Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou katoa
We have now ended our third week and there is a feeling of when will it stop raining. Everything is sodden, and our ability to do anything outside has been greatly reduced. However, around the campus plenty has been happening and the students have been engaged in lots of different activities.
Today, was the Pasifika United Festival, formerly known as the Polyfest which was held up at the Te Rauparaha Centre for northern suburbs secondary schools. This is a huge event which started at 9:00am and concluded at 5:30pm. Our Pasifika group began rehearsals early last term and although their team is quite small compared to some others, they excelled themselves with a performance that we were all very proud of.
Last week we celebrated the different cultures in our school with cultural week that culminated in a cultural performance day on the Friday. Currently we have 42 different ethnicities in our College and 36 different first languages which makes us truly cosmopolitan. At the performance day, many cultural groups were represented eg Pasifika, Kapa Haka, Korean, Indian and Sri Lankan. We have also had a small intake of international students start at the beginning of the term. They have arrived from Japan, Thailand, Vietnam and China were inspired to perform next year.
The sports season is also drawing to a close with most codes finishing in the next two to three weeks. We have several teams in different codes that are playing off in semi-finals or finals and we wish them all the very best. For all the details please visit our sports website at https://sports.newlands.school.nz/news/ or check our Facebook or Instagram page. We also have several teams heading to different parts of the lower North Island for tournament week which starts on August 29th.
I would also like to make a special mention of Sasha Howard. Sasha was recently placed as Runner-Up in the AWD Ten Pin Bowling Tournament. A big congratulation to Sasha.
I would also like to congratulate our 4 STEMM teams who recently competed at the Lower Hutt City Town Hall. The competition was based on a quiz that consisted of four 10-question rounds and 2 practical challenges.
- The first challenge they had was to try and balance an LP record on a small marble and then balance ping pong balls on top of this.
- The second challenge they had was to try and construct the tallest tower out of dry spaghetti and gummy lollies strong enough to hold a tennis ball and then another tower strong enough to hold a rugby ball.
Our Junior 1 team was placed 4th out of 32 teams and our Senior 1team was 3rd out of 24 teams. An excellent effort.
STEMM Photo
As you will be aware there has been a change in the number of credits needed for NCEA Level 1, 2, and 3 as well as University Entrance. This has been brought about through the introduction of Learning Recognition Credits (LRCs). This has happened for the last three years and they are designed to support all students because they have faced difficulties completing their studies due to COVID-19. The NZQA advice is,
In 2022, students will be entitled to 1 Learning Recognition Credit (LRC) for every 5 credits earned through assessment, up to a maximum of:
NCEA Level Maximum LRCs
1 10
2 8
3 8
To receive a Certificate Endorsement, students will need 46 credits at Merit or Excellence level, instead of the usual 50. To be awarded University Entrance, students will need 14 credits in each of two UE Approved Subjects, and 12 credits in a third UE Approved Subject (they will also need to attain NCEA Level 3 and meet the regular literacy and numeracy requirements)."
A reminder that voting for the Board elections close on September 7. There are 12 candidates and all families have received their biographies. The Board is responsible for the governance of our College and it is responsible for setting its direction.
Ngā mihi nui
Grant Jones