We’ve had a positive start to the year, welcoming over 200 new students in Year 9 as well as large numbers at other levels – our roll is approximately 1200 at this point. It’s been a busy start too, with the Extra-curricular Expo showcasing the wide range of activities that are available for students, and the annual Top House event kicking off the House competition in its usual enthusiastic and colourful fashion (Congratulations Te Kanawa, winners for the second year in a row!).

Congratulations to our senior students for some great 2024 NCEA results. Despite the issues around the literacy and numeracy co-requisites for NCEA Level 1, 75% of our students gained NCEA Level 1, compared to the National pass rate of 45%. NCEA Level 2 was gained by 78% of our students and 80% of our Year 13 students gained NCEA Level 3. Further information on NCEA results can be found elsewhere in this Pānui.

For many parents and caregivers, NCEA still remains a mystery, especially with key terms like standards, credits, external assessments and online assessment being mentioned by students for the first time. It can be quite confusing, so we are holding an NCEA Information Evening to help you understand these changes and equip you better to support our students. This event will be held at 6pm on Thursday 13 March.

We welcome the following staff to UHC this year:

Nicholas Baucke-Maunsell – Music & PE

Annie Black - Drama & English

Ingrid Burt - Teacher Aide

David Cardwell - English & Social Sciences

Simon Croft - Hard Materials & BCO

Travis Cummings - Science

Tamsin Davies-Colley - Awhina & DGT

Elsa Haywood - English & Social Sciences

Dipika Kumar - Foods & HOC

Rachel Okamoto - Teacher Aide – Awhina

Michelle Park - Teacher Aide

Carys Watson - Foods & HOC

We farewelled Callan Melaugh our Te Reo teacher and Kapa Haka Tutor earlier this term.

The term is racing by, but there's a "good vibe" in the school, and a lot happening to take us to the end of the term. We're looking forward to another great year at UHC.

Judith Taylor

Principal

In this issue

School photos