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 Term Two

Welcome back to Term Two. It has been great to welcome our students and staff back after a well earned break. We have seen a sharp increase in attendance and it has been really good to see our students well prepared and ready to get back into their learning after a disrupted Term 1.

We are currently at the Orange setting for Covid, this has enabled us to run assemblies for the first time. The messages at the assemblies have reiterated our school values. We respect our right to learn, ourselves and each other. We show responsibility by looking after each other, our school and community. We show achievement by working hard in class and in school to develop the skills, knowledge and attitudes for life.

Whilst orange is here for now, if we see spikes in Covid cases at Orange we will return to face mask wearing and if this is the case we will communicate these changes with you.

Recent online incident

I would like to take this opportunity to address how the school has responded to the inappropriate email that was sent last Friday 6/05/2022 at 5:32pm to all students.

Over the weekend and this week, the school has worked alongside the Police and has thoroughly investigated the incident. We have identified the person that committed the offence. The Board of Trustees and Police have met with the person involved and are satisfied that whilst their actions have caused harm they were not malicious in intent. The person has shown sufficient remorse, acknowledging the harm they have caused and we are confident that they have learned from the experience.

The school has asked teachers to reiterate our Cyber safety rules to all students and has offered support to all students if required through our pastoral support network.

On investigation with independent organisations Linewize and PCMedia, have identified how the breach in security occurred. We have activated their recommendations and amended our school policies accordingly; these are available at https://whakatanehigh.schooldocs.co.nz/

The BOT are confident in the integrity of the school network and believe that it can assure the safety of our school email system.

I would like to personally thank the students, staff and community who communicated with me about this incident and offered their support.

Winter illness

With Term 2 underway, we’re looking ahead to what might come next – not just from COVID-19 but the upcoming winter season and illnesses that may come with it.

With New Zealanders mostly sheltered from exposure to flu in the last two years, health experts are concerned about our lower immunity to flu. If you are normally someone who doesn’t bother with the flu vaccine, we strongly encourage you to get your flu vaccination this year and get your whānau up to date with any other vaccinations (for example, measles, whooping cough).

Flu (influenza) vaccines – Ministry of Health

As always, we want to keep our students and staff as safe as possible from the harms from illness and to have as many students learning on site as we can. All those good actions like staying away if unwell will reduce the risk of harm from COVID-19 will also help to prevent seasonal illnesses.

We have a number of upcoming events and activities coming and I hope I will get the chance to meet you this term, reconnect and talk about what we are doing well and what we need to do better at WHS.

Martyn Knapton

Principal

Our focus for Term 2 will be on ensuring that our students are at school learning as much as possible. We know that, for the majority of our students, the best place possible for wellbeing and learning is at school with their friends, teachers and other school staff. We also have very good systems in place to keep everyone as safe as possible.

In 2022, the Whakatāne Kahui Ako (Community of Learning) has introduced four new Attendance positions within Whakatane High School, to help ensure students are attending school on a regular basis. We'd like to introduce these new staff below:

A number of WHS students have been successful in being selected for BOP representative teams -

• U18 Hockey - Skye Martin, Callum Giles, Eva Sexton & Lara Longney
• U17 Volleyball - Joe Doogue, Kendall McKane & Jordan Cochrane
• U19 Volleyball - Jamie Julian & Oliver Forsyth
• U15 Badminton Blue - McKenzie Reid
• U15 Badminton Yellow - Hannah White
• U17 Badminton Blue - Lauranze Juan
• U17 Badminton Yellow - Xavier Reid
• U16 BOP Rugby League Team - Naia-Lee Shadrock
• Kokako Raki and Jordyn Shadrock represented the BOP Under 18 Rugby League team at the NZRL 9s tournament. The team finished 3rd and Kokako was named in the tournament team.

• Kaio Moses has also been selected to attend ESP Trust camp for Rugby League
  

Swimming

Caign Boonen and Ben Jackson attended the NZ Age Group Swimming Championships in Wellington over the holidays. Caign won 2x silver medals in the 50m backstroke and 100m backstroke. He also picked up a bronze medal in the 50m freestyle.

