Waiopehu College
Term 3 2022
Acting Principal Message
Tēnā Koutou
It’s hard to believe that we are already well into term three, Spring has sprung and we are all looking forward to more settled weather. The end of Winter also signifies the end of Winter Sports. The week before last saw the school travel to Naenae to compete in our annual sports exchange. We came away with wins in both Football and Rugby. Photos from this event are available on the google drive for students to access. Last week was also Winter Tournament week, where our Netball, Basketball and Hockey teams competed in National Tournaments.This week see’s Waiopehu and Horowhenua go head to head in the annuals. A huge thanks to all the volunteers, and staff involved in Winter Sports. A particular mention needs to go to Mr Good for the work done organising all of these events.
The trip to Naenae saw Mr Robinson travelling back to his old stomping ground one final time, before he departed from Waiopehu. His official farewell was held on Friday the 19th August, in the school cafe, and was a fitting occasion to thank him for all the work he has done for the students of Waiopehu. It was a pleasure to see how many people passed on their best wishes and thanks to Mark for his contributions to the College. A particular highlight was Mark’s musical performance with two of our current students, enjoyed by all. Mark’s farewell assembly held on Friday the 26th August gave the students an opportunity to thank Mark for his time at the College, it was an emotional farewell for such a respected Tumuaki. On behalf of the school we all wish Mr Robinson well in his new career as a Regional Manager at the Ministry of Education.
Morehu Tauru also formally gifted Te Hōkioi, a tohu he designed for the school at this assembly.(See image below). It was a pleasure to host manu whenua at this significant event, The Te Hōkioi design will feature on sport uniforms and publications next year in celebration of the school’s 50th Anniversary.
A few upcoming events for you to be aware of are Derived Grade Exams for the Senior students. It is important that students realise the importance of these exams, and I’d encourage all seniors to study for these exams, and make their best efforts. The results of these exams can ̄be used if for any valid reason students are unable to sit the NCEA exams in November. Also on the horizon is the Senior School Ball, which will be held on the 24th of September. This promises to be full of glitz and glamour and we look forward to the students walking the red carpet in the gowns and suits. No doubt we will be joined by many of you who gather to watch the students arrive in their finery.
Finally I’d like to remind everyone of the lockers we have had installed in the Gym foyer for students to use to keep their valuables safe while they are in PE. If you want to ensure your phones are safe during PE, please bring a lock and use the facility we have provided.
Ngā mihi
Guy Reichenbach
Acting Principal
Waiopehu College Sports 2023 - Major Announcement
Waiopehu College are delighted to announce that all sports at school will be 'FREE IN 23' to play.
In 2023, Waiopehu College will be celebrating our Golden Jubilee year as it marks 50 years since we first opened our doors in 1973 . a celebration year, we wanted to do something big for our students and community and what better way to celebrate this special milestone year than by making all sports free to play for the entire year
With the cost of living going through the roof, and families doing it tough out there at the minute, we want to create opportunities for all students to thrive, no matter their socio-economic status
Director of Sport, Matt Good shared the big news with the students during an assembly earlier this week. 'I'm delighted to provide this opportunity for all our students in what will be an unbelievable year. The only thing that can stop sport at a local grassroots level is affordability, so to be able to completely remove this barrier when so many of our community and whanau are battling with the cost of living crisis is massive. I have been working on this project for nearly 2 years now with this celebration year in mind. I've been lucky that we have so many amazing local businesses who have helped contribute in sponsoring this project, I am extremely grateful for their support’
With sport participation numbers down, compared to pre covid times all over New Zealand, we are extremely proud to offer sporting opportunities for all our students and their families for FREE IN 2023.
We hope this news will be a welcome relief to many and we can't wait to share our journey with you.
Congratulations Samuela Taufeulungaki on his Peers' Choice Award
Article courtesy of Bluelight
Levin Teen Wins Award
“When they called out my name that I won the Peers’ Choice award I was shocked because there were so many people to choose from and they chose me. I didn't even win that for myself, I won that for my family, friends, church, school, and the community” says Samuela Taufeulungaki (15) on his Peers’ Choice award win at the recent Blue Light Life Skills camp in Taupo held on 22-26 August.
Samuela, who attends Waiopehu College, was voted by his fellow peers, Defence Force and Blue Light staff to win the Peers’ Choice Award and Blue Light Youth Worker/Mentor Daniel Bromley comments “Samuela was awarded the Peers’ Choice Award through his efforts to foster a team environment, encouragement and respectful communication with fellow team members”.
