Dear Parents and Caregivers, I really cannot believe how quickly this term has passed.

Schools are such an unusual place to attend or work in. We have incredibly structured days with bells ringing every hour or so, students arriving at 8.40am and finishing classes at 3pm. Terms are approx. ten week long blocks that begin with energy and excitement, move into a consistent work flow and then end with celebrations and exhaustion. Because of the nature of such a block system, our terms and years seem to flow very quickly and, all of a sudden, we find that our seniors have three weeks of school left before they begin their final push for examinations. I am sure that for many of our parents and caregivers, they simply cannot understand where the last four and a half years have gone, as their sons and daughters have moved from being wide-eyed Year 9s to seeing them study for their final examinations in a school context, begin to make applications for university, or start seeking employment. It is one of the most pleasurable parts of teaching, that we get to see our students growing from young Year 9s, to leaving after five years as fine young adults who are ready to face the world outside of school.

We have just ended our school examinations. The purpose of these examinations is to give our Year 11 students an experience of sitting examinations before they attend their NCEA examinations, to create evidence for a grade if senior students miss their final examinations for any reason, and to give all our students and staff an opportunity to see if they are fully prepared for their examinations in Term 4. We mention to our senior students in assemblies that many of them will finish school a great deal earlier than the junior students, but the cost of this is that they need to view these school holidays as an opportunity to have two weeks of uninterrupted study. As parents and caregivers, it would be greatly appreciated if we send the same common message to our students…this is not a holiday, you have examinations in three weeks and you should be using this time wisely!

This year the School has been focusing on the tracking of our students credits. Our Assistant Principals and Database Manager have created a comprehensive tracking system for every student entered into NCEA. This tracking document shows:

· The number of credits a students is entered for

· The number of credits passed (including at what level)

· The number of credits not achieved

· Whether the student has achieved the literacy or numeracy requirements

This year we added to the tracking sheet the following more in-depth analysis:

· Each teacher has entered the estimated number of credits a student will achieve in their subject

· An estimate of the total number of credits a student will achieve.

Whilst this may seem a simple addition, it gives the school a very powerful set of data that we can use to support not just groups of students, but rather we can now delve right down to supporting a student in achieving NCEA, based on their own individual needs.

Our Deans have been tracking these students and providing support where necessary. Each Tutor teacher has had conversations with each student about what they need to do to achieve. At Levels One and Three we have an academic mentor who takes the students that are at risk of not passing (anywhere between 60-85 credits) and places a personal mentor with that student, to help them focus and provide suggestions as to how to prepare to make sure they are successful.

The Education Review Office was particularly complimentary about this system of accelerating student achievement. In 2018 we will look to continue to build on this tracking system to include two additional features:

· Years 9 and 10 Reading, Writing and Mathematics

· Years 11-13 Merit and Excellence.

Gone are the days where teachers simply teach a class and leave the rest to the students. The expectations on the modern teacher have moved into making sure that each student has an individual learning plan, that lessons are varied and provide a wide opportunity for success, that we track and predict grades, and that we follow up with tutoring and mentoring our students – both those that are at risk of not passing, and those that wish to excel.

At the close of winter sports, I would like to thank the parents and caregivers who gave up their personal time to either coach or manage a school sports team. Now that the school has grown considerably larger over the last five years, we have come to be much more reliant on our school families to help with school sports. Many other schools simply use students to coach teams without any support from an adult and whilst this may happen at Kaiapoi, it is certainly not the norm. On that note, I had an interesting discussion with a parent the other day who honestly believed that it was part of a teacher’s contract to coach sport or provide cultural opportunities for our students. Our teachers are contracted to prepare and teach lessons for their students. A full time teacher is expected to teach 20 hours of classes and then match that 20 hours with lesson preparation and marking. Any teacher that coaches a team, produces a school production, organises a stage challenge or runs a kapa haka group does this outside of their work hours and does so voluntarily. Kaiapoi High School has one of the highest participation rates in Canterbury state schools for staff involvement for extra-curricula activities and I am personally really proud of how our teachers are so willing to be involved in the wider school life.

Whilst I will formally notify our community when our final Education Review Report is published, I can say that we had a very positive review. ERO intended to spend four days in school, but ended up finishing a day early. They were extremely complimentary about the feel of the school and the way that our students conducted themselves. ERO report on five key areas and then provide possible next steps for the school. I believe that they reviewed our school well and the possible next steps were mirrored with the possible next steps that we provided them. It is great to see that we are all on the same page and agree as to the future direction of the school. The key theme of moving forward centered around installing the same strategies we have in place for our senior students into our junior students.

I will inform our school of their exact findings once they have been confirmed.

I hope you all have a fantastic school break and I look forward to seeing most of you at our prizegivings during Term 4.

Nga Mihi Nui

Bruce Kearney, Principal