From the Principal

Nau mai hoki mai

Welcome back. We've had an awesome first day with our Year 7 and Year 13 students today and I'm super excited to have all of our students back tomorrow. For my first message of the year I thought it would be useful to share the tweaks we've made to form classes and the timetable for 2023.

Kaiārahi

Kaiārahi translates to guide, mentor, or leader. At Fiordland College we have replaced our traditional year level (form) classes with kaiārahi which include Year 7 to 13 students from one of the four houses. These kaiārahi classes will meet for 3 x 20 minute sessions per week with one teacher. There is also a Dean for each house to provide extra pastoral support. These classes are designed as a way to develop our students into kaiārahi as much as it is about the teacher being one. The teacher's role as kaiārahi is to ensure that ākonga (students) are front and centre, and that we support them at school by providing opportunities to develop community, collaboration, decision-making, leadership, executive functioning, and self-help skills.

Timetable changes

The start and end of day times remain the same as they were. We have however moved from a 60 min 5 period day to a 50 min 6 period day. Students will start the day with their Period 1 class (rather than form class). This is an important adjustment for all of our students to make. The timing of breaks is also a little different with interval commencing at 11.10am and lunch at 12.50pm. Your student's timetable will have the specific details relevant to their programme of learning.

Project based day

We are working towards starting a Project Based Learning day on Fridays. In term 1, I will be working with students and staff to establish this. As a result you might find that on a Friday, a different timetable runs. For example, Friday this week will run the Tuesday timetable. I'll keep you posted on how we are progressing with our Project Based Learning day over the first half of the term.

Calendar

If you're interested in knowing what schoolwide events or important dates are coming up, you can view them on the school website (or just click here and bookmark the page)

School app

We use school apps to communicate with our families. Newsletters, messages, calendars, school absences and much more can be managed through the app. You can find instructions for installing the app on your phone here.

Getting in touch

I like to be available for all members of the Fiordland College community as much as I can. If you'd like to get in touch, feel free to make an appointment with the office, or just email me (s.mustor@fiordland.school.nz). Please don't worry about whether I'm the "right" person to talk to about something. I'd prefer that you reached out than held onto a concern or query that you had.

Ngā mihi nui

Steven Mustor

Tumuaki | Principal

Fiordland College