Tēnā koutou Katoa. As we head into the September school holidays this newsletter provides us with an opportunity to celebrate the many and varied successes of Rangiora High School students.

• Lily Heidmann attended the Marine Biology Summer Programme at the world-renowned Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (in Cape Cod Massachusetts).
  
• Brianna James has been awarded a place from 2019 in the PwC Accelerate programme providing her with professional mentoring as well as preferential entry to their Summer Internship programme.
  
• Molly-Kate Mullen, Brianna James and Holly Maxwell attended the Women of Influence Awards in Auckland. Westpac NZ offered the opportunity for eight female students from around New Zealand, who show leadership potential, to attend both the Forum and the Awards Evening as their guests. Molly-Kate was also selected to speak at the Awards Gala Dinner.
  
• Miriam Stirling represented Rangiora High School at the 125th anniversary of Women’s Suffrage attended by the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in mind September.
  
• Zoe Loffhagen won the University of Canterbury Community Action Award at the Your Voice Canterbury Awards.
  
• Our choir participated in the ‘Voices Festival Choir’ and were awarded excellence in ensemble harmonising. Hunter Mealing, was awarded ‘outstanding soloist’.
  
• Four speakers, Vienna Jermyn, Zoe Miles Alexis Miller, , and Ruby Reid competed in the Canterbury Manu Korēro competitions.
  
• Our Kapa Haka group participated in the North Canterbury Kapa Haka Festival
  
• Annie Leen and Meg Elvin represented New Zealand in the World Archery Oceania Youth Championships.
  
• Gabbie Rennie represented New Zealand as a member of the New Zealand Under 20 Football Team at the under 20 World cup in France in August.
  
• Ella Fong and Macey Fraser have been selected for the New Zealand under 17 Secondary Schools' team to compete in the USA next April
  
• The 1st XV Boys' Rugby team made the New Zealand Co-ed final. George Prain was selected for the New Zealand  Secondary Schools' Team who are competing in Australia as this newsletter goes to print. Angus Fletcher, Jermaine Pepe and George Prain were  also selected for the 2018 Crusader Junior Knights.
  
• The RHS team won the mixed grade Target Shooting New Zealand Secondary Schools' Postal Competition.
  
• The Rogaine team was placed 4th in New Zealand.
  
• The ‘A’ Netball team was the top Co-ed school finishing 7th at the South Island Secondary Schools’ tournament. Sara Cottam and Laura Mann were selected in the tournament team.
  
• The A Basketball Boys’ Team made the grand final in the Thompson Trophy.
  
• The Girls' 1st XV won the UC Plate final. Brittany Kane has been selected for the Canterbury under 18 Girls' Team and Emily Winter and Missy Hill for the Canterbury Under 18 development squad
  
• The Boys’ Hockey Team won  the Senior Boys’ midweek competition for the first time since 1998.
  
• Tegan Bishop placed 1st and Ben Spark 3rd in the Snowboard at the South Island Secondary Schools' Snowboard Championships. The Rangiora High School Boys’ Snowboard team won the Canterbury Championships
  
• Quade McLachlan placed 1st, and Holly Prickett, India Higby, and James Paterson 2nd  and Ethan McLachlan 3rd in the Sprint at the Canterbury Orienteering Championships.
  
• Ethan McLachlan placed 2nd and Jacob Turner 3rd in the under 16 division of the Canterbury Duathlon Championships. The Boys’ Team placed 3rd. With Quade McLachlan placing 2nd in the under 14 boys.
  
• At the recent Interschools’ Equestrian One Day event, Toby Orr and Loulou Regos finished 1st overall in their classes and Sophie Stephens finished 2nd in her class.
  

These are just a few examples of the successes experienced by our students. We are very proud our students and their achievements. To receive regular updates on their achievements and reminders of upcoming events, such as prizegiving, I would encourage you to join the Rangiora High School Facebook page. The dates for prizegivings are listed later in this newsletter, and we look forward to seeing you at these celebrations of the curricular and extracurricular achievements of our students.

Term 3 has also seen the appointment of an Associate Principal. The Board of Trustees is pleased to announce that Paul Donnelly will start work on Monday 5 November. Paul comes to us from St Thomas of Canterbury where he holds the position of Deputy Principal. Paul’s portfolio is Learning Opportunities and his focus will be on creating learning opportunities for our students that are inclusive, equitable and ensure pathways to future learning, training and employment.

Next term is a busy term. For our students in Years 11, 12 and 13 their focus is on achieving NCEA. A number of websites have been developed to help parents and whānau support their young people:

• The Ministry of Education website which is full of practical advice
• If you want to know more about the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA), the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA), provides information specifically written for parents and whānau). Alternatively, you could watch episode two of Nigel Latta’s TV series. Nigel Latta not only explains how NCEA works, he also explains how learning programmes have changed.
• If you are looking for specific information on how to support your daughter / son prepare for NCEA I would recommend that you look at Studyit. The site offers support in different learning areas, enables your child to contact subject teachers, and get encouragement from other students.

NCEA examinations, unlike the recent school examinations, are written by NZQA panels and marked by NCEA markers. Here at school a number of Faculties / teachers are running tutorials in preparation for these examinations. Please encourage your son or daughter to attend these particularly if they are needing extra support or are aiming to achieve an endorsement. To be successful our students need to put time and effort into revision. The October holidays and exam leave are both opportunities for your child to spend time revising their course work and preparing for the upcoming examinations. It is important at this busy time that all our students look after their wellbeing by eating properly, getting plenty of sleep and exercising.

Please do not hesitate to get in contact with your daughter's or son’s form teacher, Dean or Head of House if any have any concerns or questions re your child’s  academic progress or wellbeing over this next term.

Karen Stewart

Principal / Tumuaki