26 March 2021

Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou katoa

“Kua   hinga    te    Totara

I  te  wao  nui  a Tane”

(The Totora has fallen in the forest of Tane)

I have chosen the above whakatauki as I used it as part of the eulogy I delivered at the funeral of Kevin Hatley.  Kevin was a long serving member of our staff and was the Head of our Learning Support Faculty from 1989 – 2012.  During that time, Kevin worked extremely hard for many students who faced disadvantages and he made a significant impact on their learning and lives in general. Kevin passed after a long illness; he was only 67!

The end of term is almost upon us and there are only 12 teaching days to go.  We have managed to achieve a lot so far, and there are many highlights. Some of these include:

• New Year 9 students Cyrus Dahl received a Wellys award for philanthropy from the Nikau Foundation. Cyrus raised over $43 000 so that students with disabilities could access to the swings at Tawhai Raunui Play Area in Woodridge. Cyrus did this by appearing on morning television, and setting up a give a little page after the WCC said they had no funding available.

• Our Year 13 Geography students successfully spent four days up in the Mt Tongariro region undertaking fieldwork. Part of their course examines volcanic processes.
• At the same time, we also had our first group of Level 3 Physical Education students undertake their studies in the Marlborough Sounds. They were exploring the region using kayaks and the weather has been outstanding.
• Our 1st XI played their last league game of the season against St Pats Town 2nd XI. St Pats would probably have been very satisfied with their total of 318 from 50 overs. However, our opening batsmen Matthew Nel and Raash Mukherjee had other ideas. They produced a fantastic opening partnership of 320 runs to win the game on their own. Mathew scored what we believe to be the 3rd best score in Newlands history of 171 not out. The next highest scores of 180 and 206 were scored way back in 1992 & 1990 respectively.
• Western Zone Athletics 2021. This year’s delayed Western Zone Athletics finally took place last Tuesday (16 March). Newlands sent 14 students already involved in club athletics or regular training. Stand out performances on the day, which have led to qualification for the Regional championships on March 30, were:

Holly Robins (Y9) – 1st 70m hurdles, 3rd – High Jump and Long Jump

Cara McCully (Y10) – 1st Intermediate Discus, 2nd 80m Hurdles, 3rd Shot Put

Ryan Lobo (Y9) – 1st 800M & 1500M

As mentioned in earlier newsletters there are significant changes to NCEA coming up.  These are currently being ‘rolled out’ and schools are being asked to discuss these with their staff and provide feedback.  Last year COVID-19 affected this process, so this year the Ministry of Education has provided three Teacher-Only-Days to do this work.  These are mandated and all secondary schools in New Zealand will be involved.

Our days for 2021 are:

• 11 May
• 5 August
• 1 December.

A reminder that our on-line Parent Teacher Interviews will be held on Wednesday 7^th April and Wednesday13th April. These will begin at 2pm and more information regarding the format and bookings will be available next week.  Students will be released to go home at 1pm.  However, the Learning Support Centre will operate as normal, finishing at 3:10pm. The taxis will also operate at the usual time.

Ngā mihi nui

Grant Jones