FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S DESK

FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S DESK

Dear students, parents and caregivers

Ngā mihi o te wa ki a koe me te whanau

As we come to the end of term one 2015 I am conscious of how busy the term has been. Term one this year has been nine weeks compared to other years where we have had eleven or even twelve weeks, therefore we have had to fit activities into a smaller time period. In spite of this staff and students have been involved in many activities both inside and outside the school.

Since the last newsletter we have had several TSSSA sports events, our leaders have been to Palmerston North for a leadership seminar, our year 12 physical education students have been tramping on the mountain, year 13 geography students are off to Tongariro, students were involved in teens can cook and assemblies have celebrated sports and academic awards. Over the weekend a number of staff and students spent 24 hours walking around a track at the showgrounds for Relay 4 Life. They were great ambassadors for our school as have all students who have represented our school during this term.

Thank you to the large number of parents/caregivers who attended our Poutama goal setting day earlier this month. I'm sure you would have found this valuable, and the foundation and goals are now set for the year. The relationship that your son/daughter has with their academic mentor is a very important one in assisting with goal setting and monitoring achievement over the year. Students will meet with their academic mentor every three weeks and there will be key messages that will be delivered at various times, especially for seniors involved in NCEA. Our next round of Poutama interviews with parents and students will be at the end of term 2. We would welcome any feedback on the process undertaken this year as it differs from previous Poutama days.

All students will receive a report during the last two weeks of the term. Seniors will receive a progress report (parent interviews on Wednesday 1^st April) and juniors will receive their first graduation report with parent interviews to be held on Thursday 23^rd April. The critical part of this cycle are the report evenings and talking to your child’s teacher about their progress. An important aspect of your attendance at the report evening, is the message that it sends to your children that you and the school are working together to support them. Students should use the reports and interviews to reflect on their learning, and should then review and reset some goals, re-establish routines, and ensure a life and work balance.

We still have one week of the term remaining (school does not finish until Thursday 2^nd April at 3.15 pm) and it is important that students remain focused on their learning and the goals they have set. I am very conscious of our student’s efforts during this term and their desire to be the best they can be. I also want to express my appreciation to our great staff team for the work they do in serving and supporting a wonderful student community. I encourage students not to let their standards slip over the next two weeks. Be sure to aim high in all you do.

NCEA Results

The school has received provisional NCEA results. Congratulations to all students for their success. 

Overall participation based results: students who entered sufficient credits to achieve a NQF qualification by the end of year.

Year	L1	Nat	L2	Nat	L3	Nat	UE	Nat
2013	53.3	76.4	60.5	79.2	67.4	74.6	58.7	64.9
2014	74.3	79.3	77.9	84.3	70.3	74.9	51.4	51.9

Literacy/numeracy

Year	Literacy	Nat	Numeracy	Nat
2013	83.9	78.6	82.1	80.6
2014	88.0	82.1	82.4	82.4

Certificate Endorsements

2013	L1	Nat	L2	Nat	L3	Nat
Excellence	7.1	11.9	4.1	9.2	3.2	8.8
Merit	42.9	26.1	14.3	19.5	25.8	24.7
2014
Excellence	8.6	12.5	11.3	10.6	3.8	9.9
Merit	25.9	27.6	30.2	19.9	23.1	23.5

As this is the last newsletter of the term, I wish you an enjoyable break with your family and friends and hope that you return refreshed and ready for another exciting and exhilarating term on Monday 20^th April.

Philip Keenan, Principal