1st August 2025 Newsletter |
It has been another exceptionally busy but exciting week. The highlight for me was being able to attend the school production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on Tuesday evening. The student performances were excellent and I am always impressed by their abilities in song, dance and performance as well as their confidence on stage. There are too many people to congratulate for their participation both on stage and back stage but I would like to extend my thanks to all who took part and gave up their time to prepare for the show. Thank you also to the parents and fellow students who came along to see the show too. I hope that you enjoyed it as much as I did.
Whare Ako
Just over a year ago the Board started to consider the building of a whare which would be funded by the Board and provide an onsite learning environment for both Māori and Pakeha and a focal point of the school for learning and practice of tikanga Māori. Since then, a significant amount of work has been undertaken and after 6 months of construction I had the opportunity to visit the Big River Homes site where our students are building the whare. It was also my pleasure to be showing the principal of another school and a representative from Ministry of Education what our students are doing. It was my first opportunity to step inside the partially built whare. It is going to be a great addition to the school and batter than I had imagined.
The guests were very impressed and I am very proud of what our students are achieving and the opportunity for them to leave a legacy of their education which will benefit others for years to come. We anticipate that the Whare Ako will be located on site early in 2026.
WiFi, phones and canteen
This week the school has had a Ministry of Education funded upgrade of internet access for both staff and students. For periods of time we also lost our phone connection and also the EFTPOS access in the canteen. This has caused some disruption which has been kept to a minimum. We are anticipating that this work will be completed by the end of Friday and we will have improved connectivity throughout the school.
ERO Cell phone survey
This week the Education Review Office have contacted all schools in New Zealand requesting that we share a link to a survey regarding the Government ‘Phones Away for the Day’ policy that has been operation for over a year now. Students will be asked to complete their survey early next week. Below is a link for parents to complete and it would be appreciated if you could please provide feedback. All responses are anonymous and will be received by ERO not the school:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/phones-away-for-the-day-parents
BoT recruitment
Elections for Board of Trustee representatives are currently open. This is an important and supportive role to the function of the school. Parents who are interested in joining the Board can nominate themselves or may nominate an individual. An election may be called if there are more nominations than vacancies on the Board of Trustees. If you are interested in becoming a Board member please contact the Board Secretary, Maxine Agnew: [email protected]
School policies
During the last year the Board have been working to make the school policies more accessible to the public. This work has now been completed and all school policies are now available from the school website via a link to School Docs. To access the policies you will need to use the following username and password:
Username: sohs
Password: clutha
Our school website is being changed to provide the username and password for our community to use ion the future.
SOAP Breakfast
Next week we will be hosting our annual SOAP breakfast for Years 9 and 10. This event celebrates the individual achievement of students who are achieving based upon the potential and performing above expectation. I am looking forward to meeting students and whanau and acknowledging their success at this breakfast next Friday morning. This event will be catered for by the Kapa Haka group as part of their fund raising activities.
Finally
Whilst we like to celebrate student achievements, we also like to recognise our staff in their endeavours as well. So, we wish Mr Leather all the best as he represents Otago in the New Zealand Cross Country Championships in Christchurch on Saturday.
Have a good weekend
Ka kite ano |
Recent News
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Our cast and crew worked super hard to rehearse and perform a fantasmagorical performance of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang! | |  |
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Chainsaw Course
A group of students attended a chainsaw course in the last school holidays. | |  |
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Māruawai Winter Interchange
Fabulous day to have our annual interchange. Many thanks to our staff, coaches, managers, umpire’s, referees and our students. Thank you to Miss Brown and her team for the food. | |  |
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