Today marks the start of NCEA with Level 2 Physics, Level 3 Business Studies and Scholarship Calculus in the morning, and Level 1 Geography, Level 2 German and Level 3 Dance in the afternoon.

It has been great to see many of our senior students in school over the past few days, attending tutorials, working with teachers and each other, and using the library and other areas of the school to study. We are all here to support your daughters achieve success so encourage them to seek help if they need it in the lead up to each examination.

Our thoughts go out to the staff and students at Otago Boys’ who are dealing with an incident this morning that has led to the school not opening as usual and has made it necessary for boys sitting NCEA examinations to do so at other schools. While this must be disruptive and unsettling for the boys, I know the staff up there will be working to make this operate as smoothly as possible.

Tuesday was the final day for all our senior students this year and, as always, the Year 13 prank was a lot of fun for them and was executed with respect for people and facilities. Well done, girls! It is always bittersweet to bid farewell to our leavers, with the prank and morning tea with staff just two of many opportunities that mark the end of their time at OGs.

We have been dealing with a number of technology related issues in the junior school over the past week and Sue Porter, Assistant Principal in charge of wellbeing, has posted an excellent article and links to some videos about the use and dangers of Tiktok, a new social media platform that has become a favourite among our students. We encourage you to view these videos and talk to your children about appropriate and safe use of any digital platforms. I also encourage you to check the amount of time your child is spending on their phone as you may be surprised at this. Balance is really important in all things and we do have some students exhibiting serious symptoms of addiction to their phones.

Today Year 10 students had their second camp meeting. We are very fortunate to have skilled staff who are willing and able to lead these camps as these experiences are extremely formative for students and enormously important in supporting them to develop skills of resilience, collaboration and self management. Our aim is to have all students in Year 10 attend. Generally speaking, those who do not want to go are those who most benefit from the experience. Please encourage your daughter to take part and contact the school if you have any concerns.

Last year, with the support of the Child and Gilmore family, the Board of Trustees purchased the old High Tide Restaurant on Kitchener Street. The aim is for this facility to become a watersports and education outside the classroom hub that can be used by all curriculum areas and groups in the school. One of our parents, Mat Caird, completed all the plans and consent work for the renovations required, at no cost to the school. Renovations have just been completed on this building and the next stage is the painting and tidying of the exterior of the building before an official opening and commissioning of the facility, which we hope to hold in February 2020. In order to keep further costs down we are hoping to hold working bees to complete the exterior work. If you are willing and able to help please see the article in this newsletter and email me at mi@otagogirls.school.nz We will set dates in conjunction with those able to help.