So... before we sign off for the week, there are a couple of reminders that we would like parents/whanau to support us with...

Uniform first 🧥

We are a uniform school which means ‘uniform first’ — some students are taking advantage of wearing non uniform items to school.

Nike sweatshirts are worn, whilst school polo fleece jackets and our wonderful new hoodies are left at home. We approve of students being warm and extra layers are ok to wear to school. But not in the place of school uniform items.

This week we will be handing out ‘free’ blue jackets provided by Kidscan to all Year 7 students who need them, and new Year 8s to LI.S this year. These are the same amazing jackets that our Year 8s got last year. So if you can hunt these out, now is the time to keep warm.

Chewing gum 👎

Is a ‘no go’ at school. Mr Blackaby has worked really hard to remove this from concrete areas, however lately gum is being chewed on the way to school and unfortunately is not making it into the bin.

Socks 🧦

Must be plain black or navy blue — no Nike ticks, designs or coloured socks please. Winter is certainly here and we encourage students to wear navy or black thermals under their uniform but not black hoodies please. Stockings are also allowed but we are seeing tights being worn and these are not the sort that goes into the shoe and are like an extra item of trousers.

Cellphones 📱

We allow cellphones at school based on a high trust model. Lately only a few are handed in each day and teachers are aware that students have these at school.

Many schools are now cellphone free and do not come to school at all. We are supporting families by allowing students to bring them to school, so they are contactable before and after school hours.

On another note — please do check your students history and have conversations about online bullying and the filming of inappropriate events. We have recently become aware of organised fights being held in town, at the skatepark, outside Te Takere and at the Showgrounds. Students from our school and other schools are filming these and posting them on ‘School Fight’ pages. This is very serious and I will be phoning some parents this week to support us with stamping out this behaviour.

My first thought is about the safety or our young people — why are they in town unsupervised? What might happen if they are meeting up with older students who we can see in videos bullying, and assaulting others. Town is just not safe for our young teens — exposure to vaping, alcohol and aggressive behaviour is happening in Levin.

We have informed police about the incidents that we know of but we are helpless if the parents/caregivers of students are not taking this information to police when there is an issue.

Vaping on the rise 😧

Across NZ students are taking up vaping at an alarming rate. As we all know its relatively cheap and accessible, but what we don’t know is what the effects of vaping will have over the long term. We are interested in supporting students and their families to understand the reasons why it is an 18+ illegal substance and how to avoid being pressured into getting caught up in vaping.

The ‘Life Education Caravan’ is with us for the last 2 weeks of this term and we have asked them to focus on this issue. If you are interested in an opportunity to attend an after school workshop with your child, we are looking at hosting health professionals to support you as whanau. Please have a think on this, so that we can put something together.

We hope to see you at some of our upcoming events. When the weather is better we will have an afternoon/ evening event for new students via our ‘Open Evening’.

Nāku noa nā
Sheree Garton
Principal