Dear Parents and Caregivers

Greetings, tena koutou katoa, talofa lava and welcome back to Shirley Boys’ High School. For those of you who are new to our family, an especially warm welcome.

2018 will be remembered as our last full year on a school site we have occupied since 1957. As such,  it will be a memorable year in this school’s history. I am certain that this time next year, we will be looking at the very soon to be completed new school at Oruapaeroa (QE2).

Some quick reminders

Remember, if you are new to Shirley, you are encouraged to communicate early and often with the school. Details of key people are in this newsletter, ideally, it would be good to be file this information for easy reference throughout the year. By the time you read this, it is also likely that you will have had a communication with your son’s Form Teacher. Please remember that a warm invitation is extended to contact them at need- or indeed any of the people noted below:

For those of you who are with us for the first time, here are some useful ideas to help you transition your son to high school. Ask him to show you what he was doing in school each day, help keep him organised and, when he does positive things, praise him and let us know so this can be reinforced here at school. Remember that if he is doing something like playing a sport, or engaging in school activity such as drama, tabloid sport, music or something else, try and come along and support him in person. He might seem a bit indifferent on the surface but underneath he will love you for it!

Staff members with specific responsibility

• Associate Headmaster: Tim Grocott. Focus on Curriculum Development, Professional Development, Future Schools Development, H+S and Appraisal.
  
• Deputy Headmaster: Rob Wilson-Pyne. Focus on the pastoral care of students and student morale.
  
• Assistant Principal: Craig Croft.  Focus on day to day operations.
  
• Assistant Principal: Dan Gilmore. Focus on Curriculum, Assessment, data analysis, Timetable.
  
• Assistant Principal: Maria Lemalie. Focus on student leadership Cultural Activity and new staff.
  
• Director of International: Sue Nesbit.
  
• HOD Guidance: Tony Ambrose.   
  
• Across Kahui Ako Role: Focus on Pedagogy - Richard McLaren.   
  
• Across Kahui Ako Role:  Focus on Mathematics - Tom Davies.
  
• Across Kahui Ako Role: focus on Culturally Appropriate Practice - Joe Houghton.
  
• IT Coordinator: Eric Persen.
  
• Chairperson Spartans Sport:  Jamyn Keats.
  
• Dean of Snell: Ira Perkins.  Assistant Dean:  Pete Beswick .  
  
• Dean of Mullins: Scott Davidson.   Assistant Dean: Merryn Herlihy.  
  
• Dean of Blake: Garth Jones.   Assistant Dean:   Andy Lee.   
  
• Dean of Aoraki: Andy Firmedow.  Assistant Dean: Tony Christie .
  

As usual there are some staffing changes and some new staff to welcome into the Shirley Family.

Staff News

Jess Dalton returns part time from Maternity leave. Stacey Lane and Virginia White are past colleagues and I am delighted to see them return to us. Matt Sharr resigned his position after school finished in 2017, to take up a new position in Hillmorton at the start of this year. Greg Dawson returns as his replacement in PE in early March, so a temporary replacement is required for several weeks.

New Staff

• Teacher of Maths – Kris Vine (KSV)
• Teacher of English – Anna Hubbard (AJH)
• Teacher of Social Sciences – Hannah Cook (HEC)
• Teacher of English – Cassie Millward (CAM)
• Teacher of Physics and Maths – Matt Davie (MWD)
• Teacher of English (part time, term 1) – Louise Edmonds (LTE)
• Teacher of Chemistry (Part Time) – Stacey Lane (SLL)
• Teacher of ESOL (Part Time, term 1)– Virginia White (VAW)
• Teacher of Maths – Teagan Weston (TPW)
• Headmaster’s Assistant – Jane Forster (JMF)
• Outdoor Education Assistant – Brooke Pinteric

For those of you interested, my Annual Report and Statement of Variance will be available from the school office early in March.

While every effort has been made to ensure a smooth start to the year, we are still tweaking timetable structures involving rooming and class placements. This has arisen because a greater influx of  Year 9 students than expected has occurred, I am confident however that these will be resolved in the next week or so.

2017 NZQA examinations

We do not yet have the confirmed results- ready by March- but we are certainly well above NZ Averages in Level One, Two and Three and the numbers of elite academic performers who entered the exclusive 90s Club  for high achievement in NZQA are comparable to our excellent achievements of the past five years.

I will ensure you get the exact details after results are confirmed.

The 90s Club 2017

Please click here to read the names of the 2017 90s club members. 

Scholarship 2017:

Scholarship is the highest ranked examination in NZ secondary schools and our results were up on 2016. In 2015, 4 Scholarships (two from Year 12 boys), led to an improvement in 2016 with 8 scholarships from 6 students. Scholarship support classes and a strong GATE programme, were maintained in 2017 and 10 scholarships from 9 boys represents a very good effort. Especially noteworthy however were Callum Ross,  Callum Teape and Jeremy Wright, who sat and passed scholarship as Year 12 students!

Miguel Clayton-Jones   -    English

Callum Teape   -    English

Jeremy Wright   -   English

Callum Ross   -   English

Blake Kennedy   -   Chemistry

Jonty Teague  -   Chemistry

Sam Harris   -    Chemistry

Taylor Keys   -    Chemistry

Sam Bastida    -   Chemistry and Calculus

Student Leadership

Student Leaders for 2018 have been appointed.

Head Boy:  Jeremy Wright

Associate Head Boy:  Ben Nicholls

Associate Head Boy:  Logan Bramley

Board Student Representative:  Valenitino Punivai

House Captain Snell:  Isaac Carter

House Captain Aoraki:  Tom Perriam

House Captain Blake:  Fletcher Platt

House Captain Mullins:  Joel Jeffrey

Conclusion

The school is in good shape, with everything good to go for the start of the new year. Remember to stay close during this important year in our school’s history. Our doors are always open.

Regards and Best Wishes

John Laurenson

Headmaster