Dear parents/caregivers

Achievement Conferences will be held on Thursday 10 May from 2-5pm and 6-8pm, and on Friday 18 May from 9am – 12pm and 1-3pm.

The student conferences are held within the house structure and aim to develop key competencies for each student in collaboration with their families and the school. They emphasise the desire to all work together to enable learners:

• to establish learning and extra curricula goals and targets
• to be supported and challenged when setting goals and identifying future career pathways
• to develop the capability to manage, reflect and re-define on their own goals

We also hope that the conferences will assist families to feel supported with their child’s goals, expectations and needs in the school. The strength of this partnership can help determine the level of success a learner has at school and can be used to encourage them to engage in and take ownership of their learning.

We encourage families to make attendance at the conference a priority. Please refer to the instructions within this newsletter for more information and to book your time.

I have had a couple of queries this week regarding attendance at the school ball. The school ball is an optional, extra-curricular student-led activity for year 12 and 13 students. Despite many schools cancelling the ball, it is always an excellent event at Nayland College and students always behave incredibly responsibly. So long as this is still the case I am more than happy for it to continue.

Attending the ball is a privilege however. Students need to demonstrate they are meeting their obligations at Nayland College to ensure they are eligible to attend. This includes having a good attendance record (85% attendance is a good marker, but we are understanding regarding illnesses etc.) and that any outstanding detentions are cleared.

As a school we also need to ensure that all non-curricular events are financially viable. A completed permission slip and payment are required for ball tickets to be issued. When paying for the ball it would be a good time to clear any other outstanding fees for other optional activities. This can be done via small automatic payments if required. Please have a conversation with the Business Centre if you are financially struggling to cover any outstanding non-curricular payments – often we can find ways to assist. Students will not be excluded from the ball due to prior unpaid activities. However, you can understand that as a school we cannot afford to heavily subsidise non-payment of optional activities.

Nga mihi nui

Daniel Wilson
PRINCIPAL