House Number 12 Completed.
The students and staff of the OHS Building and Construction School have successfully completed their 12th house. This is the 3rd that they have built for Kāinga Ora. | |  |
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Delicious!
Year 10 Food and Hospitality students have come a long way from when they first entered the kitchen to being able to produce some delicious food. | |  |
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Long-term International Students Homeward Bound.
Long-term International students are soon to complete their time in New Zealand and head to their homes in Japan, China, Germany, or The USA. | |  |
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Year 10 Camp- Fun and Laughter Guaranteed!
The Year 10 camp is for many students the highlight of their year and for some it is the highlight of their entire journey through OHS. | |  |
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Feeling the Blues.
The junior exams may be over, but the learning is forging ahead. For Year 10 Art students this means Pablo Picasso becomes their inspiration. | |  |
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The Life of Plants.
A visit to Year 9 Science classes this week will see students immersed in the world of plants. | |  |
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Auckland Junior Volleyball Championships.
The Auckland Junior Volleyball Championships are completed for 2024. | |  |
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NCEA Summer School
Enrol Now! Every year OHS offers NCEA summer school | |  |
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From the Board of Trustees 2024 has been a busy but productive year for the Board of Trustees. Having developed the school’s three-year Strategic Plan with the Senior Leadership Team at the end of last year, it has been inspiring for us, over the course of the year, to monitor the positive outcomes of the plan’s implementation.
The Board’s main focus has always been ensuring every student at Onehunga High School can achieve their full potential, wherever that lies, and our four primary strategic goals reflect that. With an approach of high aspirations for all students and a robust self-review process, our NCEA pass rates are predicted to increase significantly this year, in particularly for our Māori and Pasifika students.
The development of our school values and a focus on building connections and community has seen our students achieve across all fields this year, with Onehunga High firsts happening in sports and performing arts and many of our students representing the school at a national level. All our students’ achievements were celebrated at regular whole-school assemblies, inspiring other students to reach for their own goals, building pride in our school, and continually delivering the message that Onehunga High students can (and do!) achieve anything. It is also telling that our in-zone enrolments for next year are at the highest they have been in decades, showing that we are becoming the first-choice school for our local community.
The Board has been clear in its determination to keep Onehunga High School a safe environment for students and staff. We maintain a zero-tolerance stance on violence and bullying, alongside a strong commitment to fostering positive connections among students. As part of this effort, staff have been working with the University of Waikato to embed restorative practices, aimed at building and maintaining respectful relationships across the school.
It has been a busy year for the school property, with necessary standard maintenance as well as tidying, organising, and securing our grounds. For the current Board, our most notable achievement this year has been commissioning a masterplan, charting the development of the school grounds over the next 20–30 years, which will become our legacy to the school.
On behalf of the Onehunga High School Board of Trustees, we wish our entire school community a peaceful, relaxed, and happy summer, and we look forward to continuing the hard work to see our school grow and thrive in 2025.
![]()  ![]() Introducing our new Assistant Principals Our two new Assistant Principals will be joining us at the start of 2025.
KAREN BELLIS
Ms. Karen Bellis brings a wealth of experience and proven leadership to OHS, with 28 years of teaching and leadership in both New Zealand and UK schools. Most recently, she served as Head of Drama and Dean at Rosmini College, Auckland. Her leadership roles have also included Pasifika Mentor, Kāhui Ako In-School Lead, and work with NZQA developing and marking national-level NCEA Drama materials.
This year, Karen was awarded a TeachNZ sabbatical, during which she completed an undergraduate paper in Media and Communication and conducted a survey on programmes offered to provisionally registered teachers.
At her previous school, Karen played a key role in planning and implementing the Hauora Mātauranga Programme for Year 11-13 students. This programme provided support for students' academic and personal well-being, including study skills, future pathways, careers guidance, self-awareness, resilience, and health education.
Karen has immersed herself in the extracurricular life of her schools, offering activities designed to foster students' creativity and personal growth. This includes establishing and running an Academy of Performing Arts since 2017—a drama-based programme that has been hugely popular with both junior and senior students in the local community. Other extracurricular activities she has led include facilitating theatresports, managing Under-15 rugby, and serving as the teacher in charge of SCUBA diving.
In her spare time, Karen enjoys visiting the theatre, scuba diving and volunteering with the coastguard in Māngere.
MATT HAINES
Mr. Matt Haines brings 15 years of teaching and leadership experience to OHS, having worked in a diverse range of secondary schools across Auckland, including Macleans College, Ōtāhuhu College, Mount Albert Grammar, and St Kentigern College.