Patrick Pritchard, Physical Education and Duke of Edinburgh Hillary Award lead from Waiopehu College who referred Samuela states “The students were taught the basics of regimental marching, proper etiquette when interviewing for a job, car maintenance as well as various life skills that will benefit them throughout and after secondary school”. Patrick goes on to comment “Our students had nothing but praise for the camp, although they did admit that they were nervous at the start due to the intensity and challenges on the first two days. Each student overcame fears and demonstrated resilience putting themselves out of their comfort zone and giving things such as high ropes and white water rafting a go despite the concerns they expressed”.
Samuela, who was fulfilling part of his Duke of Edinburgh Hillary award requirements, goes on to say “I'm glad that I went and they changed the old me into a new person. They also helped me build my confidence in myself and we must work as a team and look after each other, some people don’t like others because of how they look or because they can’t do much stuff but I was able to work with each and every one of them. Because you can change someone's life by being the best example around them and doing the right thing.”
This highly successful programme has been run by New Zealand Blue Light in partnership with NZ Defence Force for the past 12 years and has adventure-based experiential learning as a key part of the programme. The programme provides 14-17-year olds’ critical life skills such as self-development, self-control, and teamwork that will enable young people to be successful at home, school, communities, and employment.
Up to 12 courses are held each year in Auckland, Central North Island and Burnham locations.
For more information about the Blue Light Life Skills camps visit www.bluelight.co.nz.
Blue Light is grateful for the support of the sponsorship of the Lion Foundation and community supporters.
See www.bluelight.co.nz or visit www.facebook.com/nzbluelight
Mock Trail at Courthouse
Over the past couple of weeks, Year 11 students have been lucky enough to be part of a mock court case, organised by Senior Constable Terry Hansen. He was supported by three additional police officers who played the parts of judge, prosecuting attorney and defence attorney. This was held at the Council Chambers which was set up to look like an actual courtroom. Half of the cohort participated in this on two subsequent Wednesdays as part of their Hauora lessons. Some of the earlier lessons had concerned driver safety and how peer pressure can also have an impact on what teenage drivers may do when in a car.
The court case itself was carried out like a play with all participants reading from a script. There were parts for up to around 15 to 20 people and it involved a teenaged driver who had driven recklessly and had a car accident. Students read the parts of injured passengers, family, other witnesses and of the defendant himself. We also had students who played the part of the jury. It was interesting that the majority believed the driver should be sent to jail for his part in the accident and for failure to listen to one of the passengers who wanted him to slow down.
Dance NZ Made 2022
On Monday 5th September Waiopehu College Dance Department took eight dancers to the Dance NZ Made solo, duo and trio competition. This year was our biggest contingent of dancers to the solo, duo and trio competition since we have been attending. Our dancers had worked hard in the lead up to the competition to ensure they were ready.
The competition then carried onto Tuesday 6th September, where we took twenty two students to participate in workshops throughout the day and perform their team dances in the evening competition showcase. The Dance NZ made team had been working towards this competition since the beginning of the year, choreographing, perfecting performances and stage presence.
The competition drew schools from as far as Kapiti and Wairarapa with a large contingent from Palmerston North Girls’ High School. The competition was, as always, strong.
Junior Executive Team Update
The junior leadership team organised a tutor group competition in the last weeks of term 2 as part of their 'environment' theme this year. Tutor groups needed to use recycled material to identify their tutor group space in some way. In addition to know which tutor group was in the room, the judges also had to be able to identify which house the tutor group was part of. Thank you to our mystery judges Ms Marshall, Mr Yates and Tacita. Congratulations to the winning tutor groups OTSO, BLBW and BLPD. As you can see from the photos the winning tutor groups were treated to an amazing lunch and mocktails in the new cafe. This was prepared as part of a unit of work that Mr MacLean's Year 11 catering class have been doing.
The junior leaders also went on a beach clean up as part of their environment theme for the year. In spite of the chilly start to the day they managed to find lots of things to remove from the beach and a few items that were unfortunately too large!
School Swimming Sports
We were glad to finally have swimming sports have the go ahead this year in a time of many uncertainties. With it being pushed back to a later date many thought it wouldn’t go ahead however the wait was worth it!
We found school swim champions across all 6 categories which was our main aim along with having lots of fun! On the day there was plenty of house spirit with each house helping their swimmers give their all in each race. It also provided many top races throughout the day where it came down to the wire. With all of this combined it turned out to be a very successful 2022 swimming sports.
Congratulations to all our new swimming champions and well done to Otaki on taking the house win!
Big thanks to Head of PE Mr Buchanan and Director of Sport, Mr Good on providing us with the opportunity to have a swim sports day in 2022.
Head of Sport - Oliver Easton
Cross Country 2022
Cross Country goes ahead in glorious sunshine after 6 months of delays!
