South Otago High School News

3 March, 2023 Newsletter

Kia Ora Tatou

This week got off to a great start with fantastic weather for the re-scheduled school Athletic Sports. It was good to see so many students who participated and assisted with the organisation and running of the day. The students who attended had a great time and there was a lot of laughter and fun to be had by everyone.

Congratulations to the Student Council who soundly beat the Staff in the relay event. In particular to T-Jae Valli who ran backwards for the last leg to make sure that I was not catching him!!

Despite the excellent school spirit it was extremely disappointing to receive messages from whanau excusing students from attending by having them working on the farm or not valuing the day. This non-attendance at a school event on a school day will count against the attendance for individual students.

Covid cases
It is disappointing to report that we have received a number of notifications of confirmed covid cases amongst students this week. I would ask that whanau please keep students at home if they appear unwell. Where there is a confirmed case in the household please ensure that daily testing is completed prior to sending students to school. People who are confirmed covid cases are reminded to self isolate for 7 days with the day of a positive test result being day zero.

Measles
The Ministry of Education have provided the following information regarding measles.

With people travelling overseas again, there’s a risk that someone with measles could unknowingly bring the disease back to Aotearoa.

Measles spreads easily and quickly, usually between people who are unimmunised or only partially immunised. It can be serious and life threatening. In the 2019 measles outbreak in Aotearoa more than 30% of the people infected had to be admitted to hospital.

The best protection against measles is the free MMR vaccine. It will protect you and your whānau, and prevent the virus from spreading.

You will be protected against measles if you:

• had 2 doses of the MMR vaccine
• had measles before
• were born before 1 Jan 1969.

If you’re unsure if you or your tamariki have had any or both doses of the MMR vaccine, check by calling your GP or hauora provider. Alternatively, check your Plunket Well Child Tamariki Ora book. If you’re still not sure, be safe and get immunised – there are no safety concerns with having an extra dose. MMR vaccines are free at your local health provider and many pharmacies.

As measles still occurs in many countries, if you’re travelling overseas these holidays it’s especially important to be immunised to prevent the risk of being unknowingly infected and causing an outbreak in Aotearoa on your return.

More information about the measles vaccination can be found here:

Measles vaccination – Ministry of Health

School attendance
As I have shared previously in the school newsletter there is a national campaign to ensure that tamariki are attending school. The Ministry of Education have set an expectation of 90% attendance. At this point in the first term, this means a student who has missed two days of school is now likely to be below that 90% attendance threshold. Eg, a student who has ‘taken the day off’ for athletics and been at a family function for a day would currently sit at about 89%.

In the next week we will be notifying parents of students who have an attendance rate of less that 90%. We will also be reminding parents of the importance of regular attendance and the improved continuity of learning. It is important that we support good routines for regular attendance for students from the start of the year.

Education Review Office (ERO)
Last year the Education Review Office visited South Otago High School and have provided the following statement to be shared with the community. As a school we were pleased with our initial meeting and are looking forward to demonstrating our school improvement strategies through this partnership.

Te Ara Huarau is the evaluation approach that the Education Review Office (ERO) is using in our school. This a developmental approach to evaluation where ERO and our school work together over time rather than one off reviews that happened previously. Te Ara Huarau is used in most English-medium state and state-integrated schools.

ERO maintains a regular review programme to evaluate and report on the education and care of young people in the schools. Our school worked alongside ERO to write our Profile Report. This type of report will only happen once as part of our initial engagement with Te Ara Huarau. The profile report reflects our strategic goals and a shared evaluation focus one or more areas that are important to us as we work together to improve outcomes for all our learners. ERO, like us, have a strong focus on equity and excellence. Future reporting will show our progress and achievement towards meeting the goals we have set. Public reports like the Profile Report are published on ERO’s website.

A Board Assurance Report that shows how we are meeting regulatory and legislative Requirements has also been published.

Included in our bundle of published reports is a Provision for International Students report.

Industrial action
The school has been notified of the intention for PPTA Union members to strike on 16 March. Next week we will be sending information to parents about the strike action and notification of the intent to close the school for the day.

This strike action is in addition to the current relief ban industrial action by teachers. Currently the school has managed relief and teacher absences with minimal disruption to students. However, next wee the Year 10 students will be going to camp and this places an additional strain on resources and the ability to cover for absent colleagues. Therefore, I would like to make our community aware that we may need to roster home a year level if we are unable to provide adequate supervision for students during the school day. We will notify effected year groups the previous day if this is necessary. This will be done by text message and the school Facebook page.

Finally
Next week all Year 10 students have the opportunity to attend the school camp at Tautuku for two nights, Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, Thursday. This camp is often the highlight for students in Year 10. Earlier this week a letter to all Y10 parents and students was sent home to advise whanau of the supports available to ensure that every student had the opportunity to participate. I look forward to seeing every student attend the camp at some stage during the week. Students not at camp are expected to attend school as normal and come prepared ready to learn.

Ka kite ano

Recent News

Year 12 Outdoor Education Tramp

Year 12 students recently went tramping.

Athletics Results

Athletics Results for Athletics Day 2023

NZQA Top Art Exhibition Opening 2023

The NZQA Top Art Exhibition opened on Monday night at Massey University in Wellington.

NCEA Endorsements 2022

Congratulations to all those students that gained a subject or overall endorsement in 2022. It was a pleasure to award certificates and badges to students as recognition of their hard work and effort in assembly this week.

Spirit of Adventure

Last week, 10 of our year 10 students traveled to Auckland and went on the Spirit of Adventure on a trophy voyage.