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 the start of Term 2 to all students, staff, parents and community.

As we move into Term 2, it’s important to reiterate some important messages that we have shared with our students at our recent formal assemblies.

At our recent formal assemblies we acknowledged the sporting, academic and cultural excellence of a huge number of students across the school. 165 students were recognised across both the Junior and Senior school. In addition to the Excellence Academic badges, we’ve introduced yellow academic excellence badges to acknowledge students who achieved Merit Endorsement. We feel this is significant for the young people and should be acknowledged. We also are signalling that we want to increase student’s awareness of striving for academic excellence in the Senior school.

Some of the key messages to our students were that Term 2 is about making sure students work hard to maintain balance in their lives. This is about:

• Making sure they plan for assessments to be completed and complete necessary homework.

• They plan to make sure they balance their sporting commitments.

• They plan to make sure they balance their home and friend commitments. Balance is something that students have to work towards and plan for, so that they take this skill into their adult lives.

I also addressed that at times learning and life is hard, and working through these hardships on your own, with friends, teachers and family, will help you grow. Adversity and hardship is necessary to build character and shape the person we want to be.

Property

Over the holidays the B Block toilets were completed and the B Block roof and windows were installed. We also painted all the B Block classrooms. Over the next Term, all these learning spaces will see new carpet, wall coverings and furniture.

• B Block Toilets
  The B Block toilets represent a significant investment for the school to ensure that students have access to a safe and secure environment. Over the last few years the school has grappled with ongoing behaviour that has impacted on how students feel using the bathrooms. This includes minor vandalism, graffiti and smoking. We need this behaviour to stop.

WE ARE SEEKING CONSULTATION with the community (including students), by Friday 21 May, via email to principal@whakatanehigh.school.nz, on placing security cameras in the newly renovated B Block toilets. This means:

• Cameras will be placed to have a view of common areas. The purpose of the cameras is to capture individuals engaging in potential harmful or dangerous behaviour who will be dealt with according to school procedures.

• Camera footage will not record inside the cubicles.

• Students are to change inside the cubicles.

• Signage will indicate the presence of a camera in each of the new bathrooms, including an image illustrating the direction and area being captured by the camera.

• CCTV footage from the cameras is overseen by the Privacy Officer (Principal). System Managers for camera footage will be female Senior Leadership Team will be able to view footage from the female toilets, and male Senior Leadership Team will be able to view footage from the male toilets.

Sport

I firmly believe that sport is a great learning tool. It teaches us so much about ourselves, the skills of communication, perseverance, resilience and collaboration. We have consistently grown in sport over the last few years and we currently have 27 winter code sports teams in action every week in EBOP and WaiBOP competitions. That means over 400 of our students are benefiting and developing their own skills weekly. We also have a number of students involved in individual sports such as badminton, Get2Go, kayaking, rowing and multisport. Our participation from students and staff is well above the national averages and a reason to celebrate. I wish all students, coaches and managers all the best for the forthcoming season.

As you may be well aware, we now have a Sports Facebook page which gives you up to date details of weekly sporting events for our winter codes, venues and results. Thanks to Ben Sexton and Susi Peterson for putting this work together. I encourage you to follow this Facebook page so you can keep up to date with weekly events and successes from our school: https://www.facebook.com/sportswhakatanehigh

Free School Meals

The Free School Meals are an important part of our school day and a great resource provided by the Ministry of Education to make sure that young people are well fed with nutritious food so they are ready to learn. I want to encourage all families to give them a go. We have worked with Bay Catering, our caterer, on an improved menu for Term 2, 2021 (please see menu below). In addition to encouraging your young people to take advantage of the food, we will also be offering some healthy eating lessons as part of Student Mentoring and students will be reflecting on the meals as part of their food hospitality programme.

I look forward to seeing you this Term on the side of the playing field and at sporting events where we can celebrate the success and participation of young people.

Martyn Knapton

Principal

Thank you our whānau for your feedback in our recent survey! We received 155 comments in total. We welcome your koha about what we are doing well and how we can improve the way we do things at Whakatāne High School to better serve our tauira and our community. Below is the question you were asked and some of the learnings we can take from the feedback we received.

Question: Something I would say about my child’s/children’s learning at this school is ......

• There were some positives and negatives about our teaching practices. We will be using this feedback to strengthen what we know is not working.

• There were whanau that felt that there was high levels of care for students, however the feedback is that we need to be more consistent for all students.

• Most whānau were positive about home-school communication which is an improvement on our last survey.

• We have some work to do on our systems and structures to better support the academic and pastoral needs of our students e.g. pathways and subject selection. We are addressing this as a staff by reflecting on how we can strengthen this for 2022 and beyond.

• We need to address bullying and racism in the school where it exists. We will work on this through our assemblies and student mentoring programs.

• In some areas of the school we need stronger classroom management. We are working with staff to develop consistency for all students and staff in this area.

The show will run from 21-26 June.

The flats (set pieces that stand up on the stage) currently need repairing and stabilizing, so any parent help would be greatly appreciated!

WHS Prem team managed to cement a spot in the Senior Premier Division of the local Netball Competition. Ella Fenwick played well in the mid court captaining her side to a good win against Paroa Premiers. Sharlyn Tawhara and Stevie Emery did well in the shooting circle for both games, but the Opotiki side proved too strong.

Win: 15-8, WHS Prems vs Paroa AJ's

Loss: 13-22, WHS Prems vs Opotiki Sports

Week 1 of the Premier Competition saw WHS Prems up against a strong looking Poroporo side. With it being the school holidays WHS really struggled to field a team. Two of our Y9 players gave up their holidays to make up numbers but with a strong sharp shooting Poroporo side, a win was just too big of an ask. Thank you to Akemi Tutua and Matauranga Paul-Wilson for filling in.

Loss: 20-43, WHS Prems vs Poroporo Rewatu

In Week 2 of the local competition WHS Prems meet up with Opotiki Sports again. The strength of Ella and Madi Fenwick in the mid court was again sorely missed, but we look forward to being at full strength again with their return this week. Skye Edwards did a good job coming out of the defense circle to cover, leaving plenty of court time for Eden Beasley, a newbie to the team. Danielle Pugh gave a solid effort as did Camryn Clements who soldiered on with her ankle injury.

Loss: 23-71 WHS Prems vs Opotiki Sports

WHS Koru netball girls played Tarawera and lost 35 - 8. It was the teams first game together this season and some players, first time playing Netball! They played with heart and kept their spirits high, showing good school values. The stand out on the day was Donna Paul with her effort and her positive attitude.

WHS Kowhai defeated WHS Gold 34-18. Jordan Cochrane was a stand out at Goal Shoot for the Kowhai team getting most of her goals in.

WHS Black lost 32-17 to Phoenix Sports

Health services provided FREE in school:

• School Nurse: daily except Wednesday morning
• School Doctor: Tuesdays P2
• Nutritionist/Dietitian: Weekly on Wednesday morning

Visit the Student Office to make an appointment.