September Newsletter 2017
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Wairarapa College Newsletter Volume 6, September 2017 Dear Parent/caregivers At the end of a very busy third term I would like to acknowledge the hard work of our staff and their efforts Upcoming Events on behalf of our students. Over the holidays many of them will be marking exams and preparing their final October reports. We know that in term four it’s going to be a very, very short but very busy time for our senior Mon 16th - Term 4 students as they prepare for their externals. I would like to take this opportunity to stress the importance of these internal exams and of the feedback that our students will receive from their practice exams over starts the holidays. I encourage all parents and senior students to be working on a study programme to allow Tues 17th - Kapa Haka our students to prepare themselves fully for the exams. We will be shortly sending out information and Cultural Day some links to websites to support that process. Tues 17th/Wed 18th - I’d also like to take the opportunity to thank many of our parents, and again our staff and supporters, for First Aid course our winter sports season. The Tournament week highlight for me was being able to travel around and spend some time with most of our sporting teams. I was very impressed with the number of parents who Tues-Thurs - Prefect had taken time out of their busy lives themselves to be present to support not only their own son or interviews daughter but the team as a whole. It was a great opportunity to be able to share in the Waicol spirit that is Wed 18th - Sports so legendary out there amongst the sporting world and I have to say that although we couldn’t win every single game or competition we competed with great style, determination and wonderful team spirit. I Academy Y10 2018 trial would also like to congratulate our Netball girls who won their competition and made us very proud. Thurs 19th/Fri 20th - It will be an exciting time for us moving into term four. We are already considering our staffing as a WAIREAP Kapa haka growing school for 2018 and what this will mean for us. We are very encouraged by the uptake from our Monday 23rd - community on the new Year Nine and other options we are making available to students in the school. We LABOUR DAY have had a very high subscription rate to Waicol on Stage and to the Digital Learning class. We also have recently made available on our website the information and application process for the Whanau Group HOLIDAY Class. With such high rates of interest its unavoidable that not everyone who has applied will be able to Tues 24th - Media Fest engage with those classes next year. We do have robust processes to try and be as fair as possible in -ival, Rongohia te Hua; selecting those students who will become part of those groups, just as we have had in the last two years Cultural Assembly with our Sports Class at Years Nine and Ten. However, we know there will be some disappointment. I would like to encourage all of our students and parents to be aware of the fact that we do do a very good Wed 25th - Prefect job with our teaching and learning across all of Year Nine and that the feedback that I receive frequently Workshop from our year nine parents and students is that they are enjoying the year. Tues 31st - Sports We are also in the planning stages for the beginning of Stage 1 of the $10 million property upgrade. We Assembly will begin this over the Christmas holidays with an upgrade to the Pavilion at school in order to allow this to be be the main changing and also teaching facility for our Phys Ed classes as we embark on the upgrade November of the gym at the start of the year. We will be demolishing the existing classroom and some of the Thur 2nd - Y9 Dairy changing room facilities and rebuilding these in a far more modern and higher spec fashion. We will also Field day be completing an upgrade of the interior of the gym further down the path in that project and that will include replacing skylights and re-polishing the floor and also improving lighting and heating. We are Mon 6th - Senior Prize- looking forward to improving this very well used facility and we are excited that we will end up with a giving building which is much more modern, has integrated teaching facilities and which will be state of the art. Wed 8th - Y8 We will also be upgrading our heating system over the Christmas holidays, moving to a new distributed gas Orientation Day system which should provide us with a much improved flow and warmer classrooms for 2018 winter. Thur 9th - Wed 15th - We are also continuing on our consultation with the staff and our community around the rest of that Stage 1 build. We have had some major discussions around where we will focus that Stage 1. It looks likely at Junior exams this point that it will be focused around a redevelopment of the frontage of the school. Possibly the Thur 9th - NCEA ex- Sutherland Block as a focus. The reason for this is to allow for the movement of vehicular traffic to either ams begin side of the main school campus, so that it no longer goes through pedestrian parts of the school. Another Mon 20th - Teacher benefit to this will be the establishment of a bus bay in the school frontage. I see this as a vital part for us moving forward as a school. I am frequently very concerned about the school frontage on Pownall Street only day at the end of the day when we have so many of our students attempting to cross the road and buses Mon 27th - Fri 1 Dec - parked along the road along with other traffic. On a wet day it becomes chaotic and I have been Brainwave increasingly concerned for the safety of our students. With this in mind I spoke recently to Masterton District Council representatives about the possibility of a crossing out the front of the school. Obviously December this is contingent upon us getting bus traffic off the road, however it is pleasing to note that they are Tues 5th - Thur 7th - listening and this week we are doing an analysis of vehicular and pedestrian traffic with the assistance of Junior Activities the Council in order to begin the process of application. I am very grateful for their support and I look forward to working with them to come up with a solution which will mean that our students are able to Fri 8th - Junior Prize- come to and from our main entrance in a safe fashion. giving; Junior reports I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our parents and our students the very best for the sent holidays. Shelley Power, Principal END OF SCHOOL YEAR Uniform update Contract background The contract with New Zealand Uniforms Ltd (NZU), was signed on 16 June 2016 and this agreement will end on May 31 2019. There will be a review meeting every 12 months. Since then there has been conversations be- tween Bromleywear Clothing Ltd who supply us with all the girls uniform and KOOGA who supply us with sports teams wear. The responsibility for the purchasing of uniforms are with NZU who include Wairarapa College in this decision making. The exception is the 1st sports teams (Hockey, Rugby, Football, Netball), where the Sports Coordinator purchases direct from KOOGA their uniform, if required. These are distributed to the students when their subscription is paid. The uniforms are returned at the end of the year. The other teams purchase their uniform from NZU. Bromleywear contract was signed on 3 April 2014 expires on 3 April 2017. (3-year contract). A decision will need to be made about whether to continue with this company or shift the supply to NZU. The Bromleywear contract gives us no rebate. KOOGA contract was signed on 1 February 2014 and expires on 31 January 2018. The KOOGA contract gives us a 10% product rebate in the form of apparel and accessories based on the college’s annual purchases. At this stage the decisions about how to use the rebate is with the Sports Coordinator, Willie Schaefer (HOD PE) and Aa- ron Perkins (AP). NZU has given us $5K for signing with them which is kept with them until we determine how to use it. Can be for uniforms or accessories or some items of choice. NZU also will give us 10% rebate on sales. How we use this rebate is determined by negotiation and needs of the school. Uniform 2017 From a staff, student and parent survey as well as staff / student / SLT meetings, it was determined that no major changes to the uniform would take place, but some fine tuning to make our current uniform look consistently good. The key areas of concern and issues included: Boys long pants The wide range of variation of pants were worn Boys grey shirts The problems with these being tucked in. Boys white shirts Senior school begins at Year 11, therefore wear a white shirt All school sandals and shoes A wide range of sandals and shoes were worn A blazer that could be bought Students wanted to be able to buy a blazer Solutions Boys long pants Pants only able to be bought at NZU with yellow braid on the back pocket Boys grey shirt A shirt that is designed to be worn out in summer with a ‘tone on tone’ crest Boys white shirts A shirt that is designed to be worn out in summer with a blue crest on the pocket All school sandals and shoes are within a school determined framework.