Ben was also successful in making a number of finals.

Football

Girls 1st XI Lost to Trident Girls 1st XI 7-3 (played Tuesday 10th May)

Junior Boys A against Trident Junior A ended in a 2-1 defeat for WHS. Great possession and control for large parts of the game but the result didn't do our efforts justice. Well done guys, you played brilliantly as a team. Player of the day Jai Julian.

Rugby - Girls

WHS Girls lost to Mount Maunganui Girls - 24-35, tries scored by Kokako Raki, Leanna Roebuck, Cameron Waaka and Naia-Lee Shadrock

Rugby - Boys

U14s vs Otumoetai - a 24-17 win for the young team

1st XV vs Te Taumata - a close loss 15-19

Basketball - 9 May

Junior B Lost vs Trident Junior Boys Blue 35-59

Junior A beat Opotiki College Junior Boys 58-16

Senior girls defaulted to Te Wharekura o Ruatoki Senior Girls

Junior girls Lost to OPotiki College Junior Girls 31-41

Senior boys B Lost to Opotiki College Senior Boys 15-47

Senior boys À Defeated Trident Senior Boys Blue 39-31

Hockey

1st XV defeated Ohope Gold 6-0

Our board committee has planned an awesome line up of guest speakers and fundraising event ideas (like a Pink Ribbon Breakfast) to get the club members inspired and involved in the community.

Last week we had Mr Knapton, he spoke about the shade sail that the Interact Club are partly funding, and how much the WHS Interact Club is valued by the school. The next meeting we have Drew Ewan, CEO of the Big Brother Big Sister NZ speaking on the 20th of May, BBBSNZ is an organisation that helps mentor young people, developing important values of caring, unity/togetherness, kindness and generosity to give tamariki a sense of belonging. Then we have Jason Lougher on the 27th of May. Accountant, Jason Lougher has been, and still is, involved in many community activities doing good works, which is the vision of our Interact Club and what we aspire to do.

WHS Interact meetings are every Friday of the term at 1.15pm in room B7. If you would like to join, come along and listen to the speakers and find out what we do. Hope to see all you Interactors and new members there!

The Eastern Bay of Plenty Career Expo is being hosted by Trident High School this year and will be at Trident HS on Wednesday, May 25. Year 12 and 13 students will be scheduled to attend. We will take the students by bus and they will be away from school for approximately 1 hour. If you do not want your student to attend, please let the school know, either Ms Stuart or the mentor teacher.

University Visits

The University of Waikato Open Day on the Hamilton Campus is on Friday 27 May. Years 12 and 13 students are welcome to sign up for the trip. We ask for a fee of $25 to go toward the cost of the transport. See Ms Stuart to sign up for that trip.

Defensive Driving Course

We have space for 15 students to complete their Defensive Driving Course through school. Students must have held their Learners License for at least 4 months and have started their driving practice, or have just gained their Restricted Licence.

Students must attend all eight hours of the course:

15 & 17 June 11:15 – 1:15

20 & 22 June 08:45 – 10:45

A small cost to the students will be $50.00

The remainder of the course fee is sponsored by Toi-EDA

Please contact Ms Stuart if you would like to be considered for this course.

Armed Forces

There will be an evening presentation on Tuesday May 31 6-7 pm, at the Mount Manganui RSA. Please email to register and ask for more information: shane.v.gillum@defencecareers.mil.nz

Gateway

The Gateway Programme allows students to experience an industry while still at school. We appreciate local employers for their support of hosting students and sharing their industry knowledge. If any of our school whanau and supporters are interested in working with us, please contact us at school. We are starting students at Horizon, James Street School, Ohope Primary School, RDA, Awanuiaarangi, Little Orchard Preschool and Whakatane Info and Countdown.

Futures Academy

Students continue to attend the Futures Academy for their chosen trade. There are short taster courses beginning soon and some Year 11 students will be part of that.

Jo-Anne Stuart and Julie Ball

jo-anne.stuart@whs.co.nz

julie.ball@whs.co.nz

https://www.facebook.com/WhakataneHighSchoolCareers

Health services provided FREE in school:

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