Tēnā tātou e te hāpori o Te Kura Tuarua o Tawera / hello to all of us in the Darfield High School community

Education has been in the news a fair bit recently, for good and bad, and I want to share where we’re at:

We made our phone changes last July and the only tweaks now are to be clearer that students who need a phone for medical reasons - to monitor insulin for example - may do so
We have an hour a day of reading, writing and maths in years 7&8 but we are working on how to monitor this
Our attendance survey went out this week; our attendance is better than the awful national figures but not good enough and we want to understand our community’s attendance at school better before making any changes. Engagement in school will be the focus of my sabbatical in term 3
We generally welcome the delay to NCEA Level 2&3 changes (although we have done a lot of work on this already). We will have an evening early in Term 2 to explain NCEA changes. Our staff are grappling with some very poor support from MoE for the changes we are having to implement.

The PPTA union is holding a “Paid Union Meeting” on the morning of 16 May which will mean that school will have to open late morning for most students that day. Details will be supplied early next term and non-members will support students who need to attend school. I am frustrated, as I imagine you are, that the PPTA union continues to choose to use its industrial rights in a way that disrupts education.

The Selwyn District Council is requesting feedback from our community for their Long Term Plan. There is a great opportunity to collaborate on a sports venue which will be truly suitable for our community. Basketball especially is growing really fast and we currently have no full sized courts in Darfield. With the population growth we can see happening around us, we would love to see a two-court gym built here - preferably hosted on our school site giving cheaper land access to the council and better gym access for our students which in turn means better patronage for the facility. Our students also need a bus service to Rolleston which is becoming an amazing hub for services but is currently inaccessible. We need all of our community to submit so that SDC hears us clearly: please click here to make your submission https://yoursay.selwyn.govt.nz/ltp

24/7 Youthwork has started and we welcomed Kya Foth to DHS this week. My thanks to Steven Pona of Darfield Life Church for his commitment to this project.

Congratulations to our three boys who made the Selwyn Combined XV rugby wider training squad. This is an amazing opportunity for them and the Selwyn Combined XV is an incredibly important asset, allowing our top rugby students access to the prestigious Miles Toyota Cup.

Congratulations, too, to Tracey Mangles (our careers administrator) who was awarded Sport Canterbury's Coach of the Year - Community Award Winner sponsored by University of Canterbury.

Students have been fantastic all week and I loved the work of our leaders with running assemblies.

Cross country was so well organised and attended - including by whānau supporters. I was really impressed with how well the seniors supported the juniors (and our staff - Ms Heaps, Mrs Dalley and me!)

Our new students in particular have worked hard and successfully transitioned into their new school which deserves recognition.

A message I gave at assemblies - which I’d like your support with at home - is to (A) reflect on your successes this term, and to allow yourself to be proud of them, and (B) to plan an aim or two for next term based on growing what you’re doing well.

I wish you all good times over the break and I look forward to seeing you in Term 2.

Ngā manaakitanga,

Andy England
Tumuaki | Principal

This is great opportunity for students who are keen writers or want to build on their writing skills!