High School Corner

Poutama Day

Thank you to all parents, caregivers and students who attended interviews with form teachers or deans on Poutama Day. Feedback from all was encouraging and it was useful helping students to focus on their goals. There will be opportunities during the year for students to review the goals they set. If you are aware of an inspiring person/story, please let Mrs Goble know as we are always looking for speakers for our Poutama assemblies.

Parent teacher interviews

Reports have been posted for all students and senior students with parents and caregivers will have an opportunity to meet with teachers on Thursday 3 April from 7 to 9pm in the assembly hall. A booking sheet was posted with the reports.

Parents and caregivers of junior students will have an interview evening on Thursday 10 April from 7 to 9 pm.

Positive Behaviour for Learning - School Wide (PB4LSW)

Congratulations to Rachel Martin, Nikita Dorne, Matthew Kowalewski and Matthew Rine on their appointment as Positive Behaviour for Learning  Ambassadors. Their role as ambassadors in the PB4LSW team is to act as a student voice on the team and to put forward a student perspective on the promotion and development of PB4LSW in our school and the wider community. We look forward to working with them.

Communication

Communication
During term one we trialled a number of ways to improve communication between home and school. The major initiative was to use a programme from the Ministry of Education called Early Notification System (ENS). This is a process where, if a student is away for Period 1 without explanation, families receive a text massage. This way you can know quickly when your child is not at school. However, to make this work well, we need to have up to date cell phone numbers for parents. Can you please contact the student office to ensure we have your current number? You can also email absence@stratfordhigh.school.nz if this is more convenient.

We are in the early stages of using this system (ENS) and apologise if a message is sent in error. However, we feel that our families deserve to know when their child is not in school, so we hope this will keep our children here rather than wagging. After all we are here to learn.

We believe that good communications between the school and its community are very important. If you have any questions please do not hesitate in contacting us either by phone, email or visiting the school. If your concerns relate to your son/daughter’s attendance, behaviour or academic progress, the form teacher or the relevant year level dean is the best person to contact in the first instance. For our part we will keep in contact through the newsletters, written reports on your son/daughter, parent & teacher evenings, the school website and blog and Stratford Press High School Corner.

Newsletters will arrive via email from the start of next term. If you have given the school an email address you will no longer receive a hard copy unless it is posted with reports. If you have changed your email address recently please advise us of your new one. If you do not think the school has your email address please advise the office.

If you would prefer to receive a hard copy of newsletters please let us know so you can be added to the listing for form teachers. The first newsletter of the year is usually posted to all parents.

Rule 3: Partner with your child’s teacher.
Children who do best at school are the ones who have parents (at home) and teachers (at school) working closest together.
• Teachers describe parent-teacher relationships as essential, vital and critical.
• Positive links between parents and teachers create positive attitudes to school.
• Your involvement will help your child’s progress at school, build trust and resolve differences.
• Parent-teacher partnerships, like any teamwork, benefit from communication.

Welcome to 2012

NCEA Information Evening for Parents/Caregivers


All parents/caregivers of Year 11, Year 12 and Year 13 students are encouraged to attend an information evening on the fundamentals of NCEA in the school library at 7.00pm on Tuesday, 7th February. A number of changes to NCEA have occurred in recent years and changes to University Entrance begin this year.

Start dates:

Monday 30th January: Year 9 and peer supporters (8.50am to 3.15 pm.) Students will need writing materials and sports gear for tabloid sports in the afternoon. Any other new students to the school attend from 8.50am to 10.30am.

Tuesday 31st January: Year 9 and 12 students only. Year 13 at camp.

Wednesday 1st Feb: Year 9, 11, 12 students. Year 13 at camp.

Thursday 2nd Feb: All year levels to attend (8.50am until 3.15pm). Students must bring writing materials for class (i.e. pens, pencil, pad, etc).

Monday 6th February is Waitangi Day and the school will be closed for instruction.

Mr P Keenan
Principal

Interview evening

Interview evening and reports.
Parents and caregivers of senior students are invited to attend an interview evening on Thursday 6th October from 5 pm to 7.00 pm in the assembly hall. Interview sheets will be posted on Thursday along with the school newsletter.
The school will be posting out Graduation Report 4 to all junior students on Thursday along with the school newsletter. Parents of Junior students will have an interview evening on Thursday 27th October.

Congratulations
• Laureen Cox (Y12) competed in the TSSSA cycling champs on Sunday September 4 in Lepperton. She rode in a mixed team with NPBHS and NPGHS around a 16km course and placed 3rd in the senior girl’s individual time trial event around a 16km course.
• To Crystal Melville-Grace (Y13) who came third in the Taranaki Foodstuffs Checker of the Year competition recently.
• Taranaki Zone Chess Championships held recently with the following results for our students. James Burt 1st place Gold; Tayla Corbett 2nd place Silver, Top Girl Gold; Cameron Luckhurst 3rd place Bronze. With fourth member Rowan Meads the team won the Top team Gold medal as well. They are currently waiting on confirmation for their place in the Chess Power Interschool National Championship to be held in Auckland on October 4th.

Poutama
We were recently privileged to have Shane Jordan as a guest speaker at our Poutama assembly. A Stratford High School old boy, Shane Jordan has been chopping since he was 15 years old. He told us that he developed an interest when Bruce Reichardt from Douglas was training some young guys at school.

When he left school, Shane trained as a helicopter engineer and went to work in Taupo. He was fortunate to have a great coach and mentor who spent his days sourcing wood for Shane to chop. Shane stressed the importance of surrounding yourself with people who believe in the dreams you have for yourself. Shane cuts hundreds of training logs, spends many early mornings at the gym and late nights adjusting and perfecting his equipment. This training ensures he is physically and mentally prepared. He has kept very many people in firewood along the way.

He has competed and represented NZ in the USA, Spain, Austria and Australia. He has held numerous titles throughout the North Island and was also a member of the NZ team which set a new World record in Austria. He showed us a video of how he achieved his goal of competing in the American Stihl series. Shane told us he was planning an attempt at a New Zealand record in Inglewood in a few weeks’ time. We have since learned that he achieved his goal. In the standing block he carved close to two seconds off the previous record, set in 2005, of 18.63s. Shane's mark is 16.64s.

Shane’s advice for our students was that they can do anything they want to if they believe in themselves and set their mind to it.
P H Keenan
Principal