Term 1 - Week 1
Tēnā koutou,
Ngā mihi o te tau hou! Happy New Year to all our community!
We are looking forward to seeing all of our students next week. See our facebook page and website for more information regarding start dates.
This first newsletter for the year speaks to the new requirement of all state and state-integrated schools to have cell phone rules in use in 2024.
Thank you to everyone who responded to the Taupō Schools Phone survey sent out at the end of 2023. We had 473 responses to the survey overall. 57.5% of respondents said they would support a total ban of phones in schools, while 42.5% said they would not support a total ban of phones in schools. The comments were almost unanimous about supporting a phone ban during learning time, however, there were mixed opinions on having a total ban during all school hours.
Recently, the principals of Taupō Intermediate, Tauhara College and Taupo-nui-a-Tia College held a hui to discuss a common approach to one part of the new government’s 100-day plan - requiring all state and state-integrated schools and kura to have cell phone rules in use. These rules must be in use as soon as possible in Term 1 2024 and no later than Term 2 2024. The requirement from the government is that phones are, ‘away for the day,’ meaning cell phones either do not come with the student to school, or are switched off and left in bags or lockers during the full school day - this includes break times.
Our preference is that phones do not come to school with students, however, if your child does require a phone to contact you for after school purposes, they will need to adhere to the requirement above. If a parent or caregiver needs to contact their child urgently during the day, they should call the office.
Since our incoming Year 9 students are used to not having their phones during the school day, they can continue the practice of dropping their phone off to the main office each morning.
Although all three of our schools have current cell phone rules in place to some extent, this type of requirement from the government is new to all of us and it will take a bit of time to get things working smoothly. There are a couple of exemptions which schools must allow for. See below.
Schools must allow students to use or access a phone when:
a phone is needed for health reasons (for example, to monitor insulin levels); or
a phone is needed to help a student with a disability or learning support need (for example, to assist with impaired communication);
Please communicate with your child’s Dean if your child needs their phone for one of the categories above. Where appropriate the student will be issued an exemption pass.
During Term 1, the intention of all three schools who have contributed to this communication is to run a comprehensive education programme on the expectations we have of our students regarding phones away for the day. The education programme will include aspects of digital citizenship, choices and consequences, as well as what breaches of cell phone rules will include. It is likely it will take a little bit of time for the students and staff to get used to this new requirement.
It is important to note that if students do make the decision to bring a cellphone to the school grounds, they do so at their own risk. The school is not responsible for any loss or damage caused to any cell phone. If students are using their phones inappropriately during lessons we will continue with our usual process of the phone being removed and taken to the office to be picked up by whānau at the end of the school day.
As we navigate this requirement from the government we will continue to review and adapt our processes in this space.
Ngā mihi
Ben Claxton
PRINCIPAL
|
