From the Principal

Kia ora koutou,

We have now had 4 weeks of the new timetable where the junior students are in homerooms and are located in the Collins Road campus and the seniors are located in the Mountain View campus. With the reduced movement around the school we are pleased to report that the school is a lot more settled.

ATTENDANCE MATTERS

Research shows that attendance at school is closely linked to achievement. Please take that seriously.
The Ministry of Education has defined regular attendance as being 90% attendance. Congratulations to those people who are attending regularly and achieving well
At Mangakotukutuku we are taking attendance seriously. A number of you will have received emails or letters outlining that your students are well below 90%. Whaea Karen Handley, whom some of you will know from the Intermediate days, is doing a thorough check on attendance and will be contacting you to see what we can do to improve the attendance for your students. This is an issue that we all need to work together on.
IF YOU ARE IN CLASS YOU CAN PASS

NCEA
Please check with your students how many credits they have. As a refresher -
Year 11 need 60 credits plus 10 credits each from literacy and numeracy - a total of 80 credits.
Year 12 need 60 credits
Year 13 need 60 credits and for University they need to have 3 subjects with 14 credits each.

We are noticing that several students are well behind that. What we are proposing is that the senior students do not leave school after the 4 weeks of next term when they would normally leave but that they stay on until December in their normal classes and complete the credits they require to finish their qualification.
I am pleased to say that the senior students I have spoken to are very agreeable to that happening.

In Week 9 of this term the Year 11 students will be sitting their literacy and Numeracy assessments (which make up the 20 extra credits ) and the students who are sitting external exams will be completing mock exams.

UNIFORM
MANGAKOTUKUTUKU College has a very smart uniform and most of the students are wearing it with pride. Please ensure that your students are in uniform when they leave you in the morning. If you are struggling to purchase parts of the uniform then please let us know - we can support you with that.

Have a wonderful week.

Barbara Cavanagh
Acting Principal-Tumuaki

Science Learning

Year 9 Science students have been involved in investigating state change as water changes from solid to liquid and liquid to gas.

Students did an amazing job of following the instructions and setting up the equipment and recording the results. Students also made inferences in the end to consolidate the learning.

Year 10 Science students have been learning about the different ways that mixtures can be separated. These students successfully separated a mixture of sand, iron and salt.

Careers Expo

On the 1st of August we hosted our very first Careers Expo. This was a fantastic opportunity for our Senior students to meet tertiary education providers and representatives from various other industry training organisations. Students were able to ask questions and try their hand at various activities. For many of our students this experience has enabled them to start thinking about where they would like to head when they leave school.

Sarah Hamilton
Director of Pathways

School Library Week

Many students took part in fun activities and borrowed books. According to student votes, the most popular book was "One Piece," followed by "Hobbit," "Heartstopper," and "Amulet." I've also created a word cloud for your reference. I appreciate that many students participated in these activities and enjoyed reading in the library.

Fiona Fan
School Librarian

Reminders

1. Junior testing for Year 7, 8, 9 and 10 is coming up in Weeks 6 & 7.

2. Common Assessment Activities for Literacy and Numeracy will take place in Week 9.

3. All students should have their mobile phones in a Yondr pouch for the duration of each day.

4. The Gallagher's Aquatic Centre carpark is out of bounds for all students.