Kia ora e te whanau,

As we come to the end of our second week of online learning I want to thank all our staff for the amazing work they are doing maintaining their teaching and pastoral care of our students whilst juggling the complexities of lockdown life for their whanau.

Whanau Online Learning Programme Survey

Last night we sent out a survey to whanau asking for feedback on our programme to date and looking for ways we can improve. Thank you for the awesome response to the survey (please complete it if you have not yet had a chance). The responses are overwhelmingly positive about -

The school’s communication throughout lockdown

The accessibility of the Google classrooms

The level of engagement with the online learning programme

The pastoral care provided through the Google whanau ako meetings and the online appointments with our counsellors

In addition, you have provided some excellent feedback on ways we can streamline and improve aspects of the work that we are doing.

One area of discussion was the amount of work set for students each week, with opinion split by whanau as to whether there was enough or too much work set. Please don’t let your student feel overwhelmed by work; mental health and wellbeing is so important and we do not want to add to stress. Let your whanau ako teacher know if your student is overloaded and they will contact the subject teachers to let them know. Some whanau expressed their preference for daily Google meetings with subject teachers or generally more face to face contact with teachers. Our current programme is balanced to try to provide ongoing contact with students but also support staff in managing working from home. Our three days of contact, two days for staff to meet, plan and mark aims to provide this balance.

NCEA Changes due to Lockdown

This week we sent out to senior parents the information from NZQA on its response to the lockdowns for students sitting NCEA this year. Currently we are due to have 14 days of lockdown which takes us through to Tuesday 7th September when the new levels will be announced. This means that as it stands Trident students will not have access to Recognition credits, lower endorsement requirements or lower University Entrance requirements. The changes recognise the greater lockdown impact for Auckland students and we will only be eligible for these changes if we are subject to an additional five days of lockdown.

Return to School Under Alert Level 2

Whilst we do not yet know if the government will lower our alert level next week, the school has to plan for this possibility. The key information to share with you is that when the government thinks it is safe for everyone to be back on site, Trident will have all the health and safety measures in place and will start straight back with the full school cohort on site. We will work with our guidance team and our pastoral teams to ensure a smooth and caring response to our students' return.

Year Eight Enrolments and Year Eight Day and Evening

The school being in Alert Level Three has meant that we have to postpone our Year Eight Day and Evening until early next term. We are still, however, maintaining our online interviews from 13th September. Whanau can book an interview online to complete the enrolment process, then come and meet us in person at our Open Day.

Trident 5km Fundraiser

Finally, a huge thank you to all of those who have taken part in our 5 km fundraiser. Staff, community and students took to the hills, the water and the roads to walk, run, ride or kayak 5kms- in support of raising funds for our local food banks. This was a great initiative from our HOD of PE, Jon Stanhope, whose enthusiasm and drive ensured we more than met our $2,000 target. What makes us so proud as a school is to see our Trident community show service to others and the empathy required to make a difference to others. What a fabulous testament to the school!

Look after yourselves and your whanau in your bubbles and have a peaceful weekend.

Nga mihi,

Adrienne Scott-Jones

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

Principal

We are very pleased to announce that we are accepting enrolments for 2022.

On our website you will find all relevant information, application forms and links to book interviews as part of the Year 9 Enrolment process​. https://www.trident.school.nz/enrolments

Please find our 2022 Prospectus - Ngā Tapuwae - by clicking the button below where you can read a collection of narratives that share journeys through Trident, from those who know us best. Through these journeys we have captured our people, our values and our school culture.

Ms Botha’s Year 9 Science class are studying microorganisms (the good, the bad and the ugly) while we are in lockdown.

As part of looking at beneficial microorganisms (fungi, yeast), students would have made ginger beer at school to investigate the life processes of yeast . Since it is lockdown, Ms Botha gave them the task to make ginger beer at home. Here are pictures of one of the students who took on the challenge. He grew his ginger beer bug for a week at home and on Monday he made the final gingerbeer. Now just a bit of a wait and then they can drink it.

The science behind making ginger beer is :

The yeast in the bug is a living thing, called a microorganism. It belongs to the fungi family. Yeast needs a warm moist environment and food to be able to survive. The sugar provides the food. Once the yeast starts feeding on the sugar it will start to respire. Respiration is a process that all living things carry out to get energy they need to live from the food they eat. As the yeast feed on the sugar they breathe out carbon dioxide. This carbon dioxide is what is causing the fizzy bubbles in the ginger beer.

Science in action.

The 2021 Prefects & Yr 12 Interact team are running a Lockdown Challenge. There are prizes up for grabs, including pizza vouchers. Over the next few weeks while we cannot be at school why not enter one or more of the challenges below:

Each category will be judged by a group of 3 student leaders.

1. Fort Challenge

Points will be awarded for creativity used to build a fort. The fort must fit at least two people. It can be made of any materials available. We challenge you to spend the night in the fort.

Two categories: 1. Inside Fort 2. Outside Fort

2. Trident’s Got Talent Challenge

Share with us your talent, this could be anything; singing, dancing, playing an instrument. Can you do a mean wheel stand on your bike? Cool makeup? Don’t worry, we are not going to share it with the whole school, a small team of 3 students will judge this category.

3. Homesports Challenge

Share with us a sporting challenge. This could include trickshots, basketball, or carrying out a pretend/substitute sporting activity in your backyard.

4. Baking and Cooking Challenge

Share a video or photo of your most impressive cooking or baking.

Categories: 1. Baking 2. Breakfast or Lunch 3. Dinner 4. Dessert

5. Marble Track Challenge

Make a marble track through your house and film the marbles journey along the track.

6. Arty Crafty Project Challenge

Share any photos or videos of any art, craft or project you have been working on.

7. Ping Pong Ball Challenge

Share a video of your most creative way of bouncing a ping pong ball into a cup.

Work on your entry over the next 10 days, send your entries in by the 10th September to: ben17078@student.trident.school.nz In your email entry, in the subject line, put your name and the category you are entering. In the body of the email include your name, form class and which house you are in. You can enter more than one category but you will need to send a separate email for each entry. Please film your videos with your phone on it’s side so we get video images that are full screen. This makes for a much better video presentation.

House Points will be awarded for entering and prizes will be awarded when we get back to school.