Level 2 - School Open Tomorrow

We are really looking forward to welcoming everyone back on site on Thursday morning. The school day will start with Kaitiaki at 8.45am.

Key messages for our students.

• If you are sick, please do not come to school - Stay at home. (please seek advice about getting a COVID test). 
• Bring a water bottle as the fountains and taps will not be available for drinking.
• Bring a Mask - The new norm is to now leave home with your phone, a wallet, and a mask. Masks are needed for all public transport, shops, malls etc...If you want to wear the mask at school, you can.
• Set your alarm - Kaitiaki is at 8.45am

At Alert Level 2 there is a low risk of community transmission and it provides us with a lot more opportunities to engage and connect with others. 

For the level 2 safety plan click here.

Guidelines outlined by the Ministry are below

• Face coverings are not mandated for use when in schools. 
• Where an individual chooses to use a face-covering they should supply and wear their own, and do so safely.
  
• It remains an option for individuals and a decision for the individuals and whānau. Whatever decisions students and teachers make, it is their own to make and needs to be respected.
  
• Events and activities - For most day-to-day activities at schools, the rules for gatherings do not apply. However, when very large numbers of students are congregating, the school will consider how these might best be managed.
  
• Any event or activity that brings people onsite who are not there for education purposes, including students, parents, and caregivers, will need to follow the rules for gatherings under Level 2.
  

Expectations around Uniform and personal appearance

• Boys are expected to have shaven off any COVID lockdown facial growth. Haircuts are a little more problematic. We would appreciate it that they get cut as soon as possible.
• Uniform as always is to be worn correctly to the standard expected at CBHS. 

Prioritising Teaching, Learning, and Class Time..

Block Week

With students returning to school this Thursday, we will now start Block Week on Monday 13th September, and this will run for six days to and including Monday 20th September. 

This Block Week will be an important mixture of teaching and assessment for senior students. Please remember that Block Week sees all students have a two-hour block of one subject per day along within their usual timetabled classes. Senior students also have either study leave for the last period of the day to help them complete or prepare for internal assessments, or they will have an extended afternoon assessment. Those afternoon assessments include:

Monday 13th 

• 1:45pm-4:45pm 12 Visual Art, 
• 1.45pm - 4.45pm 13 Industrial Technology, 
• 1.45pm - 1.45pm 11 Pre-Trade Metal

Tuesday 14th 

• 1:45pm-4:45pm 13 Statistics, 
• 1.45pm - 4.45pm 12 History
• 1.45pm - 4.45pm 11 Technology AS
  

Wednesday 15th 

• 1:15pm- 3:15pm 12 Economics
• 1:15pm- 4:15pm 13 Painting & Printmaking

Thursday 16th 

• 1:45pm- 3:45pm 12 Photography
• 1:45pm-4:45pm 13 Business
• 1:45pm-4:45pm 13 Agriculture
• 1.45pm-4.45pm 11 Pre-Trade Wood

Friday 17th 

• 1:45pm-3:45pm 11 Digital Art
• 1.45pm-3.45pm 12/13 Technology AS 

Monday 20th 

• 1:45pm-4:15pm 11 Physical Education
• 1.45pm-4.15pm 12 Pre-Trade Metal

Students will receive their own personalised timetable at kaitiaki this week.

Examination Week. (Cancelled)

While our Block Week focuses on internal assessment, our Exam Block focuses on external assessment. This is used for practice exams from which students are awarded a derived emergency grade in case of disruption at the end of the year. We have decided to cancel our usual external Exam Block that was scheduled for this time of year in favour of using in-class tests and abridged assessments within our usual timetable structures throughout the remainder of the year. There are several reasons for this:

1. This reduces the disruption of placing all senior students on study leave while exams are running and increase the amount of teaching time.
2. To reduce the volume and concentration of high-stakes assessments on students to protect their well-being.
3. The delays in our teaching programmes make it likely students will not be ready for external practice exams until next term.
4. Given the ongoing COVID situation and how important derived grades may be in 2021, students need to be given as much teaching time as possible to prepare for them.
5. Rescheduling external practice exams to another future date potentially puts us in the same position should there be further lockdown interruptions. By using class-based assessments, learning areas can undertake these smaller units of derived grade assessment as soon as students are ready.

NZQA Examination changes

Please remember that at this stage the only change to NCEA for our students is a two-week delay in the final NZQA examinations. Currently, CBHS students do not qualify for any additional credits at this stage. 

Exams do not finish until 14th December. It is important that you do not book holidays during that time. NZQA will not approve derived grades for events booked after they notified the changes to dates.

Senior Reports

Given these changes, we will also need to make changes to the format and date for publishing senior reports. These changes will be detailed later.

Key events effected (2021 Calendar click here)

• New Parent Evening - click here
• Year 10 Ski days are being rescheduled for next week (tbc)
• Senior Prize Giving - Thursday 11th November  
• Weekly note - will not be issued this week
• School Sport NZ, Click here for updated announcements. 

Ngā mihi nui

Nic Hill

Headmaster