Kia ora koutou. Warm greetings to students, families and friends of Waimea College. I hope that the recent term break provided the opportunity for your family/whānaū to spend some quality time together.

Our final term of 2021 promises to be a busy one with senior students at school for just four and a half weeks before they take leave to sit NCEA examinations which start on Monday 22 November. A copy of the NCEA Examination timetable is HERE for reference.

New Format to our Newsletters
I hope that you are enjoying the more modern and technology rich format of our school newsletters that the Hail platform provides.

While Hail has many benefits, it comes at an additional cost so we are very pleased to introduce Glen Thompson from Ray White Real Estate as the sponsor of our Hail platform. Glen has a strong association with Waimea College having been a parent of two sons who attended Waimea College and has been a strong contributor to Waimea College Sport having been one of the head coaches of the Waimea Combined 1st XV Rugby Team for two seasons. We are proud to partner with Glen.

2022 Head Students
I would like to acknowledge the significant number of students who put themselves forward for Head Student  and other student leadership roles for 2022.  The Head Student selection process at Waimea College is comprehensive. All candidates make written applications and present speeches about their candidacy to students and staff. Short-listed candidates undertake a formal interview. I am incredibly proud of everyone who put themselves forward for a Head Student role and I would like to congratulate the successful Head Student candidates for 2022: 
Macy Morgan, Isabella Thurlow, Briea Anderson, Baxter Richards, Jaxon James, and Noah Fay.

2022 Board of Trustees Student Representative
Congratulations to Leon Caslavsky who has been elected as the Student Trustee for 2022 on the Waimea College Board. We would like to take the opportunity to acknowledge the valuable contributions made by our outgoing student representative – Macgregor Jones.

NCEA Examinations
Our senior students are preparing themselves for their NCEA Exams which will be starting on 22 November. It’s great news that students are being supported with Learning Recognition Credits this year to recognise the impact of COVID. Parents and caregivers can support students during this period by helping reinforce these messages:

1. Be prepared

• Most subjects are offering exam preparation workshops and tutorials. Attend all tutorial and revision sessions that are offered for your subject.
• Have up-to-date course notes. If you don't, ask your teachers for the latest versions.
• Practise for the exams by reviewing past years' assessments and examination papers.
• Know what is required for each achievement standard.

2. Planning

• Set regular routines of study.
• Choose a quiet, airy, well-lit place to study.
• Set study goals. Weekly and daily goals of what you need to study and when.
• Know your deadlines.
• Make a study timetable.
• Do a small amount of study on each subject every night.

3. Relax

• Take breaks e.g. every 50 minutes have a break for 10 minutes.
• Eat healthily, sleep regularly and exercise.
• Reward yourself for studying by doing something you enjoy after each period of study.
• Ask for help. There are subject specialists who are there to help. Don’t hesitate to reach out to them.

Teacher Only Day – Friday 3 December
The Government allocated all schools eight additional teacher-only days between 2020 and 2022. These eight days will not extend the school year. These days are set aside to support the implementation of changes to NCEA, and wider strengthening of curriculum, progress and achievement practice.

For the secondary sector, the days will be additional to schools’ existing allocation of teacher-only days with Friday 3 December being one of these allocated days at Waimea College.

I’m looking forward to the next few weeks of learning and celebration.

Semper Contendite – Always Strive

Scott Haines
Principal