News of the Week

Athletics sports
Athletics sports will be run on Tuesday 2nd March on the school athletics track. Prelims have been held in a number of track and field events so parents come along for an exciting day of competition. students support your house – bring your colours along.

Beach volleyball success
Congratulations to the Junior Boys pair of Alec Tolland and Ryk Ferguson who won this section on Sunday 21st February. This is one of the biggest events in the TSSSA calendar and is held at Ngamotu beach each year.

Poutama – stairway to success
Once again this year, all students and staff will be involved in Poutama, “Stairway to Success”. The purpose of Poutama is to encourage all students to set realistic, manageable and attainable goals in their academic and personal lives. A major focus for SHS in 2010 is raising student achievement. The program involves all members of the SHS community: students, parents/caregivers and staff. Together, goals will be set and ways of reaching these goals will be explored.

On Thursday March 18 the day will be devoted to this program. Interviews will take place from 8.45 am to 3.30 pm. This week your student will be bringing a form home for you to complete and return detailing your preferred time for the interview. We look forward to meeting with you and working with you in supporting your child’s success and development at our school.

Newsletter
A newsletter will be given out to students and posted on the school website later this week. Also check out the school blog on www.shsinfo-centa.blogspot.com for weekly happenings.

SHS Triathlon
The school triathlon was run on Tuesday this week. The results will be on the school website next week and certificates presented at assembly later this term.

P H Keenan
Acting Principal

High School Corner

Newsletter
A newsletter went home to all junior students on Tuesday 9th February. It is available on the school website for viewing as it has a calendar of events for this term.

Kapa Haka
Nau mai, haere mai e te Whanau. Our school Kapa Haka group are having their first practice during a weekend live-inn on Friday 26th and Saturday 27th February. Whanau are welcome to attend and participate in the learning of Waiata. Please contact Whaea Tina at the school if you are wanting to come along.

Swimming and athletics sports
The annual swimming sports will be held on Wednesday 24th February at the school pool. Parents are welcome to attend from 9.30 am in the morning, to participate in this very colourful and entertaining day of competition at school.
Athletics heats are being held at the moment during lunchtimes. The finals day for athletics will be on Tuesday 2nd March on the school track. Parents are welcome to attend with competition starting at 9am in the morning.
On both days the Year 13 students will be running a sausage sizzle to raise funds for World Vision sponsorship.

P H Keenan
Acting Principal

School Peak magazine

The school magazine Peak will not be avialable for students to collect until the week of 25th January 2010. The students; Sarah Cooper, Sarah Robertson and Rachel Weren have worked extremely hard over the past ten days and many design aspects of the magazine are completed. Over the next week, the colour pages and text will be placed and the magazine should be at the printers by the end of next week.

Any students who wish to submit work for next year will need to have it into the committee by the end of term three for general articles so the magazine may be ready before the end of the school year.

The covers will be sent to the printers on Monday for test printing.

Procrastination - Seniors start studying.

Time for the seniors to stop procrastinating and to start getting on with the requirements for the end of the year.

Notes on procrastination from the Principals Digest:
The triumph of impulsivity over future benefits.
- Make future goals vivid
- Short term gain, long term pain
- Reduce uncertainty
- Reduce distractions
- Make the most of your willpower
Don't doubt the dream or it will never come true.

Enrolment Process - 2010

Year 8 students should have received an enrolment from from their teacher at school. Please complete this form and return it to school. Mrs Butler, Guidance Counsellor and Year 8 intake Dean will collect these from the primary schools when she makes her visits in Term 4. New enrolment forms are able to be collected from the main school office if you need to.
Students will be invited to visit the school in December for an orientation visit and will be given a booklet at this time which will have all stationery, uniform and other essential information for the beginning of the school term. We ask that students / parents keep this booklet for the first term as it has a lot of useful information.
NB: on the enrolment form it asks for Poutama intentions - if you have read the Poutama brochure in the prospectus folder feel free to complete this, otherwise leave blank.

The RR Tyrer scholarship information sheets have been sent to referees and these are being returned to the school. They will be read by the Board members and a decision will be made at the Board meeting in October.
The BoT Scholarship Exams have been sat by students and these are currently being marked. The results will go to the board meeting in october and winners will be announced after that meeting. Good Luck to all students who sat this exam.

New Year 2009

The new year is shaping up well with no changes in the administration staff for the school.

Mrs Terry, Executive Officer is available from 9am daily to answer queries about automatic payments. If you currently have a school account and wish to access these funds to pay for school items (stationery or school uniform) you need to see Mrs Terry for a school order form.

Parents are reminded that they need to be vigilant about ringing the school for student absences. This will save the school ringing you needlessly. We are hoping to set in place a system for texting absences in but you are reminded that you can email the school fi@stratfordhigh.school.nz or mail@stratfordhigh.school.nz with this information by 8am in the morning, if you cannot phone.

During term 4, 2008 the school changed student management systems and there may be changes during this year with receipting of money through the student office. When this change happens we will notify the school community via the school newsletter.