Week 2, Term 4, 2023

 Kia Ora, Talofa Lava and warm greetings,

The term has started well.

The good news about term 4, there is plenty on offer for all students. Numerous outdoor events are planned for this term, with all Year 8 classes attending camp at various spots. In addition, all Year 7 classes will complete a sailing day at Lake Rua. Let's hope we get some consistency with the weather to help with the planned events for the term.

Athletics - for the first time in a number of years we have held our two athletics days without weather interruptions!! A number of useful performances by many students and the team for the inter-Intermediate competition will be named in the coming week. Next year we will be able to return to hosting the full event on our school grounds.

Music evening - it was great to see students who learn the flute, clarinet and saxophone at school perform on Tuesday night. To have the opportunity to showcase progress is an important step for students. The evening was completed with the chamber orchestra and orchestra performing - a fitting end to an entertaining evening.

Kid’s voting - early last week, all students participated in the Kid’s Voting process, before last weekend’s General Election. One of our big aims associated with this unit is for students to understand the benefits of democracy and the steps needed to make change in a democratic country.

We have done this before and the results at school often mirror the General Election, with this year being no different. The school results were: National - 39%, Labour - 27%, Green Party - 11%, Act Party - 9%, NZ First 6.5%, Te Pāti Māori 2.5.

Students will have the opportunity to vote again at the end of next week. We have removed juicies from the canteen and the students now have three options to consider for the return of juicies. Campaigning has started and we look forward to following the process.

Strategic planning - all schools are in the process of developing strategic plans for the next two years. Here at Cobham, we have consulted groups of students by firstly giving them photos and asking for their viewpoints. Students had six questions to answer, and one photo was of a university graduation. Students were asked: What helped these Cobham students to this point?

The answers included:

• “dedication, family.”

• “trying out new opportunities, so that they can find their passion.”

• “motivation to do it, passion, drive, being able to focus and work well, waiting to achieve great things.”

Another image presented showed students actively working in class and students were asked - do all students feel happy about coming to school to learn? The answers varied and included:

• “Yes, because they learn new things and Cobham is a safe environment.”

• “there are many opportunities and you learn a lot, the school just got rebuilt.”

• “people enjoy attending Cobham because they know that there are people there for them like friends teachers etc. and that they are doing this for their future.”

• “some people would not enjoy coming to school due to laziness, work outside of school issues, and because they don't care about the consequences of not going some people.”

• “don't care about learning and just want to have fun, they have less motivation and others.”

Now we would like to canvass your opinions. A link to a short survey for parents on the strategic plan is here, and to help you a little further, here is a copy of our current strategic plan.

Donations - thanks to all those families who have paid the school donation. We rely on your donations so that we can continue to offer all the opportunities that we have available at our school.  Remember, a 33.3% tax credit can be claimed on all donations paid. You can claim your tax credit by printing your receipt from Hero, or by requesting a copy of the receipt from the office.

With camps around the corner, outdoor excursions planned, and Big Day Outs, we have taken the opportunity to remind all students about the expected behaviours whilst out in public. Students who consistently show our school values will be fine, but if students can't display these values here at school, we may need to review their participation in off-site excursions later this term. There will be some communication from the school as a "heads-up" for students not displaying our values, and if the undesired behaviour continues, specific excursions may be withdrawn.

Hats - this week we have been enforcing our hat policy with all students. This is one policy that takes significant work on our behalf, as students aren’t always keen to wear their hats and are particularly skilled at coming up with excuses for misplacing or losing them!! Yes, we have heard every excuse. We know some students do put sunscreen on each morning. Hats can be purchased from NZ Uniforms or from our school office for $20.

Dates for your diary:

Labour Day Public Holiday - Monday 23 October.

Canterbury Anniversary Day - Friday 17 November.

Teacher Only Day - Monday, 20 November.

Year 8 Formal - Monday 11 December

Year 8 Prizegiving - Wednesday 13 December, 7pm

Last Day of Term for Yr 8 - Wednesday 13 December, 2.50pm

Last Day of Term for Yr 7 - Thursday 14 December, 12.20pm

Enjoy the pending long weekend.