Newsletter
10 May 2024
Tēnā koutou, ki te whānau o Onehunga High School
Thanks again to our wonderful community for your support of our students, staff and school. It was great to meet so many of you across this week at the Parent-Teacher Interviews. There was a significant increase in the number of parents attending the interviews and we thank you for supporting your child’s learning at OHS.
Staff have been impressed with student motivation and focus. The Academic Council’s launch of the new homework / study space in week 4 is a student-led initiative to support all learners. We also have a number of extra tutorials on offer, which have been shared with your child, this information is in the 'Take It Up’ document.
On another positive note, the Term 1 attendance was 88%. This is a commendable increase for the school. We thank you for your support to ensure students are at school every day and on time - it is definitely making a difference. Like I have said previously, students need to be at school in order to experience success.
It is always great to note OHS students excelling in so many arenas:
- Congratulations Xavier White in Year 9 for winning the North Island Orienteering title for Junior Boys.
- Five students attended the World Vision conference this week. They impressed everyone with their maturity, humility and intelligent approach to problem solving.
- Congratulations to Year 10 Charlotte Scott for coming first in the U16 Auckland Mountain Bike series girls’ competition and also to Year 11 Olivia Clark for coming third in the U17 category.
As a school we have so much to be proud of!
Have a wonderful weekend
Shameen Hayat
PRINCIPAL
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From the Board of Trustees
Kia ora koutou
In light of last week's incident, we know that our community has been working through a range of emotions. We thought it would be reassuring to affirm that student safety and wellbeing is the Board's first priority. We remain committed to creating a safe, settled school environment, where our students can thrive and focus on achieving their full potential. The Board has a zero-tolerance policy on all forms of violence and bullying and have dealt with any instances with the same consistent message.
This term the school has a focus on the value of resilience, the definition of which is the ability to withstand adversity and to bounce back from difficult events. We encourage any students or whānau who need support, to please contact your dean, or the school counselling service, all contacts are available in the website directory.
As a Board we will focus on keeping open communications and maintaining a safe and settled school environment.
Onehunga High School Board of Trustees
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Young Navigators Challenge Young Entrepreneurs to Solve Problems.
Congratulations Magdalene Iremia-Apelu 13DW and Beni Mafi 13Dw for being selected and completing the Young Enterprise Scheme, Young Navigators Challenge in Auckland during the holidays. | |  |
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Parliamentary Visit for Fakatoukatea Tongan Leadership Group
A group of Year 13 Tongan students, graduates of the Fakatoutakea Programme had the privilege of visiting Parliament on Wednesday. | |  |
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Great Win For Young Rugby League Talent
Up and coming rugby league star Joseph Radcliffe is living his dream playing for the Warriors U17 team, who had an historic win recently in Australia. | |  |
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Magdalene and TJ Awarded All Expenses Paid Trip to Otago University.
Congratulations to Magdalene Ieremia-Apelu 13Dw and TJ Gaogao 13Lu who have been awarded scholarships to attend the POCE, Pacific On Campus Experience at Otago University. | |  |
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Dance Programme Ignites Creativity
During week one of term, we were fortunate to have several dance professionals come in to teach our dance classes different genres of dance, to extend their perspective on what dance can look like. | |  |
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Past Pupils Group Proud to Be OHS Alumni
The 2024 OHS Past Pupils Group met last term at a truly enjoyable and entertaining first meeting. This was a group who met like old friends, reflecting the spirit of OHS. | |  |
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Andrew Inspired by Spirit of Adventure
Andrew Harvey 13Kr made the most of every opportunity, offered on the Spirit of Adventure sailing trip. | |  |
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Thought Provoking Drama Inspires Self-Reflection.
Last Friday Level 1, 2 and 3 Drama students went to see a devised piece of theatre called ‘I Love You G’, put on by members of the Massive Theatre Company at Te Pou Theatre in Henderson. | |  |
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Alec Insley Continues His Winning Ways.
Alec Insley 13 KR is one of the rising stars of New Zealand Midget car racing. He has an impressive 7 podium finishes in this season’s racing. He recently achieved 1st place in the BT Race 4 Mates event and in the Gold Cup. Off the track he must be an ambassador for his sponsors, has public speaking… | |  |
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Students Shine at World Vision Conference.
Nathan Marshall 10Gr, Semelisi Taufahema 12Foss, Hannah Hamilton-Ralph 13To, Natajsha Lui 13Kr and Rylee Williams 13Co accompanied by Ms Natalya French recently attended the World Vision Conference. Ms French was very impressed by the wisdom of our students. | |  |
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After-school Study Space
Homework Centre to support learning starting week 4 of this term | |  |
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Stars In Their Eyes !
Last week of term saw the Battle of The Bands ignite much anticipation for break time at OHS. Senior music students, who had worked extremely hard on their various acts were ready to perform for a very enthusiastic and supportive audience in the school hall. | |  |
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Sport News
Winter sport is underway at Onehunga High School. Team training has started and competitions will begin over the next week or two for all codes. We have teams competing across eight codes and a number of students competing in individual sports like orienteering, mountain biking, motorsport and cross country to name a few.
The OHS Sport Department wants to promote participation in sports across the student body, so if you are interested in being involved in a sport please see our new Director of Sport, Scott Collins ([email protected]) to get started.
Notable areas of sporting success are:
- At the end of term 1, our Senior Girls 1st XI won their promotion match vs Glendowie College, which sealed their return to the Auckland Secondary School Premier Grade for the first time in 10 years. While the season has started with two defeats the team, comprised of a combination of strong Y9 students mixed with the experienced returning seniors, is aiming to retain their spot in the highest grade for 2024. The First XI have also gained automatic entry to the National Championships.
- During the holidays Xavier White added the North Island Orienteering title for Junior Boys in both the sprint and long distance events. His long distance time was of note as his winning time was 7.41 minutes ahead of the next competitor. Xavier’s next event will be his trial for the NZ Schools team to compete in Australia.
- As mentioned above, Olivia Clark and Charlotte Scott competed in the Auckland MTB Series over the weekend. Olivia finished 3rd in the U17 Girls, while Charlotte finished 1st in the U16 Girls.
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Adult Education
The Adult Learning Centre has had a busy week with Term 2 classes starting. It has been great to see our community coming into the school on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night to take advantage of the wide range of courses we have available. Hands-on courses, along with languages, have continued to be popular with crochet and sewing in particular having a big resurgence.
We are looking forward to having our first set of Saturday workshops on May 18th. There are still courses available that start later in the term – explore our website www.adultlearn.co.nz to find out more.
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