Nga mihi nui kia koutou katoa. Welcome to the Westland High School newsletter for February 2023.

Dear Parents/Whanau and students

Term one of this year has got off to a wonderful start, students are settled and the teaching and learning programs are well in place. This year we have been stricter on the use of cell phones and have already seen the benefits of this with students having a stronger focus and concentration on their studies, for our students this will in the long-term provide positive results for progress and achievement.

You may have recently seen an article on the school’s Facebook page and in the Hokitika Guardian celebrating our students' awesome NCEA results congratulations to all. You can read more about that in an article within this newsletter if you haven't already seen the news.

What’s been happening

Over the past two weeks students have taken the opportunity to be involved in a number of activities, our senior leaders attend a full leadership day, all students had the opportunity to experience the Westland Inspire to Aspire expo in town, our Year 9 students worked on team and relationship building at the Whakawhanaungatanga wananga, meet the teacher evening was last Tuesday evening for year 7 and 8 Whanau and students and coming up we have Athletics day Tuesday next week (weather permitting). Term 1 is always a mad dash to get as many of our outdoor events over the line as possible to make use of the wonderful weather. Long may it continue. With that in mind we send our condolences to our fellow school community in the Northern climbs who have been adversely affected by the devastating cyclone. Families and communities have been devastated on such a scale we haven't seen before and we know it will be a long road of recovery for them all. We wish them all the best and over the next few months we will look at ways we can show our support.

Staff Changes

Westland High School has a number of new staff for 2023. We welcome and welcome back

• Mrs A. Callaghan teaching Classics and English
• Mrs S. O’Malley (returns) teaching English
• Dr T. Shawcross will return to us in term 2

We also wish Mr H Lancaster all the best as he moves to the Ministry of Education at the end the term one, his position of Head of Learning Junior School has been advertised.

Lunch Passes / leaving the school site

Students with lunch passes may leave the school site to a nominated address to have lunch, a lunch pass can be organised via the school office and are authorised by the Academic and Pastoral Leaders.

Students without lunch passes are not permitted to leave the school grounds during break times.

Reminder about devices at Westland High School

There is an expectation that all students have a Chromebook which has been purchased preferably through Westland High School via the Toki Pounamu trust (or their primary school when transferring to WHS). The advantage of the purchasing scheme via the Toki pounamu trust is the device comes with three-year insurance, payment options are available, devices are maintained by the school with on-site technical support, a carry bag is included and it seamlessly connects to the school network. If a Chromebook is damaged a loan Chromebook can also immediately be issued by the school while the Chromebook is repaired.

If you need to purchase a Chromebook please contact office@westlandhigh.school.nz.

Contacting School

On occasion parents and Whanau may need to contact the school. The following contacts are listed below:

Academic and Pastoral Care Leaders

• Sarah Bateup: Year 11-13 Students sarahbateup@westlandhigh.school.nz
• Mike Talbot: Year 9-10 Students miketalbot@westlandhigh.school.nz
• Kate Veale: Year 7-8 Students kateveale@westlandhigh.school.nz
• School office: 03 755 6169 office@westlandhigh.school.nz

Guidance Counsellor

Fiona Lauder our School guidance counsellor is available to talk with students during normal school hours. To make an appointment to talk with Fiona email her at fionalauder@westlandhigh.school.nz, Fiona will get back to you with a time to talk.

All conversations with Fiona are held in the strictest confidence.

Enjoy the glorious warm sunny weather whilst it lasts.

Ngā mihi nui
Iain Murray
Principal