Dear Parents and Caregivers, In this newsletter I discuss the following issues/news: (1) Start of Term One Reflection; (2) Academic results from 2020; (3) Cell phones – to ban or not to ban.

Start of Term One Reflection

As we come to the close of term one, I have to say that in reflection this has been quite a turbulent start to the year. Schools across Canterbury and, in fact, New Zealand have experienced a slight shift in behaviour and attitudes, some positive, some not so positive. We certainly are seeing students standing up for issues that they believe in, for example, climate change and harassment, and we need our young people to lead change where adults have not managed to. Some would say that there is a way to do this, and taking an afternoon off school to fight climate change is not really a sacrifice, or that descending upon your neighbour all-boys school in protest of sexual attitudes could be seen as confrontational and unfair on all the young men at that school. However, the fact that our young people are standing up for injustices and anti-social behaviours should be encouraged and supported. Our school is about to embark on our own campaign to encourage people to stand up when they see these anti-social behaviours, because to ignore them is to accept and endorse them. This is being led by our head students and I am looking forward to seeing this in action next term.

Sadly, all schools are also seeing an increase in negative behaviours. Stand-downs and exclusions are on the rise in schools, and there is no doubt the pressures and stress of COVID are impacting on families with increased unemployment and the increased tension of possible lockdowns and community cases. We certainly have been affected and our own stand-downs and exclusions are higher than normal. It is important to note that the vast majority of our students are learning and enjoying the opportunities our school offers. Involvement in sports during term one has been high, our school production is in full swing as they prepare for opening night early next term, and we entered a group in Polyfest for the first time. These are just a handful of examples where our students are involved and active in the wider school life, and we should be proud of them and what they are achieving in this difficult time.

Academic Results from 2020

At the end of this term, we are celebrating our students who achieved academic excellence in NCEA last year in Hiwa e te rangi, our new gym. These are the students who achieved endorsements across all levels of NCEA. To achieve an endorsement, our students have to gain at least 50 credits at Merit or Excellence, not an easy task. I would like to also note that there many students who managed to achieve personal excellence and did not endorse across a level. These are students who worked hard throughout the year and managed to achieve their qualifications, and in many ways, these students should be recognised as much as those who will receive badges this week.

We are pleased with our school's results for 2020. Our pass rates are high and the performance of our students is consistently better than other schools within our decile band and nationally. We do have two areas that we wish to improve on this year, one is to continue improving our Merit and Excellence grades, and part of this is to encourage our students to sit their final examinations, even if they have already passed the year, and the other is to continue to improve our Māori and Pasifika results. Our results for Māori and Pasifika are well above the national rates for all students, but still below our whole school results. We see no reason for this and strongly believe that there should be no difference. I have added our pass rate results below for you:

NCEA Pass Rates 2020

KHS:               Level One 88.3   Level Two 85.7   Level Three 83.7

NZ:                 Level One 70.9   Level Two 79.5   Level Three 71.7

Māori KHS:    Level One 77.5   Level Two 84.6   Level Three 82.4

Māori NZ:      Level One 59.3   Level Two 71.0   Level Three 60.4

Cell phones – to ban or not to ban

Finally, I suppose I should talk a little about the great cell phone debate. Many of you would have seen the Seven Sharp interview with the Principal of Hillmorton High School. The School has implemented a policy of no cell phones to be seen at school. A few parents have contacted me to say that this would be an excellent idea for Kaiapoi High School. To be honest, I am more than happy to take this to the Board and to survey our community. There are some real pros and cons for this strategy, so I thought I would just note a few for you:

1.  WHY?  Most people would agree that cell phones create both opportunities and issues. Society, in general, believe that phones have become enablers of anti-social behaviour, including, but not limited to, loss of ability to communicate with people and bullying. If we desire to encourage person-to-person communication, then this is a sound strategy. If we wish to decrease bullying, then the strategy loses some of its merits. Most of our bullying happens between 10 pm and 2 am. This, sadly, is also the time when our children are most vulnerable, alone and in the dark. The best thing that we can do for our children is to encourage the whole family to charge their devices in the family room at night. This allows our children to be more protected, and, even more importantly, gain a good night’s sleep. The two most common reasons for not doing this are (from both parents and students): “it is my alarm clock” (https://www.kmart.co.nz/product/alarm-clock/891319) or “I’m not having that battle with my child”.

2.  HOW?  Prohibition has never been a particularly sound strategy. Currently, we have a firewall in our school. This stops the students gaining access to sites the School believes are inappropriate for our students. This protects the School, but does not protect the students as all they need to do is turn off their wi-fi and use their data. What we really need to do is work together with our families and schools to educate and model acceptable behaviour with cell phone use. This has become even more important now that we are using the Harmful Digital Communications Act in schools, as seen by the recent case in the newspapers of a student sharing a video. As a school, I have called the police in twice to speak to students. Age is not a barrier to being charged under this Act.

3.  WHAT?  So, we ban the use of phones at school. If we do this there a couple of issues. You all know how hard it is to get your children’s phones off them, and it is no easier for us. This means that if we take up this strategy, we will need the support of our community. A school in Christchurch took up a strong stance against vaping recently. There was a huge increase in stand-downs against students, with little or no effect on vaping use. You have to continue to be strong with your approach, and we know that students will refuse to pass over their phones. The other issue is of course that the second most common reason for taking a text or call at school is because it is their parent calling. It is a common belief that students need their phones for emergencies, made even more prominent due to earthquakes and COVID. The issue here is the threshold for ‘emergency’ is quite different for families.

If we wish to go down this path, we need to make sure that it is both for the right reason, i.e. improved social interactions, and that we have our community's support, especially in the early stages where there will be consequences for not handing over cell phones.

I would love to hear your thoughts and views on this, please feel free to email me at b.kearney@kaiapoi.school.nz.  If you put in the subject line “cell phone use in school”, it will be easier for me to track your emails.

Have a great term break with your children.

Mā te aroha ka tutuki

Bruce Kearney, Principal