Principal's Message...

Kia ora Parents, Caregivers, Whānau

Accord Day 3

The day spent with all Wairarapa Secondary Schools on Monday 9 August was more than worthwhile. Curriculum areas used the lion share of the day to arrive at a consistent understanding of the changes ahead to Achievement standards.

What is an Achievement Standard? Each standard describes what a student needs to know, or what they must be able to achieve, in order to meet the standard. Having met it, they will gain credits towards national qualifications.

Each standard has a defined credit value. Credits may be accumulated from different learning institutions or workplaces towards a single qualification. All organisations with consent to assess against standards recognise credits awarded by others.

As students study new topics, their teachers will explain what will be assessed and how. Teachers ensure that students are prepared for assessment. If students pass the assessment, the standard is achieved. An Assessment measures what a student knows or can do against the registered criteria of a standard in courses they study. If they meet the criteria, they achieve the standard, and gain credits towards a qualification.

Some standards are internally assessed by teachers during the year. Other standards are assessed externally by NZQA at the end of the year, for example in an exam or by a portfolio of work.

Jase Te Patu

The other part of the day was delivered by Jase Te Patu who took us through Mindfulness. Simply put he is all about that “wellbeing is adjusting your oxygen mask before you adjust others.” In his words also he says that “Yoga and mindfulness saved my life!...If our tamariki and rangatahi can learn strategies from a young age to help them, especially when they are challenged mentally and emotionally, then they will be well resourced for life!

I have included a link to his Ted Talk to let you see for yourself.

Whānau and NCEA 2021 Resources

You as parents, caregivers, and whānau of a young person going through NCEA play an important role. We know that when schools, parents and whānau, students and the community work together, our young people do better in school.

To support parents and whānau through the NCEA changes introduced this year, 2021- focused NCEA whānau specific resources have been made available to ensure our school and kura parent and whānau community are well supported. Whānau tailored resources include:

• 2021 Guide to NCEA - A tailored resource with relevant information and accessible tools to support parents and whānau to navigate how to best support their child through NCEA 2021 and beyond.

• Information guide for parents/whānau- A guide to support foundational understanding of NCEA to help parents/whānau have meaningful conversations with their child or child’s school on NCEA.

• Conversation guide for ākonga - A guide to support and empower ākonga to take control of their NCEA journey.

We have developed an NCEA Factsheet and vox-pops (short videos) sharing different students’, parents’ and whānau journeys in NCEA. These can be found on ..

How can we work together?

We will invite you for a kanohi ki te kanohi (face-to-face) NCEA workshop to support you to understand the changes in NCEA, as well as share with you with you the resources listed above and ensure our school community are supported to the best of our ability.

The timings for the NCEA workshop will confirmed and the advertised via the newsletter.

We look forward to meeting with you and working together to best support our young people through NCEA.

Ngā mihi

Kiri

Around School This Week

Pin'd Creative Show

Over the weekend over 50 of our girls travelled to Tauranga for the annual Pin'd Creative Fashion Show. Below are the full results of the many categories the girls were entered in. Photos will be published when they are released by the show organisers. Many thanks to Mrs Bucknell, Miss Leckie and Mrs Gilman for accompanying the girls on the trip. There were also many parents who travelled with the girls.

National Secondary Schools Squash Championships

Also over the weekend our Squash team competed in the above event in Tauranga. The team were..

Christina, Olivia and Ella Kirkup, Chelsea and Claudia Hawkes, and Sophie Sweeney.

Below is a report from our Head of Squash, Claudia Hawkes.

The St Matthew's Squash team competed in the New Zealand secondary school squash national competition on the 6th to the 8th of August up in Tauranga, with over 300 competitors playing. Our team had a tough first round against Katikati girls with us just losing 3/2, then a great second round with a 5/0 win to us against Sacred Heart Girls New Plymouth. We won our third round, 4/1 against New Plymouth girls. We then lost the plate final to Hamilton girls 4/1. We all played really well over the weekend and came away with some amazing results and finishing in the top 10.

Years 7/8 Spanish

Trinity Service

On Thursday we all met as a Trinity family at Rathkeale for the annual Trinity Schools Service. Before the service all the students across the three schools were involved in an activity. Here they worked in small groups to design pieces of bunting to reflect our Trinity spirit. These were strung together and presented at the service.

There was also special mention of Reverend Lesley and her service to St Matthew's and the Trinity special character.