Nau mai haere mai!

Welcome back to all our students and staff for 2023. I trust that you have had a great break and are ready for the challenges of the new school year.

A special welcome to all our new students to East Otago High School, our 22 Year 7 students, 4 year 9 students, 3 year 10 students, 2 year 11 students and 2 Year 12 students. Our new additions to the staff include Mrs Kylie Scott who will provide office support and Mrs Rachel Foster who is the new Art Teacher. 

It was pleasing to see that 26% of our senior students achieved a Course Endorsement for their NCEA certificates. 50% of our Year 11 students. I am looking forward to acknowledging this at our AW Familton awards ceremony in the coming weeks. This, I see, as a starting point. The advantages that our senior students have with small class sizes and teaching groups that are passionate about student outcomes will see further improvements for our senior students in NCEA but also our Year 7-10 students. This will be a focus for this year.

Mana Hiranga - which loosely translates to Personal Excellence.

A whakatauki that encapsulates this is:

Whāia te iti kahurangi, ki te tuohu koe, me he maunga teitei.

Aim for the sky so if you miss you might hit the top of the mountain.

This year we are introducing our BYOD policy for year 9-13 students. Some lockers have arrived and will be available soon for those students wanting to lock their chromebook/laptop or other gear during break times. We have a limited number of second hand chromebooks available for those students that have not been able to secure a chromebook, please see Mr Fleury if you would like to secure one of these. We also have limited chromebooks that can be signed out at the office for those students that find their chromebook runs out of battery or has any technical difficulties.

A quick update on the upgrades to our buildings. B Block windows and doors have now been completely replaced. New blinds will be installed by the end of this week. The old coal boiler has now been removed as well as the chimney. This will be replaced with a wood pellet boiler in the next month in time for winter. C Block is on track to being completed by the end of March with classes returning to this space in Term 2.

This year we have a new supplier for our school lunches. This is very exciting as we are going to get a variety of different foods including hot lunches. This has started very positively with great reviews from the students.

This year we will also see the return of a school production. The chosen musical is “Footloose”. More information will be forthcoming from Mr Cummings in the coming weeks.

It is vitally important to start the school year well and get into positive work habits from day one. Start well, display our values, use your manners, work hard and achieve your personal excellence and most importantly look after each other.

Nga mihi nui

Marcus Cooper

Principal/Tumuaki

East Otago High School