Tēnā koutou whānau, parents, students and friends

Welcome our new Year 9’s

We welcomed our new incoming Year 9 students with an orientation morning this week. Over 350 students are enrolled for the 2023 year and we look forward to supporting their transition into our school. Special thanks to our contributing schools and to Mrs Cade and Mrs Valentine for their mahi.

Strengthening Pastoral Care and whanaungatanga

The college moved from horizontal to vertical whānau groupings two years ago. The purpose was to better reflect life beyond school and to ensure there was visibility for all students, opportunities for tuakana/teina and for reciprocation for learning. Whilst much of this has happened, working across House groupings did create unnecessary duplication in work for our teaching staff and Deans team.

For that reason and based on feedback from colleagues, in 2023 we will be reverting back to cohort deans from House deans. Whānau groups will remain vertical for the reasons outlined but to reduce duplication and to strengthen whanaungatanga, there will be a Year 9 Dean and Deputy Principal (DP) pairing (as opposed to vertical House groups), Year 10 Dean and DP pairing and so forth. Deans and DP’s will follow that cohort for their schooling years.

So, commencing in 2023, the pastoral care pairings will be:

Year 9 - Mrs Gardner (Dean) and Mrs Valentine (DP)

Year 10 - Ms Belworthy (Dean) and Mrs Cade (DP)

Year 11 - Ms Mejia (Dean) and Mrs Ferguson (DP)

Year 12 - Ms Mankelow (Dean) and Ms Hooker (DP)

Year 13 - Ms Larsen (Dean) and Ms Rowlands (DP)

These are the people, along with your young person's whānau teacher and wider staff (guidance, mentors, learning support, health providers etc) who will provide pastoral support during their time at TGC. This is an exciting and dedicated team who have already built strong relationships with students and will continue to support young people in a very important time of their lives.

Last week for NCEA

Thank you to all our NCEA students. Each year students hold on to the last of their study notes before putting them away and walking into their examination room. Post the exam, there is the usual post mortem discussion of “what did you think about” or “gee that was…”. I just want to acknowledge all of our students along with those around the country who have done their part to show a form of their learning by sitting an examination. Many internal assessments have already been sat throughout the year and with one more week of exams to go, another year will soon come to an end. Results are out in January and schools will receive their initial results soon after. Enjoy the brain break (of subject knowledge) over the summer, but learning of course is life long!

Mātauranga Māori and local knowledge

Led by kaumatua Tamati Tata and organised by our very own passionate historian and Acting Deputy Principal, Mrs Talbot, the staff used some of their PPTA Accord Days to learn Tauranga Moana history. We are very appreciative of the staff at The Elms and also for the insights and perspectives offered by Tamati (Ngāi Tamarawaho). It was a most enjoyable few hours spent meandering in the city with colleagues and sharing in the learning experience. Literacy and Numeracy updates, information about the NCEA change package and curriculum area planning time were also on the two day agenda.

Farewell to our International Students

Over the next few weeks, we continue to farewell some of our senior international students. Many of these students have not been ‘home’ since the first lockdown. I take this opportunity to thank all of our wonderful international students who have played such an important and enriching role to our school's culture. We will miss you. You will always be welcome as alumni of TGC! Special thanks to our International Director and Homestay Coordinator for your amazing care/manaakitanga of our students. Mā te wā

Junior Prizegiving

A reminder and warm welcome to our end of year Junior Prizegiving which will be held in our Sports Hall on Friday 9 December. Details will be on our Facebook and Instagram pages.

Attending school is what we do

A reminder that face to face school is what we do. Students in the Google platform are there due to illness, bereavement and the like. Please ensure your young person values their learning time by being at school, ready for learning and attending everyday. We need our wāhine to be empowered and education is key to their ongoing success.

Behavior expectations

We appreciate families working with us to ensure we take pride in all that we do and that includes living out our schools values of respect, pride and participation. That is why it is disappointing when we have some students who are using school time to engage in poor behavior and not focussing on being the best versions of themselves. Remember, if your young person needs support, contact their dean, whānau teacher, classroom teacher, guidance staff. We are only too happy to help. Many times, our young people need the support of adults to help them to make good decisions. Two students have been answerable to the Board of Trustee’s lately and this  is despite many interventions of support. We all need to support high expectations and ensure we all feel safe and able to learn.

Breakfast Club

Don't forget, Breaky club is still on, no cost and all are welcome.

The club is held in Te Manawa (former C Block). Hot Milo, cereal and toast is available to all from 8-8.30am every day of the week.