Nau mai haere mai!

Well done everyone, we have made it to the end of a very challenging term. Staff, students and families have been faced with a great deal of adversity with a huge amount of Covid and Influenza related illness. This can take a huge toll on students, particularly their academic progress, with inconsistency in the delivery of the curriculum they can feel on the back foot always trying to catch up on work that has been missed. This is keenly felt for our senior students that are working towards their NCEA qualifications for 2022. Fortunately we have been able to keep the school open and operating as normally as possible. This is in stark contrast to a number of schools throughout New Zealand that have had to roster home certain year levels and in more extreme circumstances close the school completely due to not enough healthy staff to safely open the school. This is a huge testament to the teaching staff at this school taking as many precautions as they can to keep themselves healthy. This has included Covid shots and associated booster shots, Influenza shots, mask wearing around the school and in public areas and solid hygiene practices. I think we owe them all a debt of gratitude for their vigilance at this difficult time in our history.

We have achieved so much this term that we can be proud of and as we are at the end of the term it is time to reflect on these achievements.

Our school cross country was run in the first week of term. Well done to the Year 12 Physical Education students that put on this inclusive event catering for students wanting to compete to win and to those looking to have a fun event.

The Waitaki Youth Film was held at school with our Year 9/10 students working with members of the police and the Stronger Waitaki group. High quality films highlighting the harmful effects of domestic violence were produced. 

The Sports Academy kicked off this term with a visit to the Otago Polytechnic where the students participated in a number of fitness tests and functional body screening tests. These have been followed up with sessions at school at lunctimes on a Wednesday.  A huge thank you must go to Otago Polytechnic management and student Patrick Hanley for their support in this initiative.

The Tokomairiro exchange was held on the 24th of May. Our students played hard, but fair with a great deal of sporting prowess to take the highly coveted 'Eggselence' trophy.

Our Year 13 students held a highly successful fundraiser for the Formal. Two Junior Socials were held on Friday the 10th of June. The first was from 5-7pm for our contributing primary schools, the second for our own Year 7-10 students. The Year 13 students were awesome creating an inclusive event that was fun for all.

Our students participated in the Co-Ed tournament in Dunedin. It was great to see large numbers of teams from all schools competing across a number of sports.

All term our House leaders have been working hard with their Houses to come up with musical performances for the upcoming Extravaganza. This will surely be a highlight of Term Three.

Junior reports have been completed for all Year 7-10 students and will be delivered as a PDF document this week to caregivers email addresses. If you would like a paper copy please contact the school office and we will print one off and give it to your student to take home on Friday.

This term we have had to sadly accept the resignation of our TIC of Art Leonie Lawrence. While she will be a big loss to the Art department Leonie will be back in 2023 as a relief teacher. We are very fortunate to have been able to appoint a very experienced art teacher in Stephen McAteer. Stephen has been teaching Art at Pompallier Catholic College for the last 20 years as well as being the head of Arts Faculty. A huge thank you must go to Nicky Pine who has been covering the Art classes while Leonie has been on leave.

Once again well done on navigating a difficult term. We hope that you all have a fun and relaxing time as a family to recharge, recover and prepare for the second half of the year.

Nga mihi nui

Marcus Cooper

Principal (Tumuaki)

East Otago High School