27 October 2023 Newsletter

Kia Ora Tatou

I trust that everyone had a good long weekend and enjoyed the warmer weather. Sadly that has not continued to the end of the week. It was something of a surprise to see snow on the ground at home this morning!!

Senior study leave
This week we have been finalising which students will be gaining study leave next week and who will be required to attend school to finish gaining the necessary credits to be assured of gaining their NCEA certificate this year. For students who are on study leave this is also a time when they can come into school to meet with teachers with what would have been their normal class time and have additional support and help with their preparation for NCEA external assessments.

I am enormously appreciative of the commitment that teachers have already made to providing students with additional support throughout the year already. This is one feature that I believe is special about South Otago High School.

Hui Ako
On Wednesday evening I had the pleasure of attending the Hui Ako, a celebration of the different cultures that make up our community. It was good to see so many young people from our local primary and secondary schools performing with such enthusiasm.

I was particularly proud of the South Otago High School kapa haka group who had such a high quality
performance. I was equally proud of the first public performance of our Samoan cultural group.
There performance was the session with the greatest public support and filled the venue sound and
energy! Thank you to Salu for supporting our students with this great performance.

Senior prize giving
On Tuesday evening we will be holding our annual senior prize giving event and will be re-locating to the Hub for the event. I am looking forward to acknowledging our students’ achievements for the year. I believe that we will have a very full house so I recommend whanau to arrive early for the event to secure a seat.

Business as usual
With the departure of the senior students on Tuesday for the end of their year, I would like to remind whanau that for year 9 and 10 students it is business as usual and there are still another nearly six weeks of teaching and learning. We have same high expectations for students at the end of the year as we have had at the start of the year.

Finally
This week the senior leadership met with our evaluation partner from the Education Review Office (ERO). Whilst they do not provide an interim report during their three year cycle of evaluation, they have provided feedback on the work which has been undertaken this year. (This is the end of the first year of the three year cycle) Since the start of the year the Senior Leadership Team have moved to a new development model. The feedback from this change has been very complimentary and ERO has said that there has been very good progress against our strategic goals. They have said that we have exceeded expectations. The work undertaken is all aimed at improving student outcomes and achievement and this feedback is highly valued!

Ka kite ano

Recent News

2023/2024 Cricket Season Underway View More   Confucius Mandarin prize winners at the prizegiving ceremony in Dunedin on Thursday. Congratulations to the prizegiving group. View More   Year 12 hospitality Class makes Lavosh View More

NCEA Admission Slips

There was an error in the admission slips handed to the students on Wednesday. Corrected admission slips will be handed to the students on Monday next week.

Upcoming Dates for Term 4 2023

• Tuesday 31st October Last day Seniors/Senior Prizegiving 7pm
• Monday 6th November NCEA Exams begin
• Monday 13th – Friday 17th November OSS Junior Sports Week
• Wednesday 22nd –Monday  27th November Junior Exams
• Thursday 30th November End of NCEA Exams
• Monday 4th -Tuesday 5th December Junior Activity Days
• Wednesday 6th December Ki O Rahi
• Thursday7th December Last Day Term 4/ Junior Prizegiving