South Otago High School News

26th July 2024 Newsletter

Kia Ora Tatou

Term 3 is a pivotal time of year.

As an illustration of this in assembly this week I talked about Vince Lombardi who is one of the most famous and successful American Football coaches of all time Vince Lombardi. He won the Super Bowl 5 out of 7 seasons with the Green Bay Packers. At the start of each season he held up an American Football and said “gentleman this is a football”. This was a symbol of his philosophy of doing the simple things well. Re-going over all of the basics again and again until they were perfected so that under pressure his team could perform.

In the same way I expect that students will do the basics well, both academically and socially, as the little things all add up and make a difference. This ranges from treating others as you would expect to be treated, to striving for your own level of personal excellence, to making sure you are organised for the day and each lesson you will go into.

Australia netball tour
A welcome back to the girls, teachers and parents that attended the Australian netball tour at the end of last term and into the holidays. We are proud of all the teams that went, competed and gave it their all both on the field and in the shopping malls. Especially well done to the A team that won the competition overall. And a big thank you to Miss McLellan and Mrs Hannah for all the work you did in organising such a great experience.

First XV rugby
Good luck to the 1st XV in their game versus Southland Boys High School this weekend. It is particularly notable as we are competing for the Moascar Cup Challenge trophy. This is one of the oldest, most prestigious, and storied trophies in 1st XV Rugby.

The Moascar Cup dates back to the end of World War I when British, New Zealand, and Australian soldiers camped at Moascar in Ismailia, Egypt. The Ismailia Rugby Union organised a rugby competition for a cup - at the time described as "a handsome Irish cup" - and had it mounted on a piece of a wooden propeller from a German aircraft shot down in Palestine. Won by the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Unit and Depot as they won nine of their ten matches. The cup was brought home and presented to the New Zealand Rugby Football Union on the condition that it be a challenge trophy for secondary schools and is put up by the holder for every home game similar to the Ranfurly Shield.

Senior leadership responsibilities

As Mr Wright is away on sabbatical for the first 7 weeks of this term we have a number of staff stepping up to cover roles within school. They are:

Ms Beaumont
Mr Doherty
Mrs Penn
Mrs Ward

Congratulations on your appointments.

And finally
We will be hosting our Open Night on Thursday 8th August. This is an opportunity for any Y7’s and Y8’s to come and start their transition to South Otago High School. We will start with a presentation in the Hall and then split into small groups led by Y9 and Y13 students to move round the school and see what all of our departments have to offer. This is one of my favourite evenings as it's our first chance to meet the fabulous young people we will be working with in the future.

Ka kite ano
Nigel Scarth – Acting Principal

Recent News

Upcoming Dates for Term3 2024

T3 and T4 Calendar 2024

Well-being: Parent Support

As young people progress through high school and different stages there can be many ups and downs for us as parents. Every family is unique and we all have our own challenges along the way, everyone has different personalities, strengths and hopes in life.

Australia Netball Trip

The South Otago Netball girls have returned after an eventful eight days in the Gold Coast.

Netball SISS Junior Tournament

Congratulations to our SOHS junior netball team who finished 5th overall in the combined Year 9 and 10 grade at the SISS Junior tournament in Christchurch.