Hero photograph
 

Karaka House Dean's Report

Amelia Painter —

Welcome back to another academic year, and a particularly warm welcome to our new students.

We hope this will be a great year for all our Karaka students. We encourage all students to think about their goals for the year and work hard to achieve them. It could be academic achievement, getting involved in a new sport or activity, or improving their attendance and punctuality. Our goals are personal to each of us and our staff are here to support our students.

A quick introduction as we have had a bit of a change in our deaning structure. This year Mr Timo will continue to look after our Year 9 and 10 students, and Mrs Painter will work alongside our Year 11, 12 and 13 students. Mr Timo has been teaching at our school for 8 years, and this year teaches 8C. He has been deaning for many years and is well known to our learners and the wider community. Mrs Painter has been teaching here for the last 5 years in the Digital Technologies/Computer Science department. She was a portfolio dean for the last two years and deaning for many years at a previous school. She is excited to be back working with our students.

We are also fortunate to have a great group of kaiārahi, supporting your sons and daughters through the Ako system. For most students, this is the same teacher as last year. Here are their contacts, as they are the person who knows your child best:

Mr Nick Colville col@linwoodcollege.school.nz

Mr David Draper dra@linwoodcollege.school.nz

Miss Erin Chamberlain ech@linwoodcollege.school.nz

Mr Scott Kyle kyl@linwoodcollege.school.nz

Ms Melanie Blomfield mbl@linwoodcollege.school.nz

Ms Helen Mora mor@linwoodcollege.school.nz

Mr Andrew Nugent ngt@linwoodcollege.school.nz

Ms Francine Nijdam nij@linwoodcollege.school.nz

Miss Olivia Silvester sil@linwoodcollege.school.nz

Mr Saieeswaran Vijayakuar vij@linwoodcollege.school.nz

Two weeks ago we had our first house assembly and it was a great opportunity to congratulate 13 students who gained a Merit or Excellence endorsement in Levels 1 or 2 NCEA last year. These students worked hard and showed a high level of learning throughout the year.

Gaining Merit endorsement at Level 1: Ashlin Chandra, Kaltan Kazakos-Gardner, Harmony Rayner, Roe Tutanes

Gaining Excellence endorsement at Level 1: Manisha Baines, Jurmaine Calpo, Hamida Ghazizada, Jesin Gurung, Elise Lester, Kiah Rogers-Marshall

Gaining Merit endorsement at Level 2: Brenda Heather, Ranalia Savelio

Gaining Excellence endorsement at Level 2: Kaye Maravilla

Of course, there were also endorsements at Level 3, however, these students have now left school.

We also introduced our new house leaders to their position. These students work with Mr Kyle, our house co-ordinator, to run house assemblies and organise house activities throughout the year. It’s great to see this group taking up this leadership opportunity.

Front row: Blake Williams, Hamida Ghazizada, Ashlin ChandraBack row: Dormay Laufiso, Manisha Baines, Elise Lester

Coming up on the horizon we have our first house event: tabloid sports. This will be held on the afternoon of the 1st of April. Students will be encouraged to wear as much orange as they can to represent our house. It’s always a fun event with lots of great activities. Planning is well underway for a successful event.

Mr Robbie Timo (Years 9 and 10) tmo@linwoodcollege.school.nz

Mrs Amelia Painter (Years 11-13) ptr@linwoodcollege.school.nz