Starting secondary school is a big deal for our young people as they settle into their new surroundings, meet their teachers and new classmates. 9FH students Jamie McCarthy and Jen Campbell share how they have found starting at UHC.

Jen's experience:

I felt really nervous for my first day here at UHC. Who wouldn’t though? Going around, trying to run around finding your classes. That wasn’t the case for us though. We were ushered into the hall, where there was an incredible performance from the Kapa Haka group. Staff members had put on their most welcome smiles, almost like they already knew us. 

Staff said some words, welcoming us to this big change. Talking about the marae, this school. There was even a sausage sizzle afterwards, where just outside the hall us new Year 9’s were buzzing with excitement (and some nervousness), lining up for a delicious lunch, served by UHC’s seniors. They had bright smiles on their faces, happily serving the newbies. Ice blocks were handed out, and everyone laughed and smiled.

After all this excitement, we met our Ako teachers, stayed in our Ako class, taking this new environment in. As school finished early, we did mostly games and got to chat away with our friends, talking about things we might be excited about or maybe clubs and sports we might have wanted to join. It was a big change for us, but our (Year 12 & 13) Tuakana Leaders welcomed us and helped us with our classes, and making sure that we knew where to go. 

So far, we’re having a great time. There’s so many activities to do, clubs to join and new people to meet. Everyone is included, and all the teachers are ready to help when we need it. There’s always something to do and somewhere to be, so many of us signed up for extra-curricular clubs.  

Jamie's experience:

On the  first day of school all of the Year 9s lined up in pairs to be ushered into the hall for the pōwhiri.

We were all feeling nervous about what this new school might hold. In the pōwhiri the principal explained to us about what the next two orientation days would look like and then we went to our Ako classes.

For the next two days we spent time with our Ako classes taking tours of the school. We made class banners and had a tug of war in the big gym. The orientation days were really helpful. We found our way around the school really quickly.