Malo e lelei'
This week was Uike Lea Faka-Tonga!! (Tongan Language Week)
There were some great lunchtime activities happening including such things as a photo challenge, a phrase challenge, and ‘Capture the flag’.
This week has seen our senior students sitting ‘Formative Assessments’ to assist in their preparation for the NCEA external exams later in the year. These assessments are an important step in ensuring students are preparing for their external exams in November, while also providing a potential derived grade should that be needed. Seniors will be given valuable feedback on how they are progressing which they should use as part of their exam preparation.
I would like to thank the junior school who have busily gone about their daily routines and respected the need for quietness in areas in the school while the assessments were happening.
Soirée
On Wednesday evening we started our ‘Celebration Season’ with the annual Soirée. The large and enthusiastic audience were treated to a series of highly talented performances from the school’s Concert Band, Flute, Percussion, and String Ensembles, Rock Bands, the Jazz Band, groups, solo acts, and combos. At the end of the evening Blues awards and trophies were awarded to the top musicians for 2023. Congratulations to all performers and the support people behind the scenes.
Lock Down Practice
On Wednesday we conducted a Lock Down exercise under the guidance and support of Harrison Tew (a professional organisation who support schools in the health and safety management of the lock down process). The drill went extremely well and the students can be congratulated for the manner in which they followed the requirements of the process. I would like to thank whānau, parents and caregivers for your support. Regular practices for lockdowns and evacuations need to occur so that we can all be well prepared and familiar with our procedures should an emergency occur.
Congratulations to:
All our teams who have competed in the Winter Tournament process, and other recent co-curricular events. I would just like to acknowledge and thank our staff and community members who have supported our student groups/teams over this period of time. Without their support we wouldn’t be able to give our students these opportunities. All our teams have performed to a standard in which they should all be proud of.
Three examples of outstanding achievements included the following:
Our Hip Hop team who were placed 2nd at the Hip Hop Nationals in Dunedin last weekend.
The Senior Theatresports team who won the Canterbury Theatresports Championships for 2023
Our Boys Basketball team who won the Southern cup tournament held in Timaru over tournament week
Next week our Formative Assessments will continue, and we will share in the nationwide celebration of Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori.
Ngā mihi
Jeff Smith
Principal