Year 13 Police Studies 3 Day Intensive Camp

The Year 13 Police Studies students went to Waiatuhi Marae with students from RBHS for their 3 Day Intensive Camp. The purpose of the camp is to prepare students to conduct two informal interviews with a witness and victim of a made up ‘theft’ incident. They then conduct a formal interview of the suspect at the Rotorua Police station on the final day.  

On Day 1, we had members from the Road Policing unit and the CIB come and talk about their roles and what it takes to be a member of these teams. On Day 2, our students met Mark Enright, who took them for Physical Training at 6.30pm, then we had another full-on day meeting Rotorua Police personnel from the Armed Offenders Squad, Scene of Crime Officers and Public Order training. In the evenings, students role played acting as the victim or witness from the theft scenario and took turns interviewing each other.  

Day 3 started with another training session and then we headed into the Police station to interview “Jesse James” the suspect. Jesse was played by members of the public who are currently in the pipeline to go to Police College. At the end, both schools selected two students who were named as the recipients of the PRIMED Top Student Award for the 3 Day intensive Camp. For RGHS, that student was Mihimanawa Mihaka.

Our thanks goes to Inspector Nic Cooney, Senior Sargent Graeme Hill and Constable Terri Simpkins who worked to coordinate the Police who attended our camp.

Year 9 and 10 Sport Education Volleyball Tournament.

On Tuesday 28th June the Year 12 Sport Leader class led our annual Sport Education tournament for the Year 9’s and 10’s. They were responsible for organising and running the tournament which started with a visit from Noelani Hudson, who is tournament controller for some major tournaments and events held in Rotorua. Noelani told us all the in’s and out’s with event management which helped us to create a massive list of all the jobs and roles that needed to be covered before the day.

Meanwhile, all our Year 9 and 10 classes have been working on skill development in Volleyball and then got into two groups, either competitive or social. The social grade had some amended rules to make the game more inclusive. Teams were allocated a country with some dressing up in the colours of the countries flags. Congratulations to our Best Dressed teams - New Zealand (9 Pono) and Bahama’s (10 Aro). Our Best dressed individuals were Te Aroha - India (9 Tika) and Purity - 10 Ako (Philippines).

Results from the day include

Year 10
1st Place Competitive - Fiji (10 Ako)
2nd Place Competitive - Cook Islands (10 Tika)
3rd Place Competitive - Tonga (10 Pono)

1st Place Social - Philippines (10 Ako)
2nd Place Social - Aitutaki (10 Mana)
3rd Place Social - Tahiti (10 Awhi)

Most Valuable Player Year 10 - Ayva Marsters (Fiji)

Year 9
1st Place Competitive - Spain (9 Wana)
2nd Place Competitive - India (9 Tika)
3rd Place Competitive - Germany (9

1st Place Social - Korea (9 Pono)
2nd Place Social - Ireland (9 Ako)
3rd Place Social - Brazil (9 Wana)

Most Valuable Player - Ngahirata Haumaha (Spain)

Fair Play team - Ukraine (9 Aro)

Well done to all participants and especially to our leaders who did an awesome job putting together a fun and enjoyable tournament.  

Sexuality Education - Year 9 and 10

Our School has selected to participate in the ACC school-based healthy relationships programme called Mates & Dates. The programme will start for all our Year 9 and 10 students in Week 6 of Term 2.

ACC has developed Mates & Dates to help prevent dating and sexual violence. This is important given that 1 in 5 female and 1 in 10 male secondary students say they have had some form of unwanted sexual contact. 57% of those who experience this tell no one.

Working with young people is one of the most effective ways of preventing all types of violence. ACC has worked closely with the Ministry of Education to ensure that the programme aligns with the curriculum and is appropriate to our young people’s learning needs.

Mates & Dates is about all kinds of relationships - including friends, family and whānau.

The programme teaches students how to:

• have healthy relationships built on respect, equality, and consent. This includes communication skills, pproblem solving and decision-making skills.
• exercise their rights and responsibilities related to consent and safety.
• be critical of ideas in the media about equality, gender, body image and sexualisation.
• identify inappropriate and abusive behaviours.
• access help from trusted adults and professionals in their community. · safely intervene in situations that could lead to harm.

The programme taught in each year group will be appropriate for that age group. It will be taught by specialist sexual violence prevention programme facilitators over five one-hour sessions. Mates & Dates is not a sexuality education programme but will include materials and discussions about what is relationship violence and the issues that young people face in today’s environment. This includes consent, dating, relationships, identity, attraction, pornography, alcohol and or drug use. The programme takes a harm minimization approach by openly discussing topics so young people are empowered with information to make safe choices.

The programme, which starts Week 6 of Term 3 specifically covers the following content areas.

• Session 1 – What is a healthy relationship, your values and how do you end relationships respectfully. Support services and the importance of reaching out for support are talked about in every session.
• Session 2- Consent and what this means in everyday life as well as sexual relationships. This includes discussion around the law and sexual interactions. Explore what impact the media can have upon consent; reality versus fake, as well as the impact that pornography can have upon ideas of consent and healthy relationships.
• Session 3- Gender, identity, and sexuality. Critically explore ideas that may be portrayed in the media about equality, gender, body image, consent and what a healthy relationship is.
• Session 4 – Keeping safe and the impacts of violence (both sexual and non-sexual). Focus on staying safe online and online grooming. How to support a friend.
• Session 5 – The bystander effect. Focuses on how you can keep you and your mates safe and what you can do if you see something happening that not ok.

Prior to our Mates and Dates sessions, our Health teachers will be teaching Sexuality Education for 5 weeks specifically focussing on

• menstrual cycle, period products and pubertal changes (Year 9)
• Sexuality identity and Diversity (Year 9 and 10)
• Conception and Pregnancy (Year 9 and 10)
• Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI’s), and accessing health care (Year 9 and 10)
• Contraception (Year 9 and 10)
• Pornography (Year 10)

Underlying these topics will be a focus on key Health concepts - Hauora/Wellbeing, Attitudes, Values and Beliefs and Health Promotion.

Should you wish your child to be removed from aspects of the Sexuality Education unit and/or Mates and Dates sessions, please indicate which particular topics you wish them to be removed from by emailing me or your child's health teacher.

Carolyn Katu - ckatu@rghs.school.nz

Caroline Beamish - cbeamish@rghs.school.nz

Annalyse Pearse - apearse@rghs.school.nz

Jade Northey - jnorthey@rghs.school.nz

Rachael Marjoribanks - rmarjoribanks@rghs.school.nz

Sophie Williams - swilliams@rghs.school.nz

Carolyn Katu - Head of Faculty PE and Health