This year, Matt was awarded a TeachNZ Study Award and has been focusing full-time on completing his Master of Educational Leadership. This postgraduate study has deepened his understanding of leadership practices that bring out the best in others, foster a positive culture, and drive meaningful improvement.
Matt’s extensive experience includes Growth Coaching through The Education Group, NCEA external marking for Level 2 and Level 3, participation in the Growing Great Leaders Programme by the University of Auckland Centre for Educational Leadership, and training for primary and secondary appraisers.
He is also involved in extracurricular activities and has coached rugby, volleyball, debating, and badminton, fostering teamwork and personal growth among students.
A long-time local, Matt grew up in Royal Oak, and Onehunga has always been close to his heart. His family is well-known in the community; his father, Colin Haines, founded the iconic local business Ollies, which remains family-owned today.
We are excited to welcome both Matt and Karen to the OHS Senior Leadership Team for 2025.
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Sports HighlightsOHS ON THE WORLD STAGE
The FIBA U15 Women’s Oceania Cup had an OHS presence, with Year 10 student Kakala Ofanoa playing a vital role as Tonga claimed the bronze medal over Samoa. Kakala's strength lies in her defensive play; she led the team in rebounds and was ranked 5th overall in the tournament. She also led her team in blocks (2nd overall), ranked 3rd in team points scored (19th overall), and was 2nd in team efficiency (11th overall).
FIBA Player Stats: Kakala Ofanoa
JUNIOR VOLLEYBALL - AUCKLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS
Onehunga High School's Junior Boys and Girls teams competed in the Auckland Championships from 13–15 November. The Junior A Girls faced a challenging start but turned their campaign around to finish 4th in Division 3 (36th overall). The Junior A Boys had a strong run, progressing to Division 1 and finishing an impressive 4th overall.
Year 10 student Nui Tixier was named in the Junior Boys Tournament Team.
Both teams will contest the North Island Junior Volleyball Tournament this week.
GIRLS 9-ASIDE T20 CRICKET
Two consecutive wins have resulted in a three-way tie for 1st place in Pool A of the Girls' 9-aside T20 competition. A strong run rate will hopefully secure the team’s advancement through the tiebreaker.
Nov 17: OHS 170/0 (Esther Williams 107*, Ocean Dawber 51); Mt Roskill Grammar 68 all out (Tonga Fakatava 5/12). OHS wins by 102 runs.
Nov 20: OHS 147/4 (*Esther Williams 78, Ocean Dawber 37); Lynfield College 92 all out (Tonga Fakatava 4/11, Mele Fakatava 4 catches). OHS wins by 54 runs.
JUNIOR FUTSAL WEST
Our three OHS Junior Futsal teams are performing exceptionally well this term. Both Junior Boys teams currently top their pools heading into the final round, while the Junior Girls team is in 2nd place.
JUNIOR WATERPOLO
The Junior Mixed Water Polo team has finished pool play in 7th place and will now contest the Junior C Plate Championship. The team has shown significant growth each week. With the increasing popularity of the sport in primary and intermediate schools, it will be exciting to see its continued development at OHS as new students join in the coming years.
    From Careers Mrs. Shaw, our Careers Advisor, is busy helping students prepare for tertiary study and employment, and is available to assist students and whānau right through to their first lecture or day on the job! Students are welcome to email her over the summer on: [email protected]
An important reminder that all tertiary students will need to pay fees for tertiary study next year, prior to their course beginning, and applications for student loans or allowances through Studylink need to be submitted before 16 December. Navigating the current job market can be tough, and on the Careers Google Classroom page (Phkqwg7), there are tools to help students, and highly recommended also is the School leavers toolkit https://school-leavers-toolkit.education.govt.nz/en/
Beginning 2025, OHS looks forward to launching a new Careers platform which will offer lots of careers information, news, events and guidance - all in the one place!
  NCEA Summer School - Enrol Now!
These courses will give you the literacy requirements for some jobs and for further study. We will register you on the NZQA website. In order to fulfill the literacy requirements for University Entrance you must have 5 credits at Level 2 or higher in Reading and 5 credits at Level 2 or higher in Writing. These courses are designed for students who would like to complete or gain literacy credits/UE Entrance.
If you are interested in enrolling please complete the form (see link below) and send to Maryam Taghavi [email protected].
https://onehungahigh.ibcdn.nz/media/2024_10_16_ncea-dle-brochure-2024.pdf
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