UPPER HUTT COLLEGE NEWSLETTER Upper Hutt College Newsletter 30 JULY 2018 Kia ora Parents and Caregivers Upcoming Events Welcome to Term 3. Monday 23 July – Start of Term3 This is one of the busiest terms of the year, especially for senior students whose Friday 27 Japanese Immersion Day focus should be well and truly on ensuring they are well-prepared to manage the Monday 30 – Friday 3 August assessments and learning that will be taking place. For those students – junior and International Languages Week senior – who would like some extra assistance with their learning, we do run a Tuesday 31 July- Wednesday 1 August – OED201 Mountain Bike Trip (1) Homework Club every day after school in the Library. All welcome! Thursday 2 August - World Food Day, Senior Parent-Teacher interviews Last term the college was pleased to have ERO visit to conduct their external Friday 3 - Olympics of the Mind (1) evaluation of the school. They are interested in what’s working well, how we have Wednesday 2-3 August OED Mountain performed since their last visit 3 years ago, and what improvements can be made. Bike Trip (2) Over 7 school days, they visited classrooms, spoke with the board, staff and Monday 6 - Mental Health Awareness students and looked at a great number of documents. The visit was very positive Week and we are currently looking at the unconfirmed (draft) report. The final report Tuesday 7 - Olympics of the Mind (2) should be completed towards the end of August and I look forward to sharing that Wednesday 8 - Careers Evening with our school community. Thursday 9 - PISA Testing Monday 13 - Year 12 Drama Production As the year moves on, we are keen to start the planning for 2019 and this is best Thursday 16 - Sports & Cultural Photos done when we have a clear idea of how many students we will have. If you, or Friday 17 - PED102 Rock Climbing Trip anyone you know, still need to complete the enrolment forms for newly enrolling Monday 20 - Cancer Awareness Week, Year 9 students, we would welcome these as soon as possible. Enrolment forms can Stage Art be found here, or contact Kirsten Hicks in the Office for further information. Tuesday 21 - Junior Get2Go Thursday 23 – Mufti Day Finally, winter sports are drawing to a close and a large number of students have Monday 27 August – Mid-Term Break, no been involved in a range of sports. Without parents and whanau to coach, manage, school support and provide transport, very few teams would be able to operate. A huge Saturday 1 September – Senior Ball Monday 3 – Friday 7 – Winter thank you to everyone for their part in supporting their children – on and off the Tournament Week field, and ensuring we can offer a broad extra-curricular programme to our Monday 10 – Friday 14 – Senior students. ExamsMonday 24 – Friday 28 – Year 11 Drama Production Friday 28 – End of Term 3 Judith Taylor Monday 15 October – Start of Term 4 Principal 1 UPPER HUTT COLLEGE NEWSLETTER From the Head Boy & Head Girl Contacting the College Phone 527 8749 Email [email protected] Sports [email protected] Absences [email protected] College website: www.upperhutt.school.nz Sports website: www.sporty.co.nz/upperhutt Download the Upper Hutt College App - click here or visit the Android or Apple App Store. Tena koutou katoa We’re Ryan Thomson and Phoebe Turner, the Head Students for 2018. Communications Please let us know if you have changed Two Terms down, two more to go, where has the year gone? It feels like only your email address or any other aspect yesterday that we all were getting ready for our first day back at school. Terms One of your contact details. As a lot of and Two have been absolutely incredible with the numerous events and activities information is now emailed home, we for everyone to be a part of, both in and outside of the classroom. want to ensure you receive it. Please contact the office – 04 527 8749 or email [email protected] We genuinely care about every student, and as Head Students, we have made it a to help us update our records. priority to ensure that every student feels a sense of belonging, has a chance to thrive in our school environment, weather that be arts, sports, culture or academia, and feels supported to have the best possible year here at Upper Hutt College. Casual vacancy for an This year, two key areas that we have focused on are the School Time Capsule and elected trustee Upper a House Points Scoreboard. Students and staff have been bringing in a wide range Hutt College of items for the Time Capsule over the past Term including letters, photos, flash drives, and various mementos of school. We hope to have this buried in the ground some time very soon, where it will lie until 2062 when it will be raised as part of the A casual vacancy has occurred on the Upper Hutt College Centennial Anniversary. With the House Points Scoreboard, we Board of Trustees of Upper Hutt College are hoping to create greater excitement and more participation in the House for an elected parent representative. The events, with a visual way for students to see where their House ranks in our House board has resolved under section 105 of Competition. the Education Act 1989 to fill the vacancy by selection. With Term Three slowly underway, we are confident when we say we are definitely in for another insane Term! We wish everyone the very best as our fellow students If ten percent or more of eligible voters keep working towards gaining credits for NCEA or the Junior Certificate of on the school roll ask the board, within Achievement. 28 days of this notice being published, to hold a by-election to fill the vacancy, then Nga mihi nui, a by-election will be held. Ryan Thomson and Phoebe Turner Any eligible voter who wishes to ask the board to hold a by-election should write Careers Evening to: Upper Hutt College will be holding a Careers Evening on Wednesday 8 August, from Amanda Ralston 6.30pm to 8.40pm. Students will be able to attend seminars delivered by Chairperson presenters from over 20 workplaces and career areas. Information has been given Board of Trustees Upper Hutt College to students and emailed home and all students are welcome. Please contact the [email protected] Office for further information. 2 UPPER HUTT COLLEGE NEWSLETTER The Future of NCEA Tell us what NCEA means for your family and whanau We all want our tamariki to thrive at school and be prepared for life, work and future study. Help us understand how NCEA can support our students on their learning journey. The future of the National Certificates of Education Achievement (NCEA) belongs to all of us. NCEA was introduced between 2002 and 2004 and is our major secondary school qualification. Every year around 120,000 students gain an NCEA. A recent study showed that even though most parents receive information about NCEA, nearly half of them feel it’s not the right information. We’ve also heard a range of views from students and parents on the current levels of assessment. Some feel there’s too much and others feel there’s not enough. These are just some of the views raised and we know we need to hear from as many parents, whānau, and members of the community as we can. This support is key to the ongoing success of our young people. Help us understand what we can do better in the future. To take part in this conversation, you can share your experience, perspectives, and ideas about NCEA, both online and in person. Visit www.conversation.education.govt.nz/NCEA NCEA Success As part of our ongoing focus on improving academic achievement and recognizing individual needs, we will be running an initiative known as the Achievement Opportunity Programme (AOP) towards the end of the school year. This will affect when the senior students complete their school year – not all students will be going on ‘study leave’ after Senior Prizegiving on Thursday 1 November. Briefly: Study leave will only be given to those students who have courses of study where the majority of their subjects have external assessments – a wide range of tutorials will still be available Students who do not have a large component of external examinations and who have not gained their NCEA will not be given study leave. They will continue to attend school and will be on the AOP, where they will have extra time, support and guidance to ensure they can complete any outstanding assessments and other work in order to gain sufficient credits to gain NCEA. Their leaving date will be determined on the day they gain NCEA and after completing a signing-out process. The AOP will run up to the last day of NZQA exams which is Friday 30 November. Students who are part of the AOP should NOT arrange any employment or holidays until after this date. Students will be informed by their Form Teacher in Week 5 of Term 3 whether or not they will be required to be part of the AOP. If you would like further information regarding this programme, please contact Janetta Van Maren, Deputy Principal, ([email protected]). Communicating with the college The Upper Hutt College App is a great tool we use to give quick and up-to-date notifications about activities at school. It allows parents/caregivers to notify absences and with a link to the Kamar portal, parents/caregivers and students can track NCEA credits.