Once again, it was a pleasure to see all of the hard work of the Year 9 and 10 Speech finalists rewarded as they faced off against one another in front of an audience of their peers, senior management and parents/caregivers. 

The quality of the speeches was high, but on the day Fipe Maire was a well-deserved winner, with Ciara Clark coming second and Caelyn Cadogan-Reid third. Straight up after the Year 9 and Year 10 students were the Seniors and once again the judges, Yvonne Sharp and Keren Mackay, commented not only on the high quality of the entrants, but the diversity of topics. 

In her final ever East Otago High School Speech competition, Abigail Paton took the gold, with Summer Hunter and Kacey Clark placing second and third respectively. Whatever else happens next year, outgoing Year 13 Abigail will not be the 2024 winner, so stay tuned to see who will be crowned next year! 

The last few weeks have seen a selection of Year 9 and 10 students preparing for our first round of the new literacy and numeracy standards - these standards will be compulsory from 2024. Any students studying NCEA at any Level, beginning next year, will be required to pass these standards before they are awarded NCEA. The students are required to pass Reading, Writing and Numeracy tests. Those Year 9 and 10 students who did not sit them this week, will have an opportunity to sit them next year. The results will be released by NZQA in January. 

Our Year 7 and 8 English students have been having fun with their ‘Castaways’ unit and some of the students have been having extension writing classes for an hour every Wednesday. As we race towards the end of the year the seniors will be studying hard for their NCEA exams, while the Year 9 and 10 students will have their final English (and Maths) tests at the end of Week 5 - Friday 10th November. After that, it will be a hop, skip and a jump until the end of the school year and the holidays. 

Just remember: summer holidays are a great time to catch up on all of that reading you’ve been putting off!