E ngā reo, e ngā mana, rau rangatira mā, ngā matā waka, tēnei te mihi nui atu ki ā koutou katoa. Ko te wawata me te tumanako ka noho ora mai koutou katoa.

Welcome back to Term 4

Dear parents and whanau, welcome back to Term 4. I trust that you had the opportunity to spend time together as a family, get out and about and enjoy the occasionally sunny weather! We are mindful that schools in and the city of Auckland itself have been doing it tough so we don’t take our freedoms for granted!

At the end of last Term we had our annual school cross country event which was expertly run by the PE department. The team were able to work their way around the Covid restrictions through a lot of planning and preparation so that the school could benefit from some fun at the end of the term (if you can call the gruelling course over the Birdwalk fun!). A great way to end the term.

Covid

We are continuously getting advice and updates from the Ministry of Education about vaccination and best practices around Covid. Our level 2 plan is still the same at this stage, click here. We will continue to update you if there are any changes to planned events as soon as we can.

At this stage the Covid vaccine is the most significant tool we have to reduce the risk of serious illness in our community. If more of us become vaccinated we can reduce the risk of outbreaks. Whilst we are not holding any scheduled vaccination clinics at the school at this stage you can still book through your GP or through vaccination centres:

• Book online through Book My Vaccine

• For a group booking, call the COVID Vaccination Healthline on 0800 28 29 26 (8am-8pm)

Seniors exams

A huge thanks to our wonderful staff who have worked hard to prepare our students for their senior practise exams this week and next and who will be busy marking so our students can get the feedback and feed-forward they need. The full practice exam calendar can be found here: https://www.whakatanehigh.school.nz/exams

When the practice exams finish on Wednesday 27 October, all Senior students are expected to return back to school on Thursday the 28th. Seniors back at school will be working in their timetabled classes to complete remaining assessments, revise and attend catchup programs to support them in passing their NCEA qualification.

In Week 4, on 11 November, there is an NCEA Level One English exam. All Year 11 students are expected to sit the exam. The exam and the learning that sits around it will really support students’ learning for Year 12 English programs. The exam will be digital so a fully charged Chromebook is required. The school will email the students more details over the coming weeks.

Senior Prizegiving and Sports Award Dinner

Senior Prizegiving and the Sports Award Dinner are important traditions in our school where we celebrate our successes and achievements in our school. These Senior Prizegiving is on November 17 and the Sports Award Dinner is on November 19. We are looking at arrangements for these events at Covid Level 2 and we will communicate what they will look like as we work through this planning.

Open Day/Evening and Enrolments

We had a hugely successful Open Day and Evening where we welcomed the community into the school. Over 700 Year 8 students and their parents attended the school during the day. Thanks so much to the students who represented our school so well, whether that be as prefects, tour leaders, speakers or working in departments with teachers. Here's a video showcasing the fun that was had during the day: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lVWAKD7CFxgjy56fV70b0rDiaGvHIjSR/view?usp=sharing

For parents who are enrolling their child at WHS, please visit our website, where you will find all the enrolment documentation: https://www.whakatanehigh.school.nz/enrol-now

You can either enrol via hard copy enrolment form, or our online portal: https://portal.whakatanehigh.school.nz/index.php/enrolment

Once you have enrolled, please visit: www.schoolinterviews.co.nz and enter the booking code 'wfene' to book an enrolment interview.

IMPORTANT:

If you are applying as an out-of-zone student in 2022, you MUST have enrolled AND had an enrolment interview by the ballot date of 29 October, to be included in this ballot.

Martyn Knapton
Principal

We welcome feedback from our community at any time about what they think about our school. Each newsletter we will have a different KEEP, STOP, START focus. This week the focus is on QUALITY TEACHING (how our teachers help and support students to learn).

It is called Keep Stop Start, and we encourage people to supply feedback based on:

1. What should we KEEP doing? ie holding onto the good things
2. What should we STOP doing? ie eliminating the negatives
3. What should we START doing? ie focusing on improvements

Please click the image above to fill out the questionnaire.

https://www.whakatanehigh.school.nz/exams

Please fill out this form for any and all sports nominations (as applicable) for this years awards. The actual awards may look a little different than they have in the past due to the Covid alert level, but we still require the nominations so we're still able to celebrate our awesome akonga and their achievements.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScoEfgAaML1ljndrdhoKD0hyS3C6qxsCrHATqiawyP--kIpzg/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0

A team of 8 students from Whakatane and Trident have just returned from the Hillary Final gaining an amazing 3rd place in the National Final. This is the first time any BOP team has made a podium place in this gruelling challenge.

Day 1 and 2 of the event had 12 one hour challenges. These can be physical, mental, teamwork challenges to see how the 8 can overcome all types of problems. The second day saw horrible weather – cold, sleet and snow hit the team turning many blue and shivering. They went caving, paddling, biking, climbed the high ropes, solved tangram/tetris puzzles, made a fire and cooked damper for the judges. We ended up 4th at the end of day 2, out of the 12 teams.

Day 3 and 4 was a 2 day rogaine around Mount Ruapehu. The teams had to locate points around the mountain and camp overnight. The weather was atrocious, going down to -4 degrees overnight and 15cm of snow. Trying to navigate their way around in blizzard conditions was tough. The team survived and arrived at the finish safely and happy to be done.

If all of this was not bad enough the final day was simply a 45km race including paddling, running and biking. The teams were shattered but gave their all for the title. After 4 hrs and 45 mins of tough terrain the team finally finished this event 4th.

We thought we would be 4th overall after talking with the other teams but were stunned to hear us being called out for 3rd place. This is the first time a BOP school has made the podium which is a truly outstanding achievement.

I can safely say this is the hardest 5 days I have ever experienced as a support crew to the students. They were fantastic and never gave up. They gelled as a team and looked after each other so well. I am so proud of the team.

Thanks also has to go to Sarah Miller and Hedley for taking the students on the tramps and to Sarah for coming along for the 5 days. Also to the sponsors – Julian’s Berry Farm, Isaac’s Dental Surgery, The Community board and the Southern Trust.

The team was: Alex Manning, Anna Isaac, Cambell Julian, Jack Wilson, Kiera Dooley, Liam Dooley, Milla Dibben and Olivia Nolan.

Winter Sports Uniforms

With the winter sports season having ended, we are asking that all sports uniforms, tracksuits and any outstanding sports gear are returned to school.

These are to be returned to your coach/manager, please do not return directly to the student office.

A stocktake will be taken and invoices may be sent out for any gear that is missing/unreturned.

Sports Fees

Also, it is an expectation that all season fees for winter sports should have been paid in full by now. If you haven't managed to pay these yet or are having trouble, please contact the office at office@whakatanehigh.school.nz or 07 308 8251, to set up a payment plan.

Health services provided FREE in school:

• School Nurse: daily except Wednesday morning
• School Doctor: Tuesdays P2