South Otago High School News

2nd February 2024 Newsletter

Kia Ora Tatou

Welcome to the first newsletter for 2024 as we finish the first full week of the school year. It has been a pleasure to welcome our new Year 9 students to South Otago High School with our mihi whakatau on Tuesday morning. It was also been great to see so many students returning to their studies in both Year 12 and 13. In particular we have one of our largest Year 13 for several years.

Mihi Whakatau
As we do each year, on Tuesday we welcomed our new Year 9 students and new staff to South Otago High School with a mihi whakatau. This year we struggled to get everyone into the school hall for the event as we have an increase in enrolments and significant building work taking place. However, despite these issue students were greeted with a rousing haka performed by the whole school. A number of people have comments that it was the best that they have heard from the students and I would have to agree. A video has been posted to the school facebook page and I believe that it has been viewed 9000 times with a lot of positive feedback.

A significant change was this year having a student as a speaker for the tangata whenua (hosts). This year Rashaun Melvin took up this role and spoke confidently and with poise and presence. Rashaun is to be congratulate for his preparation and performance for this event.

NCEA results
We are currently reviewing our Draft NCEA results from 2023. Our success is close to what we had expected but it was pleasing to see an increase in the percentage of students gaining their NCEA certificate with a Merit or Excellence endorsement. Of particular note is the 11.8% of NCEA L1 with Excellence, up from 5.4% in 2022 and 23.7% with Merit up from 17.4% in 2022.

We expect that NZQA will finalise all results in March and we will complete our analysis and provide further feedback in the future.

Student success
As well as students enjoying success in NCEA in the last month, I am aware that a number of students have also enjoyed success as a number of events and activities since the end of the 2023 school year.

Touch Nationals competition
At the end of Term 4 a group of students travelled to Rotorua to compete in Touch Nationals. With over 40 teams competing South Otago High School were placed seventh at the end of the tournament equalling the schools best ever results. Most of the team will be returning to school for 2024 and will be a solid foundation for the 2024 event should they decide to enter.
Rodeo, bull riding

During the summer Kade Semmens (Y12) competed in bull riding competitions and has now been selected to compete in the New Zealand Trans Tasman Youth Team. This is a significant achievement and especially as Kade only recently took up the sport. We wish Kade well for his future competitions and I hope to be reporting further successes in the newsletter in the future.

Former student moving to US for studies in 2024
During the holiday I received notification that last year’s co-dux, Ryan Williams, had been accepted into Dartmouth College, an ivy league university in the United States. On Wednesday morning (31 January) Ryan and one other student were interviewed on the TVNZ Breakfast programme. Both Ryan and his fellow student spoke well. In particular were Ryan’s closing comments that by working hard it is possible to achieve your dreams and that going to school in rural New Zealand should not be seen as a barrier to achieving those dreams. We wish Ryan well for his studies which commence later this year.

The interview can be seen at TVNZ on demand and played at 07:45. A link to the programme is available for this next week: Watch Breakfast S2024E8 | TVNZ+

Cell phones, ‘Away for the day’ consultation
Last week a letter was sent to whanau of all our enrolled students which provided a link to the consultation document regarding the Government mandate that students are to have their phones ‘away for the day’.

Whilst I accept that this mandate may not be to everyone’s liking it is a requirement for Boards of all schools to prepare a policy in consultation with their community. School Boards cannot ignore this mandate and as soon as possible there will be a policy established requiring students to put away their phone for the duration of the school day, from 08:40 until 3:10pm.

If you would like to have your say about the establishment of this policy then please do complete the survey which can be found here.

This survey will close on Monday 5 February at 3pm

School attendance
Whilst it has been great to see excellent attendance on the first few days of the new school year I would like to encourage whanau to maintain positive attendance for their child. Every day at school is important. As parents/caregivers you have an important role to play in encouraging your child to go to school each day and being relentlessly positive about school and getting an education. Please avoid taking your child out of school for holidays during school time but if it is absolutely necessary then please email the principal requesting permission.

Finally
As this first week draws to a close I know that students will be tired going into the weekend. This is normal as it is quite often a change in routine after the long summer break! It is the same for myself and teachers too! Next week is a short week with Tuesday being Waitangi Day. However, students are expected in school ready to learn on Monday morning. Year 9 students will also be having a day at Greenpark next week and we expect every Yar 9 student to participate as it is a fun day of activities.

Ka kite ano

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If you have any questions or concerns about how things are going for your child at South Otago High School there are people that can help.

Student Support: Peer Support Leadership

On Monday our Year 13 leaders completed the second of their training days and spent time welcoming and supporting Year 9 students.

Application for Transport Assistance

Students may be eligible for school transport assistance if they live 4.8km or more from the school and this is their closest school. If you think you are eligible please contact John Douglas at the school.