Kia ora e te whanau

As the term gets underway it has been great for me and the rest of the Senior Management and Leadership Team to start visiting our junior classes and see how our new year nine students are settling into their classes. I have been impressed by the confidence these young people show, and their courage in settling into a new school, coping with the size of a high school and the many challenges this unfamiliarity creates. This embracing of our school motto “Kia Manawa nui” will stand them in good stead. Our year nines are wonderful; respectful, engaged, friendly and curious - we look forward to seeing them all blossom at Trident.

The Trident Senior Student Leadership Team

Take a look at our Facebook page to be introduced to our head prefect team for 2022. We are delighted to announce Izzy Steane as Head Girl, ably supported by Juliska Coetzee and Charlice Bryce. Tahupotiki Wrathall is our 2022 Head Boy with Charles Blackburn and Hugh Oyanagi in deputy roles. We have Nate Williams and Amilia Stevens as our Kahui Whetu leaders responsible for raising the profile of te ao Maori at Trident and supporting our Maori students in personal excellence across all aspects of school life. With these young adults at the helm of student leadership our school is in good hands.

Farewell Brent Jones

Today we farewelled our Sports Coordinator, Brent Jones, who has been a stalwart at our school in an important role. Brent has shown a dedication to lifting the leadership capacity of our sports players, developed a strong culture within all the codes and been passionate about bringing sport to as many students as possible. His quiet and calm demeanour, his wry sense of humour and his impeccable work ethic make him a real loss, but we wish him well in his future endeavours and know he will remain a presence on the sportsfield at our school.

Ka pai lunches

Our new lunches are excellent. Students have already commented on the improvement in the quality of the food they are receiving this year in comparison to 2021. We have three hot food lunches per week and the favourite so far seems to be the meatballs and spaghetti, but the menu changes on Monday so we will see what is the next favourite on offer. There will be an opportunity for students to feed back their comments later this term so that we can continue to tweak the food to best serve our students. Please encourage your students to take up this resource - it is hot, healthy and tasty and nurtures our students at a time when their brain needs food for learning.

Covid -19 Update

This week we have been working on the latest instructions from the government in light of the spread of Omicron in the wider New Zealand community. We have all our systems in place for communication, contact tracing and the establishment of a full online learning programme for students who are self-isolating. All the details of our Covid-19 plan are available on the school website.

Please

- update your school details so we can ensure we can contact you in the event of an Omicron case at the school

- phone the school and let us know if your child contracts Covid

- ensure your student brings a mask to school and wears it appropriately

Our staff have worked hard to put in place the necessary safety measures to keep Trident a vibrant and fully functioning space as we cope with the pandemic and I am proud of their efforts and care for your young people.

Thank you to whanau for ensuring students are arriving in uniform, on time, everyday and sharing our passion for the educational needs of our students. The partnership you enter into by enrolling your tamariki here is so important to us; please keep in touch!

Nga mihi nui,

Adrienne Scott-Jones

B.A. (Hons), P.G.C.E

Principal

Unfortunately we cannot run this as a full school event this year. Our number one priority is student and staff safety and therefore we have decided to run this as a Year 9 and Year 13 students only event. We realise this will be disappointing for some of our Year 10, 11's and 12's but we are hoping you will all get to enjoy this event again next year. There will be a championship only event coming up also, please keep a watch out for the information on this.

Year 10, 11 and 12 students will attend school and normal classes as per usual. School finishes at 12.45 for all students.

For Year 9 and Year 13 students, your Athletics Sports event will run from 8.40 - 12.45 . Arrive to school in your house colours and assemble on the field for the roll call at 8.40am. Please leave valuables at home and bring sun protection. Let's make this a positive and fun day, it's all about participation and gaining those house points.

WHO WILL BE THE TOP HOUSE FOR 2022 ATHLETIC'S SPORTS?

HOUSE COLOURS

BUCK (Orange)

Sir Peter Henry Buck (Te Rangi Hiroa); 1877 – 1951, was known as an athlete, physician, administrator, politician, soldier and anthropologist.

KARA (Yellow)

Sir James Carroll (Timi Kara); 1857 – 1926, was a member of parliament, a man of great mana amongst Māori and Pakeha.

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NGATA (Green)

Sir Apirana Turupa Ngata; 1874 – 1950, was a prominent New Zealand politician and lawyer.

POMARE (Purple)

Sir Maui Wiremu Pita Naera Pomare; 1876 – 1930, was a member of parliament and the first Māori doctor in New Zealand.

Kia ora students and whanau, just a quick reminder about our school uniform expectations with regards to black jackets, non-uniform jackets, hoodies and jumpers.

Students can only wear black jackets (with sleeves) when it is raining and must not be worn indoors at any time. Sleeveless black jackets are not allowed to be worn at anytime.

If it is not raining students must not wear a black jacket on school grounds (inside or outside). If it is cooler on a morning or during the day, students can wear their Trident polar fleece / Trident jacket or a white thermal underneath.. Students must not wear hoodies (including Trident Sports Teams) or non-uniform jumpers.

Trident prides itself on its uniform, and that our students wear it with pride both in school and in our community. We know whanau are proud to see their children wearing our school uniform correctly and we ask the whole Trident community to work together to maintain our school identity, pride and spirit through wearing our uniform correctly.

Thank you for all your support with this.

Kia Manawa Nui

We are proud to announce our 2021 Scholarship students, our top academic achievers of 2021 - Ben White and Aliyah Ballantyne. Ben gained Scholarship in English and Music while Aliyah gained Scholarship in Statistics.

Scholarship is the highest academic qualification for Secondary School students in New Zealand and is a fabulous achievement in any year, let alone with the challenges these students were faced with over the past two years. Congratulations must also go to the teachers and departments of English, Music and Mathematics, the programmes that these departments ran to enable students to gain Scholarship demonstrate our teachers dedication to ensuring our students have every opportunity to achieve their goals.

Ben offers advice to not only current year 13 students but all students "Choose subjects you are passionate about, when the work is hard it is your passion for the subject that will help you to continue towards your goals".

Ms Bowe comments that for Ben gaining English Scholarship is the icing on the cake to a perfect run of achievement in English as he also gained Excellence endorsement as a result of winning Excellence in all three English NCEA external examinations.

While Mr Spence is no longer at Trident, Ben would like to recognise his input into his Music Scholarship achievement; "Mr Spence was my mentor throughout the scholarship experience, giving me vital feedback on both the written and performance aspects of my portfolio, thank you Mr Spence."

Our Mathematics Department is proud of Aliyah's scholarship and comment that "Aliyah's scholarship result topped off a Level 3 year filled with Excellence grades in Statistics which demonstrates her great work ethic and dedication to achieving her goals. She regularly attended before school tutorials and contributed her ideas to group discussions. We congratulate her on her fine accomplishment."

Pictured are Mr Kim (Music), Ben White, Ms Bowe (English) Mrs Shaw (Mathematics) and inset is Aliyah Ballantyne (absent).

We congratulate our 2020 Head Girl Nicole Curtis, on her AUT Undergraduate Scholarship. AUT comments that the calibre of her application was outstanding and that she is a very worthy recipient of the $7000 scholarship. Well done Nicole!

Year 9, 10, 11 and 12 have had their school individual photos taken by a professional photographer. The Year 13 Photo's will be done on 23rd February.

If you would like to order your son / daughters photo please go to:

https://www.lazerphoto.co.nz/school-photography

If your son / daughter did not have their photo taken for whatever reason, there will be a catch-up session on 23rd Feb.