA Level 1 on the horizon next year I hope everyone takes the chance for a break when it comes.

Nāku iti noa, nā

Tom Wilkinson
Head of School | Year 10