Kia ora e te whānau and warm greetings

Welcome to 2024 as we get into the full swing of life, learning and achievement at PNGHS along with all the exciting possibilities the year holds. Already our Prefects have hosted fun and social activities to keep students connected at lunch time and our committees, sports, arts and Pūmanawa (extension groups) are gearing up. And of course, classes are humming as teaching and learning has well and truly set course. Busy times!

Thank you very much to those Year 9 parents and caregivers who were able to come along to our Meet and Greet afternoon/evening on Tuesday. I hope you enjoyed the opportunity to put faces to names and meet your daughter’s form and core teachers for the year. We certainly enjoyed chatting with you.

The beginning of the school year is traditionally an expensive time for families as they prepare their young people for school.

I wanted to take this opportunity to communicate to parents some of the ways that PNGHS tries hard to keep these costs to a minimum.

1. We are a member of the government’s ‘opt in’ voluntary donation scheme. This means we receive $154 per student from the government and we will not ask you for a donation.

2. We do ask you for a curriculum contribution in some subjects but payment is voluntary if the items form part of the curriculum of that subject.

3. In some cases students and families are agreeing to pay because there is a good or service being provided by the school such as art equipment or material for textiles and technology.

4. Our board underwrites the cost of day trips (Education Outside the Classroom) for students so they don’t have to pay.

5. We ask for a contribution towards travel, food and accommodation for overnight trips.

6. Extra curricular activities such as sports lie outside this so students and families do have to pay for those - although the school works hard here too to minimise costs by applying for grants and providing sports uniforms etc

7. While our school uniform can be a big initial outlay to families especially when beginning at Year 9 and changing at Year 12 it is made of quality and hard wearing material to see a student through her schooling days; items can be bought in stages; we offer a PTA run second hand option and we also provide uniform items to students who are facing challenges.

8. We operate an Equity Fund to assist any student who is struggling to meet the costs of getting to school fully equipped and engaging. Families can contact our Head of Guidance for more information on this.

9. We are also part of the Government’s Free Period Products scheme and there are dispensers in all bathrooms available to students when and where they need these items.

10. We are a BYOD (bring your own device) capable school and this year will be laying the groundwork to become more so in 2025. If juniors have their own Chromebooks and seniors have their own Laptops we encourage them to bring them but we always provide the technology if it is required in the classroom. All learning areas have access to pods of devices. We will be communicating further with parents, caregivers and students this year about our plans to move further into the BYOD landscape.

So, PNGHS works hard to ensure that education can be accessed by all students. We do ask and appreciate that if you can pay the curriculum contributions then you do so. You will find our contribution requests are generally much smaller than comparable schools but are so important for us to provide the depth and breadth of education that we do. If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact our accounts office who can answer your questions.

I look forward to our continued partnership in providing an education for your young person.

Ngā mihi nui,

Tracy Walker
Principal