Wairoa College

Newsletter 28 October 2021

PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE

Tēnā Koutou Katoa

Seniors are currently preparing for their external examinations and completing their internal assessments. It is particularly pleasing to see so many students in Year 12 and 13 who have already passed their NCEA Level 2 and 3. However, we are not at the finish line yet. I encourage students to keep pushing to do their best.

Year 7 and 8 students have been very busy over the last few weeks preparing for the Wairoa College District Film Festival and their video for Kapa Haka. These were played at the Gaiety Theatre this week where all year 7 and 8 students went to see their performance and performances from other schools in the district. They should be very proud of their achievements. I would like to commend them all for their dedication and effort to produce these films.

We have been preparing for prize giving over the last few weeks. As mentioned in an earlier communication, prize giving is not going to be held in the usual format due to a directive from the Ministry of Education. Therefore we are filming many aspects of prize giving and then we will send a link to families to watch it on the 10th of November. We are making it as special as we can under these circumstances, especially for the Year 13 students.

I have employed new staff for next year 2022. We look forward to the contributions they will make to Wairoa College.

Hamish Hay - Maths and Economics

Imogen Mickleson - English and Social Sciences

Sydney Lane - Mathematics

Ngapera Tiopira - Year 7 and 8 department

Roxinne Habib - Year 7 and 8 department

I would also like to wish the Year 7 and 8 students all the best with their camps over the next few weeks. I know a lot of planning has gone into these. I would also like to thank staff, Board of Trustees, First Light Foundation and whanau for their support in providing these wonderful experiences.

Ngā mihi nui

Mrs Jo-Anne Vennell

Level 2 Prizegiving

Over the past weeks with the ever changing face of Covid-19 and the Delta variant we have been reacting to our Ministry of Education Bulletins. Our recent advice is that at Level 2 prize giving should not be taking place in the traditional form, as an assembly with invited guests and whanau present. It is with great regret that we will not be holding our Senior Major or Minor prize giving for 2021. We are intending to record the reading of the prize list and share this with our Community in digital form, the link will be sent out online. Our students will be watching the event live in their classrooms on November 10th. While this is disappointing for all of us, we thank you for your understanding in this situation. Finally I would like to acknowledge all of our Community organisations that have supported Wairoa College and provided generous assistance via scholarships and internships to our students going off to Tertiary Education. Often the receipt of this financial assistance is the deciding factor for our students to embark on this journey.

Lisa Akers

Deputy Principal

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Board of Trustees - Student Representative Election

Voting closed on the Student Representative Election on Tuesday 26 October.

It was a very close race with only 4 votes separating the two candidates Araley Rudd and Bethany Kerley.

Congratulations to Bethany Kerley on being elected.

Bethany will hold the position as Student Rep for the next year.

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Achieving Excellence in NCEA Congratulations!

Level 2 - Mathematics & Statistics 2.9 - Use statistical methods to make an inference:

Araley Rudd

Level 2 - Physics 2.5 - Demonstrate understanding of atomic and nuclear physics:

Araley Rudd

Level 1 - Mathematics and Statistics 1.4 - Apply linear algebra in solving problems:

Aimee McDonald, Nikau Pitman, Grace Whaanga

Level 1 - Mathematics and Statistics 1.11 - Investigate bivariate numerical data using statistical enquiry cycle:

Nikau Pitman, Grace Whaanga

Level 1 - Chemistry 1.1 - Carry out a practical chemistry investigation, with direction:

Nikau Pitman, Grace Whaanga

Level 1 - History 1.4 - Demonstrate understanding of different perspectives of people in an historical event of significance to New Zealanders:

Grace Whaanga, Eden Scotson, Ashley Atkinson

Level 1 Physical Education - Participate actively in a variety of physical activities and explain factors that influence own participation:

Kefir Kirwan

Year 7 & 8 Department

Year 7&8 students have settled back in to routines and are now preparing for a busy Term 4. Last term was interrupted by a Lockdown and our Cross Curricular Unit for Term 4 is still – Changes and Challenges – Huringa me ngā wero.

The Year 7 and 8 Department are working on our Health component within our classes called “Understanding Changes at Puberty”. The unit aims to help students understand the changes to their bodies that are taking place during puberty. The learning outcomes for this component of the unit will enable the students to work towards the achievement objectives of Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand Curriculum.

To celebrate the end of our Term 3 - Our department held a Softball and netball tournament. This was a nice way to end the term.

