T4 Week 3

Tēnā koutou katoa

Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou

Young Enterprise West Coast Regional Awards

I had a fantastic time at the awards! A huge Congratulations goes to all of our rangatahi who completed their final parts of their assessments by presenting their final pitches for their enterprise projects. They all did amazingly and totally characterised our ARCH values. I was so proud of all of them. The overall West Coast Regional Winner was: Papatuanuku Sports Kits - sports Kits promoting Baseball5™. The CEO was Joel McKay and the CFO, Dom Cate. Well deserved!! Look out for the articles in the rest of our newsletter.

Thank you to Development West Coast, Tai Poutini Polytech, the West Coast Trades Academy, and Papa Taiao Earthcare.

I am already looking forward to attending next year!

Senior end of year events - our current plan

In order to meet the Ministry of Education guidelines around gatherings and general public health advice we have decided to hold year level prize giving ceremonies separately. We feel this is a prudent way to celebrate student’s achievements while trying to minimise large gatherings. Unfortunately, this will mean we cannot invite parents, whanau and other guests to attend. These celebrations will be for students and their scheduled teachers only. These prize givings will celebrate both school achievements and those of the trade academies.

Year 11 - This will take place in the Coxon Hall at 12:25pm-1:25pm on Tuesday 16 November. All Year 11 students will attend as we celebrate the achievements of the group. At the conclusion of the event Year 11 students will be free to go home, or go to the library during period 5 if they need to wait for buses. We are arranging for the event to be streamed live and will provide more information closer to the time about how this can be viewed.

Year 12 - This will take place in the Coxon Hall at 2:05pm-3:05pm on Tuesday 16 November. All Year 12 students will attend as we celebrate the achievements of the group. We are arranging for the event to be streamed live and will provide more information closer to the time about how this can be viewed.

Y13 - This will take place at 5.30pm in Coxon Hall. As we are not able to hold the Leavers dinner due to Covid, this will be an opportunity to celebrate our fantastic Y13 students. We will have tables set up with finger food and drinks and the Y13 students will play their gratitude video and receive their prizes. They will then leave as a group like we normally do for their final assembly. This idea was suggested by our student leaders and we appreciate their input.

Year 13s last day celebrations - Wednesday 17th November

Students will attend Period 1 and 2 classes followed by the water fight on the field at 11.30am. We will then have a BBQ in the technology block and students will be able to leave after lunch.

Covid vaccination registrations for students and volunteers

Students

After 9th November we will send out an email asking you to complete a Google Form if your child/children has had their first or second vaccine dose, or is exempted from being vaccinated. This includes providing proof of vaccination or exemption so we can add it to our register. IT IS NOT MANDATED THAT A STUDENT HAS TO BE VACCINATED TO ATTEND SCHOOL

A reminder that we are collecting this information, as if we were to have a case of COVID-19 in our school, public health authorities will want to know if we are a school with a high vaccination rate. This information will then be used as part of the local health authority’s risk assessment. The more highly vaccinated we are (staff and eligible students), the less likely it will be that we will have to close down for a long period of time, or we might not need to close at all, which is of course our preference.

Please check your emails after the 9th for the Google Form. If you need any more information contact the school by email or by phone. If you would like some support in filling out the form please call the school to talk to Kiri Russell our Kaitakawaenga (Home-School Partnership Promoter). She will be happy to help you!

Volunteers

From the 16th November any person, including parents, who volunteer at GHS will have to have had at least one covid vaccination. We have already begun to talk with our sport coaches, managers and referees and will continue to do so with our other volunteers. We must receive contact and vaccination information of at least one vaccination by 15th November and all volunteers must be fully vaccinated by 1st January 2022. If you do decide to have the vaccination after these time frames please make an appointment to see me.

Accord Teacher Only Day 30th November

A heads up that our Accord Teacher Only Day is on 30th November and school will be closed for instruction. All staff will be working on our NCEA changes.

“Whāea te iti kahurangi - strive for success”

Ngā mihi nui

Samantha Mortimer

Principal

https://mrsmortimerreflectionsatgreyhigh.blogspot.com/

In this issue

Learning New Zealand Sign Language: Questions and Emotions