Nau mai haere mai!

A significant milestone of the year has now been met with the NCEA external examinations underway. For our Senior Students this should be the pinnacle of the year where their hard work is about to payoff. We wish them all the best for the next couple of weeks.

At the end of week two we had our Year 9-13 speech contest. Wow, the quality of the contestants made the judging super hard. Congratulations to Paige Walker (Year 9/10) and Abigail Paton (Year 11-13) for taking out their respective categories.

It would be easy to think that now the Senior Students are gone that we start to wind down but this is certainly not the case. This week our Year 7/8 students are visiting the Orokonui Ecosanctuary, learning about our native flora and fauna. Our Year 9/10 Outdoor Education students have been off to Trotters Gorge for a morning tramp and the Year 10 Rite Journey boys have been slinging packs on their backs with weights and walking up Puketapu in preparation for their 3 day tramp in the Silver Peaks Forest. We had our NCEA information evening as well as the Year 9/10 option evening.

With less than a month to go we have a lot of mahi that needs to be completed before the end of the year. The Education Review Office will be visiting twice in the next couple of weeks to audit the school. Our systems and processes will be put under the microscope as well as the outcomes of our students, how we track their progress, what we do with this data to help imrpove these outcomes. While some might think that this process is invasive the reality is we get an external eye to question what we do so we can do an even better job. We are never the finished product and are looking to continually improve our practice. 

Looking ahead our Junior Students have plenty to look forward to and also prepare for. Next week our Year 7/8 students will be part of the audience for the local production "Snowy". On Thursday the Year 10 students will be having a 'Taster Day' with ARA polytechnic and on the Friday the Year 9/10 students will be sitting their end of year examination for Literacy and Numeracy. This gives the Junior Students some experience in a formal examination setting while giving us some great data on their Literacy and Numeracy ability to better plan for their learning in 2023.

Junior Sports Week is almost upon us (Week 6, 21-25 November) with the majority of the Year 9/10 students participating in Dunedin in a variety of sports. What a great way to mix with other students from across the region.

So, we are far from slowing down, but more accurately, accelerating towards the end of the year. Keep an eye out for information about all the events that are happening as we make our way to Prize Giving on the 8th of December.

Nga mihi nui.

Marcus Cooper

Principal/Tumuaki

East Otago High School