Term 1 - Week 8
Tēnā koutou,
This week, we have had our French sister school students visiting us - they are from a school called Saint Marie du port from the town of Les Sables D’olonne. During assemblies this week, these students were able to share a little bit of their culture with us. A couple of videos from their town and school are here if you wanted to find out more. We have planned a reciprocal trip in 2026 to take some of our students to see their school and region.
1_Teaser vidéo version GB _Ici c'est Les Sables d'Olonne_.mp4
2_Lycée Sainte Marie du Port 2023.mp4
Unfortunately, our stock of long-term loan devices has run out. We are a bring your own device (BYOD) school and the students utilise laptops on a daily basis. It is important that your child has a laptop and is bringing it to school every day. With Easter on the horizon there are likely to be sales for this type of technology, so if your child does not currently have a device, please support us and your child by purchasing a device for them.
Very soon, we will be sending out attendance letters for every student in the school. There will be two types of letters going out to parents/caregivers and whānau - one will be for students who are attending regularly (90% or above) and the other will be for students who are currently attending below 90%. We are under increasing pressure from the Ministry of Education to address students’ low attendance rates, so it is important we keep attendance on the radar. There may be valid reasons why a student may be currently attending lower than 90%, but we are generating these attendance letters for everyone in the school.
One of the things I love to do - originally being a teacher myself - is to get out into classrooms to see the wonderful teaching and learning going on. This morning, I spent period 1 walking through some classrooms - in our design and innovation block, talking with students and teachers. This is what I observed:
- Year 11 students analysing trials of different foods they had made
- Year 12 & Year 13 students working collaboratively making hot cross buns to analyse the outcome (I was given one, and it was delicious!)
- Year 11 students completing amazing work with wood to create high-quality chopping boards, cheese platters, and serving platters
- Year 12 students planning and creating innovative ideas, concepts, products to market and sell for our enterprise course
- Year 13 students in engineering working towards making their own motorbikes
As you can see, we have amazing opportunities for students at Taupo-nui-a-Tia College (and this is just a snapshot of one area) and I am proud of the pathways we are creating for students.
Our new model for Whānau interviews will continue into next week. We have two more opportunities for you to meet with whānau teachers next week:
Monday, 31 March, 3:30pm - 4:30pm - Face-to-face interview
Wednesday, 2 April, 3:30pm - 4:30pm - Online Google Meet interview
School Reports have been sent out to coincide with our whānau interviews to guide whānau/teacher conversations.
Bookings will close at 3pm on the school day prior to the scheduled appointments.This is an opportunity to meet with whānau teachers and discuss pastoral, extra-curricular and academic goals. It is always a valuable time to co-construct progress and future learning steps, so we strongly encourage you to attend. You will have received an email with instructions on how to book an interview. If you encounter any difficulties, please do not hesitate to contact the school. We are looking forward to seeing many of you at these times over the next two weeks.
This term’s policies are up for community review. If you would like to provide feedback on these policies, please go to www.schooldocs.co.nz and log in with our community username: taupocollege and community password: 3330
Also, we updated our concerns and complaints procedure to align with our policy on SchoolDocs. You can view the procedure here.
We have opted into the school donations scheme. More information about this scheme can be found here.
An early heads up for Friday 11 April (last day of term 1) - there will be no school buses to and from Taupo-nui-a-Tia College on this day. Alternative arrangements will need to be made for students who usually utilise the bus service. Apologies for the inconvenience this may cause.
Have an awesome weekend!
Ngā mihi
Ben Claxton
PRINCIPAL Sporting News
Upcoming events:
Thursday 3rd April - McQuilken Cup -1st XV Boys + 7s Girls, Owen Delany Park
Coaches Wanted – Join Our Team at Taupo-nui-a-Tia College!
With only a few weeks left in Term 1, we are still looking for Netball, Rugby (U14) and Hockey coaches to support our teams! If you or someone you know is passionate about coaching and developing young athletes, we'd love to hear from you.
Contact: Nicole Dickins – [email protected]
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