11 August 2023 Newsletter
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Kia Ora Tatou
For the last two weeks I have been absent from school whilst travelling to Thailand and Tokyo. The purpose of my travels was to meet with agents and some of the schools who have sent students to study with us with the purpose of strengthening those relationships and rebuild our international student programme.
During my time in Bangkok I visited Saint Dominic’s School and met with the principal and also a number of the students who visited earlier this year. The students were excited and asked that I pass on best wishes to both students and their host families.
In both Thailand and Tokyo there was strong interest for South Otago High School to host groups of students and the feedback from teachers was that the school and community had provided unique opportunities for our international guests. Whilst we may think that we do not offer anything special, most urban schools in Asia have around 2000 students. The schools have no ‘green space’. The sports facilities may be on the ninth floor of a tower block. Many students will travel to school in packed subway trains for between 30minutes to an hour. In Tokyo, I met Mai who had visited us in term 1. It was her summer holiday and she was in school to study in the summer school.
What we offer, as our everyday life and experience is so vastly different from what out international students experience.
Photo’s from the visit to Saint Dominic’s School can be found by clicking here:
Past student success
Each year universities email to inform us of past students who have graduated. This last week we heard of the following graduates from Victoria University in Wellington. Congratulations to:
- Erana Heperi who graduated with PGCNS - PGCert in Nursing Science
- Kayleigh Wright who graduated with a BDI - Bachelor of Design Innovation, Communication Design, Industrial Design
Open Night
It was a pleasure to welcome prospective new students and their whanau to South Otago High School on Thursday evening. Thank you to all the student volunteers who gave up their time to be guides for the night. It was wonderful o meet so many prospective students and to share some of the success stories of our students.
Calf Scheme Thankyou event
On Wednesday evening it was great to meet a number of our local community who support the school through the calf scheme and also to share with them some of the work that is possible as a result of the financial support this provides to the school. It was a very good social event and I thoroughly enjoyed talking to our locals from the agriculture sector who support the school. Thank you to all who attended and I am already looking forward to next years event!
NCEA Option night
We are hosting our NCEA Option Night on 16 August commencing at 6pm. This is an important night for Year 10 students and their whanau to attend. It is also highly recommended for students in Y11 and 12 to attend as well. During the night we will be sharing information about the NCEA qualification and how students will be expected to achieve their relevant certificates in 2024 and beyond.
Finally
It is daunting to think that this time next week we will be half way through another term. Following the recent parent teacher interviews and with feedback provided from teachers I expect that students, with support from whanau will be focusing on what needs to be achieved to ensure success at the end of the year. For students who have not quite achieved their goals or maybe struggling with some aspects, it is not too late! Now is the time to ‘dig deep’, persevere, seek support and make a push to the finish line just a few months away!
Ka kite ano
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Recent News
Open Night 2023
We have had an awesome night tonight at SOHS hosting our visiting year 7/8 students and families . Thank you to our staff students and visitors. We look forward to seeing all our year 9 students in 2024. | |  |
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Reminders re: Cups, Trophies and Blue Nominations
It is time for 2022 Cups and Trophy recipients to dust off and polish the awarded cup or trophy and return to the school office by the end of the month. | |  |
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Year 13 History Trip
During the trip, all students showed unbelievable behaviour and demonstrated all of the school values! Really impressed with the attitudes and skill levels. | |  |
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Road Safety Programme
We are delighted that we have secured places for all Year 12 South Otago High School students to attend a road safety education day at Telford Polytechnic. | |  |
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Speech Competition Finals
On Wednesday we held our annual speech finals for Years 9-11. | |  |
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Week 4 Literacy Tip of the week
The next three weeks will look at different ways to summarise. | |  |
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