Kia ora koutou, Talofa Lava, Warm Greetings to you all,

Term 1 has been a very busy term with many changes:

Aonga Ake

The start of the year was busy as we moved into and settled into teaching and learning routines in Aonga Ake for our Middle School. The new building is beautiful and it is a real joy to teach and learn in this flexible environment.

Ka Ora Ka Ako Healthy School Lunches

This initiative is going well. We remain grateful to have been included in this by the Ministry of Education. The uptake by our students is high and we are working closely with UCSA, our providers, to continually look for ways to improve the menu and the service.

Reminder – these are great healthy lunches. Students do not need to bring lunches to school

Mobile Phone Policy

We have had a great deal of positive publicity about our policy. Students have commented that they are talking more, making new friends, and many are more active over breaktimes.

Reminder – Phones are to be in bags and turned off during school hours.

Property Development

· The landscaping around Aonga Ake is now underway

· The landscaping where A Block stood will get underway soon and will include an outdoor amphitheater.

· The hall upgrade will be completed early May

· The Digitech rooms are now usable but some carpet is to be replaced

· Work on earthquake repairs in Upland will continue over the holiday period

· Work on some other classrooms to ‘lighten and brighten’ is underway

· Designs are finished for the new netball, tennis and outdoor basketball courts. These will be situated between Hillmorton High and Spreydon schools

Fortnightly Reports

We hope you have enjoyed receiving your child's fortnightly reports and they have been useful for you to monitor their attendance, effort and achievement in class. We have uploaded your child's latest report to the Parent Portal from the last two weeks of this term.

Please note that these will not include the attendance from Periods 3-5 today so their percentage attendance in class might appear lower. We wanted to get the reports to you before the end of term. The next reports will be sent on Monday 17th May.

Parents are welcome to use the computers in our school library

Staff Farewells

Today we have farewelled my Personal Assistant, Tracey Veale, who is moving to Queenstown with her husband. We have also farewelled our Librarian, Beth Clayton, who has many plans for her retirement. We thank both of these wonderful women for their service here at Hillmorton.

Google Management Console

Most students in school now have their own personally owned Chromebooks, which is great for learning and student progress at Hillmorton High School. Because most Chromebooks are personally owned, we have decided that we will not be managing those devices as a school anymore. What does that mean? That means students will be able to log into their Chromebooks using a personal account at home and their school account at school. This will give you and your child more freedom over what they can do on their Chromebook at home. Whilst at school, students usage of their Chromebooks will be managed by our excellent internet filtering procedures.

For those personal devices on our management system, this will take place during the holidays. We will be resetting all personally owned Chromebooks that we manage and your child will need to restart their Chromebook when this is done. They will then be able to log into their Chromebooks with both their own personal account and/or their school account.

Please make sure any material that is stored on the Chromebook is uploaded to Google Drive so you do not lose any content.

If you would like us to continue managing your child's Chromebook, we can do that. Your child will simply need to bring their Chromebook to the office and we will arrange for it to be re-enrolled.

Parents and Friends Meeting

A number of parents have asked me if we could re-establish something similar to a PTA. I plan to hold an initial meeting on Monday May 10th from 6.00 pm to 7.00 pm. We will meet in Aonga Ake.

2022 Enrolments

· We ask that in zone enrolments are in by 30 July

· Our Open Night will be held on Tuesday 1 June commencing at 6.00 pm in the Hall

· Open Day Tours commence 8 June

· The Board will be accepting some out of zone enrolments from students wishing to enter at Years 7, 8 and 9.

· July 30 – applications for out of zone places will close

· August 4 - if required, a ballot will be held and offers of place will then be made

· August 16 – final day for accepting an out of zone place

Finally, thank you for your continuing support of our school. We wish you all the best for the next two weeks, Term 2 begins on Monday May 3rd.

Ann Brokenshire - Principal