School Opening, New Board of Trustees, NZQA, NZCEA, Term 3.

Dear Parent and caregivers

Greetings, tena koutou katoa, talofa lava,

School Opening

The school was officially opened by The Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Thursday 4th July.

Many old boys, friends and supporters of the school through the various stages of the rebuild attended.  In particular I would like to acknowledge the presence of 2011 Head Boy, Jack Henry.

Jack began his year of leadership with the disastrous earthquake that occurred in February 2011.  He courageously led the student body through our time of diaspora when were forced to double-shift to Papanui High School, and he led them back again in August, to our old, but still damaged site. 

After leaving school at the end of the year he attended university in Wellington where he studied Architecture. Now a fully-qualified architect and one of New Zealand’s prominent athletes, he has steadfastly followed our resurrection from 2012 through to the present. 

Jack represents so much of what this school stands for. Noteworthy also is the fact that his brother Sam, (Head boy in 2008), has just been elected onto The Board of Trustees.

New Board of Trustess

The new Board has been elected. The first meeting was scheduled for the 27th June, with the aim being that everything will be fully up and running by the time of the second meeting scheduled for 28th July.

• Parent Representatives: Teresa Wooding, Sam Henry, Tony Deavoll, Iaean Cranwell and Douglas Boniface
• Staff Representative:  Brendan Jackman
• Student Representative: Sarmad Qamar
•  Board Secretary: Jane Forster

The Board work is critical for a school as it sets policy for staff to implement. The new Board will be involved immediately in sorting out a new strategic plan for the school and determining direction for it over the next block of five years.

Term 3

Year 13 student Ken Takai won a scholarship to go to France for two weeks in the September/October holidays. 

Ken will be representing New Zealand at a memorial service for a Canterbury serviceman who died while avoiding crashing into a French town in World War II. He will be delivering a speech in French at the town’s commemoration service. 

Ken plans to go to University in France next year so this will be an amazing opportunity for him to improve his French before he takes the DELF (French government) exam that is required for University entry. Ken’s brother Sean won a different scholarship to France in 2016.  His one was connected with World War I and involved travelling with a group of Young Ambassadors to the north of France for the 100 year commemorations of World War I.

I hope that your son returns from his vacation, determined to put in maximum effort for the critically important Term 3.  This is the term when demands will be at their greatest. Work load is high, sporting and cultural endeavours demand much and the weather will not yet be on the move to warmer conditions.

Please make sure he gets enough sleep and that he eats what his body needs, has fresh water, plain food, protein and useful carbohydrates with essential minerals and vitamins. Exercise is important as well.

NZQA

You will be aware that the Minister of Education  is looking to change things for the future.  Last year you were invited to contribute your thoughts on what changes were required and you are again invited to contribute your opinions in 2019. Please make sure that you do.  There is no doubt that we are in need of change and while the current system is sound in many ways, there are areas where change is badly needed.

The Ministry has reported that 2018 feedback from New Zealanders is at the heart of the changes to NCEA.  The material that follows is designed to keep you up to date with where things are at in 2019. MOE have developed a “toolbox” with information on the changes to NCEA. These resources are available on the Kōrero Mātauaranga website.

The resources include the following:

NCEA Change Package Overview 2019

This document provides more detail about the changes, the journey MOE took with New Zealand to get to them, and what an NCEA programme could look like.

Read the Overview document

NCEA Change Package Overview PPT

The following presentation will be used in schools to run workshops on the NCEA Change Package, I do encourage you to give it your close attention.

Download the presentation

Factsheets

In English:

• Make NCEA more accessible
• Mana ōrite mo te mātauranga Māori
• Strengthen literacy and numeracy requirements
• Have fewer, larger standards
• Simplify NCEA  structure
• Show clearer pathways to further education and employment
• Keep NCEA Level 1 as an optional level

In te reo Māori:

• Kia ngāwari ake te whai wāhi ki NCEA
• Mana ōrite mo te mātauranga Māori
• Whakakaha ake i ngā paearu reo matatini, pāngarau anō hoki
• Kia ruarua iho ngā paerewa, engari kia rahi ake ia paerewa
• Kia ngāwari kē te hanganga o NCEA
• Kia mārama ake ngā ara ki ngā akoranga anō me te mahi
• Waiho te Taumata 1 o NCEA hei mea kōwhiri

Conclusion

Term 3 will be a seminal period for us as we set direction for our school. 

We have left our old site and have  been in our new site for a term.  We know the strengths and the idiosyncrasies of our new property and we have a handle on the new community and its hopes and aspirations. 

With a new Board of Trustees  and staff willing to weave this into a set of goals for the community and work to achieve these goals, we are in for some exciting times ahead.

Best Wishes

John  Laurenson.