Newsletter 17 September 2021

Tena koutou katoa,

I hope you are well and coping with the restrictions of the Level 4 Alert.

I know learning from home presents many challenges for students, families and teachers. Some students need support and I encourage them to contact their Form Teacher, House Leader or the counselling staff. On the whole, I am really proud of the way our students and teachers have risen to the challenge of this lockdown. We can’t expect things to progress as well as they would on campus – but collectively we have done a job we should be very pleased with.

Changes to NCEA

To compensate for the time out of school NZQA has introduced a range of measures to support students to achieve NCEA in 2021. Students will be able to earn Learning Recognition Credits. These are essentially additional credits awarded when students pass achievement standards. There have also been reductions in the number of credits needed to earn University Entrance, course endorsement and certificate endorsement. The final package of changes has not been confirmed due to the continuing Auckland lockdown but is expected to be similar to last year.

Cambridge Examinations

We have held online practice examinations for Cambridge subjects this week. Thank you to the staff and students for responding so well to this changing situation and the need to hold these exams online.

We are liaising with Cambridge Assessment International about the final external examinations. If and when we move to Level 2 the examinations will proceed. We will be in contact with students and parents as soon as we have final confirmation about these exams and whether or not any will be missed and therefore given an assessed grade. Cambridge International have robust procedures and have considerable experience in these matters.

School Holidays

There has been some public discussion about moving the school holiday dates. The Minister has made no mention of changing the dates and we are planning to proceed with remote teaching for the final two weeks of term three.

Subject Selection

Students in years 9 to 12 are currently completing their subject selections for 2022. The pop-up box on the front page of our website has the link to the online system used to make these selections. These selections are due by the end of next week.

Vaccinations

A number of local clinics and pharmacies are offering ‘walk-up’ vaccinations. The link on our website pop-up box gives the details of these clinics.

I wish you all the best as we hope for a steady drop in case numbers and a swift return to lower Alert Levels.

Kia kaha, kia maia, kia manawanui.

Nga mihi

Steven Hargreaves