RJHS Newsletter - Term 1, Issue 3

KORERO FROM MEL

Kia ora e te whānau,

We are well into the thick of the term here at RJHS and looking forward to the very imminent opening of our new building. The extra space is going to be extremely welcomed by our staff and students and will have a significant impact on teaching and learning. We enjoyed meeting a number of new whānau at our Meet the Hapū evening last night. Thank you for taking the time to come in and meet us.

This week in assembly, my message to students is focused on the O in SOAR - I am ORGANISED for learning. This involves being in the correct space and ready to learn, on time and with the equipment required for learning. At assembly, our students are hearing from 2 Senior High School students about the importance of these skills in the qualifications years of school. If students can develop these good habits now, it will make it that much easier for them when the stakes are higher.

You can support us at home by checking in regularly to ensure that students are charging their device overnight so that it arrives at school with a full battery and that they have their books packed and a full pencil case.

Part of being organised for learning is also having a water bottle that can filled during break times and a suitable lunch. It also includes their cellphones being turned off and kept in their bags from the time they arrive at school, until 3:15pm. This has always been the JHS policy on cellphones and has not changed with the introduction of the government policy.

Another policy that you may have heard about from the government is the 1 hour per day of reading, writing and mathematics. I’d like to take this opportunity to assure you that again, this policy means very little change for us. We have already dedicated periods of the week to Numeracy and Writing programmes, as well as compulsory Mathematics & Statistics and English Learning Modules for all students. With our rich and contextual learning in all of our courses, we have no changes to make to meet the new guidelines from the Ministry of Education.

To our Muslim whānau, we wish you well for the month of Ramadan.