South Otago High School News

2023 Newsletter

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6th April 2023 Newsletter

Kia Ora Tatou

This is the final newsletter of the term and brings to a close the end of a long first term. Whilst it has been good to have a more settled start to the year than we have had in the past few years I am also aware that both students and staff have completed a lot  of work during the first eleven weeks of the school year. There have been the Greenpark days, Tautuku camp, The Spirit voyage for Y10 students, curriculum trips for Geography, PE, Outdoor Education and Science. Many summer sports have finished their season and training has started for many of the winter sports codes. We have also had our school athletics day and the Cultural exchange to Roxburgh.

For senior students they are approximately one third of the way through their school year. Many will have credits towards their NCEA certificate. For Year 10 students I would expect that they have a number of credits towards the literacy and numeracy requirements.

With so much happening it is no surprise that as the term draws to a close both staff and students are feeling weary. This week I encouraged students to make a plan to use their holiday time wisely. I know, as teenagers, getting up in a morning is a struggle! I have suggested that students should have a plan to motivate them to get up, get out and enjoy their vacation time. This could be getting up to meet a friend to go for a walk, bike ride or just catch up on line. By far the best is for students to get outside and make the most of the daylight hours.

NCEA Achievement
It is good to finish the term with a reflection on the 2022 student achievement for students who completed NCEA. For students who worked towards NCEA, South Otago High School students performed well above the national mean for all schools and also for school of equivalent background at NCEA L1, 2 and 3. This is a reflection upon the student efforts and the support provided by teachers throughout the year.

These results also follow the trend for student achievement for the last five years. 

Worthy of special mention is that of huge shift in student achievement for Maori at NCEA L1 which has followed a trend over the last three years of improvement to be over 20% above the national statistics in 2022.

ANZAC Assembly
With the new term starting on Monday 24 April we are going to host our annual ANZAC Assembly at 10am on the 24 April. Parents and whanau are welcome to join this event. Please note that Tuesday 25 April is ANZAC Day and the school will be closed for the day.

Teacher only day
Under the direction of the Ministry of Education, the school will be closed for instruction on Friday 5 May. This is to allow teachers to engage in professional development to support the development of NCEA and the refreshed New Zealand Curriculum.

Rapid Antigen Test kits
Last week I shared that the school has been given a number of cartons of RAT’s which are due to expire in May 2023. These are available to families of students who may wish to pick a box of test kits from the school office. We still have a number of boxes which we can provide to members of our community. NB please do not come to the school office for a test kit if you are feeling unwell.

Industrial action in Term2
This week the school has been advised that industrial action by teachers in support of their pay claim may be changing with effect from the start of term 2. The industrial action will include strategies such as:

  • Continued relief ban
  • No meetings outside the hours of 08:30 and 4:30pm
  • Strike action
  • Rostering of year groups home


When this industrial action is scheduled to take place we will notify our community as soon as possible after receiving the formal notification.

Finally
Do have a great Easter and I hope that you all manage to have a break at least over the long weekend. Fingers crossed that the weather is good and we can all enjoy the last of the summer warmth!

Ka kite ano

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Well done to our athletes who competed in the South Island Secondary School Triathlon in Wanaka over the past couple of days.

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Thai Student Visit

Over the last couple of weeks, we have had a visiting group of Thai students and teacher at SOHS. Today we visited the beautiful Catlins.

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Tokomairiro Waiora Holiday Programmes 2023

All equipment , costs and group arrangements are covered by us, pop in for more info and a registration form!

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