Rotorua Lakes High School “Mauria te pono - Keep steadfastly to the truth”
NEWSLETTER ISSUE No. 17 – 3 JULY 2020
CHALKBOARD From the Principal – P. 1 - 2 News – P. 2 - 3 Dept News – P. 4 - 5 Sports – P. 6 Careers/Gateway - P. 6 - 7 Notice Board – P. 7 - 9 Contact Us – P. 9 Our Sponsors – P. 9
Kia ora Koutou, This is my last newsletter of Term 2, and what a Term it has been! We are all aware of the significant disruptions to our school year thus far. But also, the positive interactions that have come about because of these events. I want to take this opportunity to congratulate our students for how they have dealt with the constantly changing environment, maintained their focus and have risen to the various challenges facing them. I would also like to thank all our parents and caregivers for the significant input (not necessarily all wanted!) in the day to day education of our students. The support that we have been able to provide to all our learners is testament to the hard work and professionalism of the staff we have at Lakes. They have created, adapted and developed resources and materials that have allowed our students to continue with their learning. Added to this, they have frequently provided advice, support and a sounding board for students who have been dealing with stressful situations. I would like to Tautoko all our staff for their efforts. It was great to see so many of our community attending our parent / teacher evenings last week. I know for some there were concerns around progress and hopefully the conversations provided a measure of reassurance and also clarified the positive pathways forward that we have in place for our students. It was good to see parents smiling both on the way in and the way out! If you missed these for any reason, and want to catch up with any specific staff, please feel free to email us at the school and we can pass on your queries in the right direction or you can email teachers directly. One of the key focuses of Term 3, will be our practice assessments. In some ways, I prefer not to call them practice assessments but derived grade exams. The reason for this is that these assessments provide evidence that we can give to NZQA to determine a grade for a student should they be unable to go to the final external exams. Every year, there are a number of students who have medical issues or family concerns which prevent them from attending the final exams. In these cases, with the appropriate documentation, we can look at providing derived grade evidence. The way this year is going, I think it would be wise for all students to have strong derived grade evidence in the bank. Here’s hoping it won’t be needed. At the start of Term 3 we are welcoming back Mrs Kat Goodrick from maternity leave. Her classes have been ably supported by Mrs Annie Scott for the first two terms, and I want to thank her for her invaluable support and 1