A reminder of some upcoming school events:

Parent/Teacher Interviews - are scheduled for Monday 5 August (in person) and Thursday 8 August (online). Information about booking appointments has been emailed to parents. We do encourage you to make attendance at these interviews a priority as this sends a very strong message to your son about the value you place on his education.

PNBHS Blood Donor Day - our annual blood donor day is coming up on August 26. Young men should check out the NZ Blood Service website to see if they are eligible to donate - CLICK HERE. Young men aged 16 and over can register by filling int he form in the school library..

School Concert - the annual PNBHS School Concert takes place on Wednesday 21st and Thursday 22nd August at 7.30pm in the Speirs Centre. This is a fantastic opportunity to see some of the diverse talent in the music department.

Massey University and UCOL Open Day – Wednesday, 7 August - Massey University and UCOL are both hosting their annual Open Days on Wednesday, 7 August. We encourage all young men who are considering these tertiary destinations to attend. The Massey University Open Day runs from 9.00am – 2.00pm and the UCOL Open Day from 9.00am – 2.00pm. These Open Days are good opportunities for young men who are seriously considering studying at Massey or UCOL to gain further information. If your son is attending either of these events please notify us of his absence as per usual processes (3545176 ext. 761).

Subject Selection for 2025 - in the coming weeks young men will be asked to make their subject selections for 2025. Further information will be provided about this process, but it is important that there are discussions at home about these important decisions. A Subject Information Evening is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, 20 August from 6.00pm - 7.00pm. Click here to access the 2025 Subject Information Guidebook.

Regular school attendance is essential if your son is to achieve his potential.

This week parents/caregivers will have received the third attendance report for term two.  We encourage you to take an interest in this information and to work with your son to maximise his attendance at school.  

If your son is reluctant to attend or there are barriers to his attendance, please contact his Year Level Dean or the school Guidance Counsellors so that we can support you and him.  Once established, poor attendance patterns become a habit and are challenging to break so early intervention and support are critical. 

"School attendance is the most crucial prerequisite for quality education - students cannot learn if they are not at school" (Ministry of Education, February 2020).  This same report concludes that when attendance is below 95% there is a reduction in levels of achievement. While 95% sounds high, it still means missing half a day of school per fortnight. The New Zealand Ministry of Education uses 90% or higher as its cut-off point for measuring regular attendance. This means that there are students whose level of attendance is harming their academic achievement, yet they are considered regular attendees at school. Interestingly, in some other countries, 90% attendance at school would be the level that triggers concern, rather than having them considered as regular attendees.

Students who attend school 100% of the time achieve, on average, 13 to 15 more credits in NCEA than do students who attend 90% of the time. To put it into another context, 90% attendance means that a student is absent from school for one day per fortnight. If we put that into a workplace context, for most of us, this level of attendance would put our continued employment in jeopardy.

In 2019, the then Associate Minister of Education Tracey Martin, identified that “students attending 95 percent of days in Year 10 later get an average of 75 credits at Level 3”, easily enough to gain the qualification. Conversely, of “Year 10s who attend 85 percent of the time, only about half go on to achieve NCEA Level 3.”