Te Karere
Edgecumbe College Newsletter, 24 August
Kia ora Koutou
Well, thankfully a settled start to the year without too much disruption from Covid. Mask wearing is being encouraged strongly in classes to keep our Rangatahi safe, but by in large students and teachers are in class and working hard to make the best of the year. Please support us in getting our students back attending regularly, attendance is back around 76% and improving, given that at the peak of Covid it was around 33%!
NCEA Changes
In support of all NCEA students int he country the Ministry of Education has announced the following in terms of allowances for the disruption from Covid for the year for all students making the year more possible for achievement.
Β· 46 merit or excellence credits being required to receive an endorsement as opposed to 50.
Β·
Β· To be awarded University Entrance, students will need 14 credits in each of two UE approved subjects and 12 Credits in a third UE Approved subject. (They also will need to attain NCEA level 3 and meet the regular literacy and numeracy requirements).
Β· Learning recognition credits" would also be awarded to students to recognise the disruption caused by COVID-19. Students would be eligible for one extra credit for every five regular credits they earned - up to a maximum of 10 additional credits at NCEA level 1 and eight credits at levels two and three.
I believe that this is a positive acknowledgement of effect that COVID has once again had on our students. 2022 has been a particularly difficult year for schools and Rangatahi.
Mangopare Morgan
A huge congratulations to Mangopare Morgan who attended a Blue Light Lifeskills Camp at Burnham Military Camp in Christchurch. This was again an opportunity that has arisen out of our partnership with Blue Light. This is an amazing opportunity that Mangopare made the absolute most of, winning the prestigious βPeer Awardβ for the camp, one of only 3 awards presented at the graduation parade. Congratulations Mangopare, you have done yourself, your Whanau, the school and the community proud. A big thank you to Maree Hoeberigs, head of Science who accompanied Mangopare, and delivered a number of the activities to the Rangatahi.
These are challenging courses for young people run by the Defence Force Youth Development Unit in conjunction with Blue Light and the New Zealand Police. Given also the weather conditions in Christchurch at the time, this is no easy feat. There continue to be opportunities for other students to attend lifeskills and leadership camps throughout the year, with more coming up in November and December.
We are also having Blue Light coming to run problem solving and development activities for our year 9 and 10 students later on in the term. This has had to have been rescheduled from earlier in the year due to Covid.
Agriculture and Horticulture
Ag and Hort are hugely important curriculum areas for the school, and of course for the local area. We are spending considerable time and money developing our courses for our students. They are currently taking part in Tractor courses, LUV courses, small motors and quad bike courses as part of their ag / hort classes. With Bee Keeping coming back in September.
Of note however is our new Kiwi Fruit block!
We have joined in a partnership with Zespri and Southern Cross Horticulture to develop thanks to their extremely generous support our new kiwi fruit block, featuring both red and gold kiwi fruit. Zespri have provided us with the licences and Southern Cross Horticulture installed the structures a week or so back all without charge to the school!!! Just amazing.
Our students are so lucky to have such and amazing learning resource, all due the generosity of these two organisations. Thank you so much!!
There are very strict protocols around what happens to the fruit of these varieties and we will work to ensure the security of the Intellectual Property of kiwifruit for New Zealand.
Planting of the plants will be happening this Friday the 12th of August, again in partnership with Southern Cross.
Also soon to be installed is our new hot house, $10,000 worth thanks so much to a grant from Aotearoa Gaming Trust (along with a drum kit and 8 mountain bikes), again the support and generosity of these organisations has just been amazing.
Thank you so much Aoteara.
We are also developing further our relationship with local farmers and the Federated Farmers in particular, to get more placements for our students on local farms and agricultural properties. If reading this you think you can also help with placements and learning opportunities on farms please contact me at school.
Building progress
Just a quick update, but the minor works upgrade β around $2million is due to finish by the end of the term, with lots happening and our classes looking just amazing, not to mention a huge list of Health and Safety issues being sorted.
The Major Capital works is due to start in November / December and we are working on the programming of that now. There will be an opportunity for the community to have a look at the plans and what is going to happen within the next month. Watch this space!!
It is all happening at the moment.
Nga mihi nui
Mike
Careers Expo
It is so important for our students that they are carefully considering their future pathways, particularly to keep up their motivation and expectations of achieving highly. Come along with your teens to our careers expo.
Welcome to all in the EBOP.
A Night at the Oscars
Edgecumbe College School's A Night at the Oscars Ball 2022!
What a great night out at the Edgecumbe College School's Ball on Saturday night. For viewing and ordering of the Ball photo's please check out our website www.lazerphoto.co.nz for those of you who would like to view and order online
View and Order Online https://www.lazerphoto.co.nz/.../edgecumbe-college.../86653
A fond farewell
Attendance
Attendance is a huge focus for us at the moment, coincidentally at the same time the Government and Ministry of Education are also showing concern over poor attendance rates in schools across the country.
It has been an exceeding difficult year we do realise for Whanau, family and our students.
At the peak of Covid last term our attendance was down at 33% on any one day. Now thankfully it is rising and is around 75 β 80% but not all the time. Even at 80% it means that students are missing one day a week, and even at this rate it has a massively negative impact on their achievement.
We do understand that there is still Covid going through families, but I would ask you to ensure that whenever possible students are at school and ready to learn.
It is very difficult as I am sure you understand to re-motivate your young person after such disruption, but they do need to be back at school, ready to learn and looking towards their future, if they are going to succeed this year. Please support us in getting our students back to school. We will ensure we contact you as early as possible, and please bear in mind that we are trying to do our best for our students.
School Calendar: Click on link below:
Reunion Bookings now open!
Instrument Music Tutors
We are very short of people to give our students practical music lessons, so this is a plea, please for volunteer insturment teachers β guitar, piano, drums especially vocal coach, anyone interested in starting a school choir and or band we would dearly love to hear from you. Please just get in touch with the office and we will get back to you.
Cell phones
Please support us in not having cell phones in the school, they are such a distraction to the learning environment of the school and students are continually bombarded by the negative influences of social media. They are creeping back into the school and we would like this stamp this early.
Our school app
Its very easy to use and free. You can fill in an absentee form, see previous notices and newsletters, go straight to Kamar to access your student's records, see our school calendar, and receive emergency notifications if necessary.
Edgecumbe College 60th Centenary Celebrations
You can find our school policies here:
Edgecumbe College Careers
Did you know we have a specialised FB page dedicated to Career Pathways? Go find and like our page! Itβs called Edgecumbe College Careers. This page is regularly updated with a host of information about where to seek job vacancies, apprenticeships, preparing for jobs, careers events, Open Days, scholarship and grant applications, and heaps of photos celebrating our wonderful students. Nau mai, Haere mai.
Contact Us
Email: info@edgecumbecollege.school.nz
Website: http://www.edgecumbecollege.school.nz/
Location: Edgecumbe College 100 College Road, Edgecumbe 3120, New Zealand
Phone: 07-304 8211
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/edgecumbecollege