Term 3 Issue 4 Newsletter

Mālō e lelei

This week we have been acknowledging Tongan Language week.  On Monday our staff were challenged to use correct pronunciation of Tongan learner’s names, as well as some basic greetings.  We continue our learning next week as we look forward to Māori language week.  Ensure you check out our social media pages for some tips and tricks for both language weeks.

Our senior learners (Years 11, 12 and 13) will commence their end of year examination programme next week with practice exams. The expectation is that they attend all their required examinations. The learners will be briefed on expectations, so please have that conversation, as parents, with them and support them through this period.  The purpose of these examinations is to assist learners and staff with finalising last minute gaps in knowledge in preparation for the NCEA external examinations next term, and they provide opportunities to have a final formal assessment if they are unable to complete the NCEA External Examinations due to illness, bereavement, or special circumstances.  These examinations are important and we appreciate your support.

For the remainder of this term we are conducting a bit of a ‘blitz’ to ensure our expectations are being met.  Specifically, we are targeting punctuality and uniform. 

Punctuality: School starts at 8.40am. Too many learners are not getting to school on time currently.  You can expect to see our Senior Leadership Team and Deans monitoring attendance and punctuality at the start of the day specifically.  Learners who are late, and repeatedly late, can expect to receive detentions as a consequence for missing valuable learning time.

Uniform: Our uniform is clearly stated on the school website.  If there is a financial reason for not having the correct uniform, learners can speak to our Deans team and we will look at options to support them.  However, if learners do appear at school in incorrect uniform with no legitimate explanation, they can expect to receive loan uniform items for the day and if they continue to wear incorrect uniform, a detention. 

With all of these basic requirements, whanau, please support our young people in making the right decision and accepting the consequences if they do not.  If there is an issue, please contact your learner’s Dean as soon as possible.

We have had a number of learners out in the community representing the school recently. Our senior Art students have displays at the Artravangza in Mairangi Bay, where two learners, Bronte Danilo (Year 11) and Samantha Foster (Year 13) each received one of only four Outstanding awards. Congratulations to you both. We have our Senior Sports Awards tonight, and we have over 50 Year 7 and 8 learners competing at AIMS in Tauranga. 

Finally, as we run a very busy organisation, the best way to keep connected to everything we do is by downloading the Whangapāraoa College App. This was updated to a new App at the start of the term, so please search the App Store and ensure you have the correct and most up to date version. Details of this can be found further on in the newsletter.

September

4 - 8           AIMS week
11 - 20       Senior school exam week
13              Wig Wednesday
20              Enrolment interview evening
22              Last day of term 3

October

9                First day of term 4

Senior Practice Exams

Year 11s
Monday, 11 - Wednesday, 13 September - School as usual
(MCAT exam for those learners sitting it, held during class time on Tuesday)
Thursday, 14 and Friday, 15 September - Exams (at home on study leave when not attending an exam)
Normal school resumes, Monday, 18 September
 
Year 12 & 13
Monday, 11 - Wednesday, 20 September - Exams (at home on study leave when not attending an exam)
Exam timetable has been provided to learners 
 
Full and correct uniform should be worn to all exams.