On Friday 12th August our school cross country finally went ahead after earlier distributions in the year ranging from Covid, illness and a bomb threat! With the sun shining, everything ran (no pun intended) smoothly with all our runners completing the course and back in class before the bell went.
A massive congratulations to all our winners and congratulations to Blackwater on taking out the house points win on the day!
Big thanks all our helpers/time keepers on the day as well as Mr Buchanan who has worked tirelessly behind the scenes to get all our school events on in an extremely challenging year!
Level 1 Catering Students Shine
Last term our Junior Executive Team ran a Tutor Group Competition as part of their Environmental week. The Tutor Group winners of this competition were treated to a special lunch that was put together by our Level 1 Catering Students in week three of this term.
The Level 1 Catering class prepared and cooked tasty Designer Burgers and made a choice of two Mocktails for the students to enjoy. As you can see by the photos attached the students and staff thoroughly enjoyed the end products and the lovely new environment of our recently renovated Café.
The Catering students out did themselves to produce high quality products and earnt themselves some credits towards NCEA as well. Lets hope we can do something like this again as it is always nice to see our students shine.
August Restaurant Evenings
Our second Restaurant Nights for the year were held on the 23rd and 24th August and it was nice to see the level of support from parents, staff and members of the community. We even had guests who had flown down especially from Auckland to ensure they could support the students in another successful event.
The menu continues to improve and this ‘Taste of Pehu’ was not a disappointment. The students both Front of House and the Chefs working out the back continue to surprise me with their commitment to the task and their level of professionalism.
This is an amazing experience for the students and although they are always nervous going into the nights, they surprise themselves every time and shine with their success.
I would like to thank Kristina Hunt our professional chef once again for the hard work she puts into the evenings and for her ability to bring out the best in our students. This time I would also like to thank Scott MacLean for stepping into the limelight at the last minute to run the Front of House on one of the evenings as Lisa Roiri our usual star had other commitments.
These events are always a TEAM effort so thanks also to the support crew behind the scenes who assisted with dishes, shopping, and all the other things needed to make these events such a success. Don’t forget to watch out for these evenings again next year as they are an experience not to miss out on.
Karen Edser
Congratulations Fletcher Warren
Congratulations to Fletcher Warren who has been selected into the 13U All-Star team from a recent tournament in Australia. The team (called the Aussie Waves) will travel to Florida in October on a 10 day tour playing some High School and TravelBall teams, as well as a Tournament.
Junior Wearable Art Course
Students in the Junior Wearable Arts course have been making some great tie dyed t-shirts. Pictured is work by Peyton, Harmony and Myah.
School Docs Policy Review Term 3, 2022
This term there are two main topics of the Waiopehu College policies up for review by whānau and we welcome your input on the policies up for review. The two main topics and corresponding policies are:
Student Wellbeing and Safety
· Child Protection
· Abuse Recognition and Reporting
· Care and Management of Students
· Support Student Well being
· Food and Nutrition
· Sun Protection
Staff Well being and Safety
· Staff Well being
· Harassment
If you would like to look at the SchoolDocs site, or would like to review the policies you can access the link HERE
User Name: waiopehu and Password: pehu
To review a policy, please go to the Current Review tab and you will see the documents to review and instructions for how to give feedback, which needs to be in by the end of this term.
SchoolDocs considers all of the feedback they receive and will let us know if there are any changes proposed to the policies
New books available at the library
New books available at the library
New books available at the library
Waiopehu College Jackets
Up coming events and Teacher Only days
Monday 12th September - Wednesday 14th September - Capital E Trip
Wednesday 14th September - Friday 16th September - Year 13 PED Trip
Thursday 15th September - Friday 16th September - Senior Exams
Wednesday 21st September - Board of Trustees Meeting
Wednesday 21st September - Thursday 22nd September - Barbershop ?
Monday 26th September - Tuesday 27th September - Level 3 Geography Trip
Friday 30th September - Shave for a Cure
Friday 30th September - End of Term
Monday 17th October - Beginning of Term 4
November 2022 - Friday 25th November Teacher Only Day
November 2022 - Monday 28th November Teacher Only Day
Student/Caregivers Information
To help keep our records up to date, please notify the school office on 3688303 or email rhondatay@waiopehu.ac.nz with any new information e.g. updated medical conditions, new email addresses, new address or new contact phone numbers.
Thank you for your assistance.
Contact Us
Email: secretary@waiopehu.ac.nz
Website: http://www.waiopehu.ac.nz/
Location: 74 Bartholomew Road, Levin, New Zealand
Phone: 06 368 8303
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WaiopehuCollege