Nau mai haere mai!

Welcome back to Term 4 2021. We have a huge term ahead of us and only a few weeks to fit it all in. The term started with a Covid affected Open Evening. This was a move away from our usual Open Day (where Year 6 students come to the school for the day participating in activities) followed by an evening meeting. This was well attended by parents and students, with our Head Students doing a great job of tour guide and marketing executives. The highlight for me was when I was talking to a parent at the end of the evening and looked outside the classroom to see our senior students had very naturally, started a 4 square game with some of the Year 6 students. This is the best, organic type of marketing for our school which perfectly demonstrates the unique advantage of sending your kids to East Otago High School. Our students look after each other and are inclusive, with our students having the ability to mix from senior level to junior level easily. I see this everyday when I walk around the school at break time with students playing volleyball in the gym, touch on the field, 4 square in the quads or tennis on the courts. This type of social interaction would be rare at larger schools and gives opportunities for students to develop soft skills such as empathy, inclusivity, tolerance, acceptance and communication skills. These skills are arguably more important than learning about a specific topic and promote positive citizenship that the community will benefit from in the future. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the staff and students involved in making this a great event and also to all the parents that were present and showed interest in what we are doing here at EOHS. Please get your enrolment forms into the school office or they can be completed online through our website.

Our senior students are currently completing their internal requirements of NCEA and preparing for the external examinations. Our Year 11 students (and some Year 12) have just completed a two day course which will give them the information and skills to make informed decisions about their vocational pathways as well as expectations of being in the workforce.

We are certainly living in some interesting times at the moment with Covid 19 certainly dominating our lives whether that be on the news, social media or through the multiple government mandates being delivered at present. This can be very unsettling for some people and it is important that we remain respectful to one another at this time. The government has mandated, through a public health order, that all students 12 years old and over wear a mask on the school buses. Regardless of your personal beliefs this needs to be adhered to, with students not wearing face masks risking exclusion from the school provided transport. There is also the human component to this and being a part of a community that, by and large, are supportive of this mandate and feel uncomfortable when others do not follow these instructions. So please be respectful and ensure that your student is wearing a mask on the school buses.

Nag mihi nui

Marcus Cooper

Principal East Otago High School