Newsletter - Term 1, Week 2

Friday 10 February: 3000m Lunchtime

Tuesday 14 February: School Athletics Day

Wednesday 15 February: Academic Honours Assembly

Wednesday 15 February: Year 10 Bike Camp practice ride

Monday 20 - Friday 24 February: Summer Co-Curricular Week

Thursday 02 March: Year 13s Otago University & Year 12s Otago Polytechnic both at 2.00pm

Friday 03 March: Careers Expo in Gym 9.00am - 12noon

Wednesday 08 March: School Swimming Champs

Friday 10 March: Kaiārahi Day

Kia ora koutou

Kaiārahi conferences

On Friday 10 March we will have our first ever Kaiārahi Conferencing Day. The purpose of the day is for kaiārahi to meet with every student in their group and discuss their goals and ambitions for the year. These meetings are a great way for caregivers to bring their voice into the educational conversation early rather than waiting to feed information to us after you have received reporting home from the school. All students are expected to come to a meeting on the day and we'd love it if they could be supported by a caregiver at the meeting. You can book in a time with your child's kaiārahi using the instructions below. Students do not have to attend school during the day (with the exception of their meeting). If you need supervision for your child on the day, can you please contact Office directly 249 7819 or admin@fiordland.school.nz so we can ensure we have appropriate supervision in place.

Attendance

Attendance has become a hot topic over the last year in the media and seems to have become a bit of a political tool for the major parties too. You'll hear statistics in the news like "less than 50% of students are attending school each day", and are rightly shocked. I feel that it's worth clarifying what this kind of reporting actually means on a day to day basis at school. Firstly, we always have more than 50% of our students attending each day. Stats like this are normally relating to students with an overall attendance rate of at least 90% (90% attendance means that they are away for more than 1 day each fortnight). Whilst it's concerning that 50% of students regularly attend for less than 90%, it's not the same has 50% of our students being away each day. I do however want to stress the importance of attendance. It's challenging to focus on achievement when a student is not present. Your child's teachers, kaiārahi and deans are likely to let you know when they have an attendance concern. These relationships are the the key way for us to help address an attendance concern so reach out to us if you need support or have any wonderings about your child's attendance.

Ngā mihi nui

Steven Mustor

https://www.schoolinterviews.co.nz/code/x9f3k

Unfortunately, due to low usage we have cancelled our wheelers ebook subscription.

We can, however, direct you to our wonderful District Library that has TWO ebook platforms that you can use with your SDC library card.

These apps are Libby & Borrow Box.

I have some instructional cards in the College library should students & whanau like to install them, alternatively see the lovely librarians in Te Anau Library.

Happy reading!

Te Anau are entering a Year 9-11 Cricket team into the Southland-wide competition in Term 1.

Games start on the 18th of February and run for 6 weeks. There will be a mix of games at home and away. Northern Southland also have several kids that will be part of this team.

If any kids / parents are keen, please contact Johnathan Hodson on 027 251 6332 in the first instance, ideally by Thursday 9 February, for training times etc..