Kotahitanga - “We are all in this together”

The Tournament winners

Gold – N5

Silver – N3

Bronze – N4

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Adrenaline Fitness challenge

On Wednesday we held our Adrenaline Fitness challenge. Our students gave 100% to completing their challenges. Students had to compete with the heat. We had 6 stations and at each station were three fitness challenges. We started at 10am and completed all 20 challenges by 12.30pm. A very big thank you to all the parents and whanau who supported our students with sponsorship that went towards the Adrenaline week.

Adrenaline Week Calendar of Events

Adrenaline Tongariro head off to camp on Monday. We wish our students the very best on their week away. This is a great opportunity for all our students. A big thank you to the Year 7&8 teachers for all their work that has gone into making the Adrenaline camps happen. Also, thank you to our parents who have helped with fundraising for the Adrenaline camps.

Central North Island – Tongariro 1st - 5th November
City Adrenaline Rush – Wellington 8th - 12th November
Going Bush 15th - 19th November
Home is where it is 15th - 19th November

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Year 11 Textiles Student Talents

Ms Haywards Year 11 textiles class have been very creative with knitting, crochet, weaving and macrame.

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Prime Minister Visit to Wairoa

Prime Minister Jacinda Adern visited Wairoa as an information/awareness of Covid Vaccinations and the well being of the Wairoa Community.

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Bean Bag comfort under the shade sails

Students are currently enjoying the comfort of a few bean bags during their lunch breaks.

Pūhoro STEM Academy 2021

Thirteen Level 1 students embarked on this waka, which was the start of a new initiative to encourage and support Māori students in STEM subjects. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. STEM is important because it pervades every part of our lives. Science is everywhere in the world around us. Technology is continuously expanding into every aspect of our lives. Engineering is the basic designs of roads and bridges, but also tackles the challenges of changing global weather and environmentally-friendly changes to our home. Mathematics is in every occupation; every activity we do in our lives. By exposing students to STEM and giving them opportunities to explore STEM-related concepts, they will develop a passion for it and hopefully pursue a job in a STEM field.

During the year, the students have continued to meet once a week with their kaihautū, Te Maari MacGregor. They have also experienced two wānanga days at EIT, Napier. The students participated in various activities including extracting DNA from strawberries, learning about the virus that causes COVID-19, and making a workable catapult. These wānanga also provided the opportunity to mix with other students from other Hawkes Bay schools.

Next year, we hope that these students continue as Year 12 Pūhoro students. We will be interviewing Year 10 students to join the Pūhoro STEM Academy for 2022, as Year 11 Pūhoro students.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Te Maari. She has been a constant support person for our students and we value her knowledge and expertise. We look forward to working with Te Maari again in 2022, and also will be welcoming Iraaroha as the Year 11 kaihautū.

Mrs Smith and the Pūhoro STEM Academy team

Student Attendance Notifications

The school endeavours to send all caregivers of students who are absent a text and or an email in the morning. Caregivers are able to respond to these messages and many caregivers take the opportunity to do this giving reasons for your student's absence. We thank you very much for this response. Our school records are then changed to reflect the fact that caregivers have responded and the student's reason for absence is noted.

All caregivers of students who are absent from any early classes will receive a message. There are times when students arrive or caregivers drop off students later in the morning. Caregivers will still receive the message indicating their student has been absent from a class or classes.

This may well be a time where caregivers can begin a conversation with the student about attendance and how important it is to arrive in classes at the appropriate time.

We believe that effective communication is important and caregivers can notify the school of absences by:

Phone 06 838 8303 Extn: 705

Email: info@wairoacollege.school.nz

Text: 027 808 3670

We thank you for your continued support.

Mr Robert Hamblyn

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CORE VALUES

The following students were awarded this week for displaying one of our core values of:

Caring for each student (Manaakitanga),

Working together (Kotahitanga),

Respect (Whakamana),

and Resilience (Aumangea).

Jack Cram

Jaden Gibson-Davis

Trident Jury

Covell Keefe-Stewart

Kingston Tipu-White

Francis Whai

COVID-19 SCHOOL TRANSPORT MESSAGE

As at 11.59pm, Friday 22 October it became a requirement for students aged 12 and over to wear a face covering on school transport (both Ministry and regional council-operated) unless they have an exemption.

STUDENT COVID-19 VACCINATION

COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic is being held at Wairoa College for students aged 12+ on Thursday 28 October. If students are under 16 years they will need to collect a consent form from the office and will need to bring this with them on Thursday.