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Welcome to Term 3, week 6

Tournament Week

Students are getting ready to go to Tournament Week. I wish them all the best! Please talk to your children about representing Greymouth High and that all usual school expectations and school values apply. I am hoping to go and see senior boys basketball and football in Nelson. It’s an amazing opportunity for our students to play against other teams from around the country.

Term 3 and the weather

Please encourage your children to wear the correct uniform - no non-school sweatshirts and no crocs! If you need any support with school uniform please flick me an email (mortimers@greyhigh.school.nz) or phone the school office and we will do our best to support you and your child.

Vaping

As you would have read across NZ there are major issues with vaping in schools. The latest figures show youth vaping is increasing.

• A recent survey by ASH New Zealand found daily vaping among 13- to 14-year-olds had shot up by 209 percent.

• Ministry of Health statistics showed the number of 15- to 17-year-olds who vaped every day had quadrupled in three years, from two percent in 2018-19 to eight percent in 2021-22.

Even though there have been law changes

• all vapes sold will need removable or replaceable batteries - effectively banning disposable vapes.

• New vape shops cannot be set up within 300 metres of schools or marae.
• The government is also outlawing flavour names such as "strawberry jelly donut" to make them less attractive to children.

However, please be aware that some young people are buying things, including vapes, online for a variety of things including vapes to use for themselves or to sell on.

Young people are also looking on the internet for ways to charge their vapes including games stations. I would suggest that if your child asks to suddenly bring something to school (eg PlayStation or gaming controller) maybe google it and see if it is linked to something like vaping.

What are we doing?

We are continuing to work from both a health but also punitive perspective. It is illegal to smoke or vape at school at any age and we do stand down for vaping at school as well as support our rangatahi from a health perspective.

• Our Guidance Counsellor Allie is able to support our young people to stop vaping and/or support them to say no to vaping

• We can ask for support from Smoking Cessation to help people who can’t stop
• We are working with Community and Public Health West Coast, which includes a smoke-free enforcement officer and a health promoter
• We have employed a cleaner to work during the day so she is monitoring the toilets
• We cover vaping in health classes

How we can work together

• Please talk to your children about vaping and the harm it can cause - including reminders about the amount of nicotine in vapes

• If they want to take things like play stations to schools maybe check the internet to see if there is something linked to vaping

As always, if you have any questions or queries please contact me.

Samantha Mortimer

Principal Greymouth High School

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