We are rounding up to the end of Term 3, which means our Year 11’s have only mere weeks of school left!

This term alone has been a huge learning curve for many of our students as the assessments and deadlines have been rolling in, one after the other. I have been keeping a very close eye on the tracking data and it makes me immensely proud to see so many of our students either already across the line for Level 1, or very nearly there. The last few weeks of Term 3 will see another credit dump for many students as the last of the internals are handed in. For those students who are struggling to gain credits, their teachers are working hard to support them in every way they can. Attendance and communication are the keys to succeeding this term so please encourage your child to be here and open up the conversations about their mahi with their teachers. Our attendance as a cohort has improved immensely this term. We had a couple of weeks where we only had around 65% of Year 11’s on site but in recent weeks we have been hitting 87%-90%! Well done!

Outside of the classroom, we continue to smash goals. Production was extremely successful and we had a number of Year 11’s, both on and off stage, play key roles. It was so cool watching them do their thing, the hard work and commitment they put in is admirable. Our production for 2023 has been announced- Legally Blonde. Ms Donovan is busy getting everything ready and is already asking for volunteers to help out so Year 11’s, if you want to give it a go, you should!

Our Xecute Dance crew have made it through to Nationals with an outstanding performance at Regionals. Keeley Carter-Conroy, Grace Hemana, Ngatahi Webster-Tarei and Dee Jay Selwyn all received Golden Tickets which allows them to compete for $10,000 in November. These girls also got an Excellence for their choreography - an outstanding achievement! This makes the future of dance at RGHS look extremely bright.

A big congratulations to Millie Simpkins and Tawa Ashby for being selected for the U18 Bay of Plenty girls rugby squad, and Tawa for going on and being selected for the NZR National U18 Maori Development camp.

Finally, option selections for 2023 are open. At Level 2, every student must do English. No other course is compulsory. Please take note of the new courses we have on offer, plus the courses that are new to Year 12 such as the Sciences. Whaea Ngaire and I will be busy having conversations with each Year 11 to ensure they have the best course picked out for them.

We have one final push to the end. Please encourage your child to make the most of this year in order to best prepare them for Year 12 next year. Any subject specific concerns, please contact their teachers directly, any other questions or queries please don’t hesitate to contact me. Nga mihi!