Nga mihi nui kia koutou katoa. Welcome to the the Westland High School June newsletter.

E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā karangatanga maha, tēnā koutou katoa. Warm greetings to you all.

The end of the term has finally arrived after a tumultuous period in the history of New Zealand, COVID has certainly changed the way we see the world and how as a nation, town and school we operate. We are certainly very fortunate to have not suffered the losses as other nations have, we need to remain vigilant to ensure what has been repeated around the world does not happen here, and to lock in the gains we have achieved.

This Friday we had the end of term assembly. Values awards were presented to reflect the positive attitudes, leadership and dispositions of our students.

The awards presented were:

Manaakitanga - being able to show care and support towards others.

Kaira Lourie, Bless Groom, Rhiannon Eason, Jasmine Barry, Libby Rochford, Jeannelize Diplock, Rohatai Fernandez, Alanna Nicholls, Tamsin Gillespie.

Rangatiratanga - being a good leader and role model to others in a consistent and positive way.

Scott Matthews, Poppy Johnson-Coates, Josh Nolan, Kade Burnside, Indee Maynard Stuart, Ruby Harris, Dani Rochford, Georgia Ritchie, Cassidy Bradley, Layk Scowen, Kaiah Priest.

Whanaungatanga being able to connect and bring people together to be collaborative and supportive.

Arki Coleman, Ellen Pearson, Ella Stewart, Riley Smith, Suellen Powell, Abbey Uren, Nate Croy, Bodhi Henson.

Lately we have been receiving an increasing number of enquiries relating to enrolment. Given the school’s recent successes and building upon strong educational principles, this is to be expected. Well done to all the students, staff and community for supporting the changes in expectations that has been contributing to this success.

As the open day had to be cancelled due to COVID19 we are offering parents and students the opportunity to visit the school by appointment where we will be happy to show you around, contact the school office to arrange a visit.

Myself and the appropriate year level Academic and Pastoral leaders (Mrs Hulme or Miss Bateup) will also be visiting contributing primary schools in term three and meet with students and parents as part of transitioning to Westland High School. Where a parent and or student are unable to meet with us at one of the contributing primary school’s interviews, we will be more than happy to organise an alternative time and tour of our wonderful school.

Congratulations to Mrs Krohn who has recently been appointed to the Senior APL role. Mrs Krohn takes over from Mrs Reeves who was recently appointed to the Deputy Principal Academic role. Mrs Krohn will be supporting senior students with their academic and pastoral care needs within her role.

The annual school ball will be held on the last day of term three. Ticket sales will be available from the office in week four of next term for students who have acceptable attendance and behaviour records, in addition, application forms for outside partners may be collected from the school office at the beginning of the term, outside partner applications are carefully vetted and must be approved by the Senior Leadership Team. Further detailed information will be provided to senior students, parents/whanau at the beginning of next term.

Assessment week is coming up next term. This is a week for senior students to have the opportunity to sit examinations as part of their preparation for NCEA at the end of the year. This is an important opportunity for all students to gain further experience in an examination environment. The results of the examinations may be used in the advent NCEA cannot occur i.e (as seen during the Christchurch earthquakes) to allocate derived grades. I.e marks from internal examinations to justify an NCEA pass at the end of the year.

I cannot stress enough how important these examinations are for students and therefore all parents and whanau are asked to encourage and support their children to be the best they can be with the examinations. The examinations take place the week of 24th to 28th August and students will be given ample opportunity to prepare for examinations.

Have a great holiday break and we look forward to seeing all our students back happy and smiley in term three.

Term Dates
Term 3 Monday 20th July to Friday 25th September
Term 4 Monday 12th October to Wednesday 11th December

Ngā mihi nui
Iain Murray
Principal