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.

As we move towards the end of Term 3 it is important to reflect on what a huge term this has been for us as a school. This term has been incredibly disruptive, but as always, the students and staff show the greatest strengths through this adversity. Despite the stop-start nature of the Term and the certainty of uncertainty, our focus on well-being first has ensured that we have managed to successfully bring the school back together and work towards our collective and individual goals.

As always, a huge acknowledgement to our staff who have shown their resilience and have worked hard during this Term. Last week we held our catch up week that supported students to prioritise assessments and learning. As a result, our senior students seem to be well-placed to meet their achievement targets.

For our senior students, Term 4 represents a crucial time. In weeks 1 and 2, practice exams begin. Practice exams start on Wednesday the October 20th with Tuesday the 19th being an online learning day for seniors so they can prepare for exams. It will be important for seniors that they use the practice exams to gauge where they are in their learning and use weeks 3-5 of Term 4 as the opportunity to strengthen the gaps in their knowledge for the real exams. Getting into the habit of studying and revising will be important over the holidays.

Senior students have been given a copy of the practice exam timetable and workshops that are available in weeks 1 and 2. The workshops have been designed to help students complete outstanding assessments and revise for the practice exams. A huge thanks to Miss Crook for organising and Heads of Department for developing the workshops and putting students at the centre of this work.

OPEN DAY AND EVENING

Next term on the 19th of October we have our Year 8 Open Day and Evening. It has been so encouraging to see the huge number of students who want to be tour leaders, speakers and help out within departments to showcase the best for school and what we offer to the community. We are encouraged by the large amounts of enrolments for next year already.

NCEA HUB

The school has recently been selected to be an NCEA Hub. This means we will be gathering parent, student and staff voices about the NCEA changes for the Ministry of Education. We are only one of a handful of schools selected across the country and this will help us continue to lead NCEA changes in the community. I would like to acknowledge the English Department for their work in piloting the NCEA standards in 2021. They are helping lead the NCEA changes in English across the country. These changes do not come into effect until 2023 and our current Year 9s will be the first year group to be working towards the new NCEA qualification.

SPORT

This week we welcomed Stacey Fluhler (nee Waaka) to the school to celebrate her recent gold medal at the Olympics in Japan, as part of the successful Black Ferns team. Stacey spoke to our students with passion and enthusiasm about her life at school and how she made the most of her time here with the support of her teachers. We invited students who had participated in sports this year to meet with her and I think many of them were inspired by her visit. I would like to thank Te Aka Matua for their waiata and haka for Stacey. Stacey is a former member of Te Aka Matua.

Winter code sports have now come to an end and the build up for summer starts in Term 4. I encourage your child to get involved in touch, volleyball, athletics, cricket and many other sports on offer over the next few months. As always, a huge acknowledgement to all of the staff, students and parents who have made our winter sports so successful this year.

Good luck to the Hillary Challenge team who will be competing over the holidays in the Central North Island. Thanks to Mr Manning for getting the students ready for the competition and for the fundraising for the team.

I wish you a restful and relaxing holiday and look forward to seeing the students ready to go in Term four.

Martyn Knapton

Principal

https://www.whakatanehigh.school.nz/exams

Winter Sports Uniforms

With the winter sports season ending this week, we are asking that all sports uniforms, tracksuits and any outstanding sports gear are returned to school.

These are to be returned to your coach/manager, please do not return directly to the student office.

A stocktake will be taken and invoices may be sent out for any gear that is missing/unreturned.

Sports Fees

Also, it is an expectation that all season fees for winter sports should have been paid in full by now. If you haven't managed to pay these yet or are having trouble, please contact the office at office@whakatanehigh.school.nz or 07 308 8251, to set up a payment plan.

Sports/Group photos are available to order online. Please visit this link to order directly from Lazer Photos and Cameras: https://form.jotform.com/211588596199879

Final day for orders delivered to WHS is October 31.

Most of the Year 13 students who are headed off to university in 2021 will be awaiting their accommodation and scholarship offers over the holidays! Good luck and be sure to let Ms Stuart know of your successes.

Students applying to polytech need to be doing that soon also.

Toi Ohomai is offering Open Days during the holidays:

Tauranga Windermere Campus Saturday 16 October 10 am - 1 pm

Rotorua Mokoia Campus Sunday 16 October 10 am - 1 pm

Toi Ohomai scholarships are available to apply for now:

Toi Ohomai Scholarships

There are still some scholarships available to apply for including the following:

William Lomis Cox Memorial Scholarship Fund

This is for students of our school who are studying toward being a teacher, especially in the Social Science area. This can be for either secondary or primary teaching. Applications close on Sunday 17 October.

William Cox Scholarship

Dillon Scholarship

This scholarship provides financial assistance to people who have significant physical or intellectual disabilities and will be undertaking tertiary education in 2022. The student’s home base must be the Bay of Plenty. The scholarship opens on 1 November and closes on 14 January 2022.

Dillon Scholarship

Futures (Trades) Academy

The students have nearly finished their Trades courses for the year. Some have a few catch-up days, either in the holidays or early Term Four.

We are still collecting applications for Futures Academy for 2022. Application forms should be handed in before Friday 1 October.

Please follow the Careers Facebook page for updated information and work opportunities

Whakatane High School Careers

Health services provided FREE in school:

• School Nurse: daily except Wednesday morning
• School Doctor: Tuesdays P2