Northern Southland College

PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE

Ko te Rāmere tēnei rā, te tekau ma whitu o Mahuru

(Today is Friday the 17th of September)

Kia ora koutou

After 16 days of Covid enforced lockdown it was fantastic to welcome our students back to school last week. While the students were away although we provided work for the students the main goal was to look after student well-being. If you have any concerns about your child’s wellbeing or progress (lockdown related or not) please contact us so that we can help.

Lockdown learning may have highlighted family issues with internet connectivity. The Ministry of Education still allows us to make applications to help families in need. If you currently have little or no access to the internet at home please get in touch with the school office so that we can make an application for assistance.

Belated thanks to all our wonderful student ambassadors at the NSC Open Night on Thursday 12 August. The night was positive, and the students were welcoming to our visitors and showed what NSC is all about.

In our April 16 Newsletter I mentioned that the Education Review Office (ERO) is changing the way that schools are reviewed. Currently our Evaluation Partner visits NSC once each term. The goal is to work with the School and Board of Trustees to identify an evaluation focus. Part of the process requires staff and students to complete a 15-minute anonymous online survey. If you do not wish your child(ren) to participate in the survey, please let the office know. The survey will be administered in class time in the next fortnight.

Please be aware of Covid enforced changes to some activities and events at NSC (eg. School Photos are on Monday with family photos Tuesday). You can see our calendar via the school app.

Finally, congratulations to Cody Lowe who was awarded the Tom Clark Respect Trophy at assembly on Wednesday. The trophy can be awarded to individuals, teams, or groups within the college community. This may be students, teachers, support staff, board of trustees, PTA, parents or caregivers who have exhibited the above qualities. Anyone within the school community may nominate an individual or group to receive the award for ‘going that extra mile’ in terms of respecting self, others or property.

Cody was awarded the trophy for Respect for Self for “taking on a special challenge to further his development”. Cody gave a speech at the Open night to highlight points about NSC from the perspective of a junior student. This shows that Cody was willing to make a contribution to the school, and challenge himself and improve his skills. Public speaking is never easy and this trophy is an indication of how proud we are of Cody.

Ngā mihi

Pete Wilkinson

Upcoming Events

Resilience & Study Skills workshop - Seniors - Tuesday 21 September 11.20-3.20
Parents Resilience & Study Skills session - Tuesday 21 September 6.30 - 8pm
Northern Western Speech competitions - Wednesday 22 September 4.30-7pm
School Photos - Monday 27 September
School Photos - Tuesday 28 September - Family & Individual photos - 9-11am
Mock Exams - Seniors - During Class time - Weeks 9 -10
Colours Day - Friday 1 October
Term 3 ends - Friday 1 October
Term 4 starts - Monday 18 October

Tom Clark Respect Trophy

Cody Lowe receiving the Tom Clark Respect Trophy in Wednesdays Assembly. Cody received this award for showing respect for self. “Using one’s own initiative to take on a special challenge to further one’s own development”.

Cody gave a speech at the Open night this year to highlight points about NSC from the perspective of a junior student. This shows that Cody was willing to make a contribution to the school, and challenge himself and improve his skills.

Public speaking is never easy and this trophy is an indication of how proud we are of what Cody has done. Well done, Cody, this is thoroughly deserved.

Upcoming Sporting Events/Competitions

Volleyball

Please let Mrs Elder know by Monday 20 September if you would like to join an NSC Team.

Start Date: Wednesday 29 September (Still to be confirmed - depending on Alert Levels)

Venue: ILT Stadium

Time/Duration: 4pm-8.30pm (Every 2nd week for 6 weeks)

Cost: $38pp

Golf - 2021 Primary School Golf Tournament (Year 7 and 8 only)

Date: Wednesday 27 October

Entries Close: Please let Mrs Elder know if you would like to enter by Wednesday 20 October

Entry Fee: $5pp

All teams must have their own team manager for the day.
Teams of four, must include at least one female and or one male student.

Ravensdown Visit - Agriculture classes

This week the year 9/10 and 11 Agriculture class had Rosie Forbes from Ravensdown come to visit. She spoke to students about soil testing and how she helps farmers to make decisions around fertiliser requirements on their farms. The year 11 class took a soil sample of the rugby field and the 9/10 class sampled the football field. We look forward to getting our results back next week and figuring out the fert recommendations!


Year 11 Students testing the Rugby Field	Rosie Forbes with the Year 11 students

Year 11 Students testing the Rugby Field

Rosie Forbes with the Year 11 students

Senior students

Due to Covid interruptions, we have decided to run our mock exams within double periods in class time this year. This allows us to spread out the exams to reduce pressure on our senior students, but still gives an opportunity to have a derived grade. We encourage our seniors to prepare well for these mock exams, as those grades will be counted in we have another lockdown that affects the end of year NZQA exams. All seniors have been given a copy of the mock exam timetable earlier this week, along with the rules. You can see these at this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BGK3TZN0fkbSstrP- nLflEtcxF8Bbk5H/view?usp=sharing

Chrome books

The College provides Chrome books for the use of all students. We have just had 21 of these repaired as they have had keys pulled off by students. Students are reminded that the chrome books are for the use of everyone and to please respect college property. If they continue to be damaged we may have to look at removing the damaged chrome books which will reduce the number available for students to use.

Contacting the College

If you need to contact the College about a student absence or for a query please either;

Ring 03 248 7121 and follow the prompts, text 027 248 7121, or use the absence feature on the school app.

Parents/ Caregivers are also required to give the College notice if students are leaving early. Please do this by either phoning, using the app or texting the above number.

Sports results

Girls' Football - Games start again Week 9
Boys 'Football - Games start again Week 9
Hockey A team - Finished for the Season
Hockey B team - Playing off for 3/4 on 20th September
Hockey 7/8 - Playing off for 3/4 on 23 September
Netball Moss/NSC A - Finished for the season
Netball Moss/NSC B - Finished for the season
Netball Eastern 7/8 - Finished for the season
Rugby results are published on Facebook

Young Farmers Quiz Night

The NSC Young Farmers held their quiz night (just before lockdown!). We had a great turnout of 28 teams and raised just over $2000.

Thanks to all of those who supported us, the money will be used to subsidise some clothing items for the members that helped out and the rest will be donated to charity.

Ryan Senior - NZ Special Olympics

Congratulations to Ryan Senior who took out first place in the Slalom & was the overall champion at the recent Snow Sport Special Olympics Event at Cardrona this week winning the South Island Charles Sharples Top Gun Skier Award. Ryan was competing against skiers from around NZ. Ka pai, Ryan

Junior Options 2022

Option forms have been handed out to Year 8 and 9 students this week so that they can begin choosing their options for 2022. If anyone has been absent and not got the forms, there are spare copies at the office. We need all forms back in by the end of the term, so that we can begin building next year's timetable.

Junior Speeches

Congratulations to Elijah Chabon (1st), Grace Dolton (2nd), Frenzie Mendoza (3rd), Quinn Gerken and Ava Leach for making it through to the next round of the Year 7/8 speech competition after a very close final at NSC last week. The standard of speech presentation was very high making it a very hard decision for our judges.

Further congratulations to Elijah who has now made it through to the Northern-Western Speech Competition Final to be held at NSC on Wednesday 22 September. Elijah placed 1st out of the speakers from NSC, Fiordland College, Riversdale and Mararoa.