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Bridget Davidson - Principal
 

Acting Principal's Report

Mrs B Davidson, Acting Principal —

Kia ora koutou

We are excited to see so many students engaging so well with their learning both in and out of the classroom. As we head into Winter, it is an ideal time to study, read books, go to the library and do homework. Deep learning occurs at the margins - when we stretch ourselves beyond what is easy or quickly done. Spending even a little extra time trying harder problems or delving a little deeper reaps great rewards.

Student attendance, along with effective teaching and learning, has the greatest influence on student engagement and achievement. All students must be present at school so that they can participate and engage in learning. High attendance is also crucial for making and maintaining social groupings and friendships.

Irregular attendance is an early indicator of problems. Students with high absenteeism are less likely to succeed in their learning. If a student misses five school days each term, or one day a fortnight, they will miss the equivalent of one year of school over 10 years. As the level of absenteeism grows, the difficulty of re-engaging in learning can grow exponentially.

Please help your daughter to attend school every day, every period, by ensuring they have the means to get to school and home again on time, that any issues are communicated to the school promptly and that they have a good breakfast and lunch to see them through the day.

Parent - teacher interviews are held at the end of this month. Please see the booking information in this newsletter and take your pick of online or face-to-face interviews. Both create excellent home-school partnerships that will ensure your child’s success.

We look forward to a productive academic term. Please contact the year level dean if you have any concerns about your daughter’s progress as we have many and varied supports we can put in place. We will celebrate Academic Achievers at assembly this Tuesday and on Wednesday I will be proud to attend the New Zealand Top Scholar Awards at Parliament for our three top results in the country for NCEA Scholarship examinations - a very impressive achievement indeed. Well done to May Cavanagh (Media Studies), Sylvia Otley (Sculpture) and Ambryme Guergoa (French) who are now students at Otago and Canterbury Universities.