1 John 3:18 NIV

“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth”.

Mr Gredig, our Chaplain, shared a part of 1 John chapter 3 earlier this week. What he shared is challenging on a number of levels. In the verse above one could easily ask the question “Does this mean I should not say nice things to uplift my friends, family and people I encounter?”. Maybe a better way of looking at it is that our actions reveal the truth of our words.

After working with students for some time now, I have found the majority can say sorry when they do something wrong to someone else. This is the first step in a three step process. Most can say what they are sorry for - step 2. The challenge starts at step 3, when it comes to offering “What can I do to make this right?”. “What if I am asked to do something I do not want to do?” This in turn hands over control to the other person. The irony is nearly all students just want the ‘offender’ to stop the ‘offending’ behaviour rather than get something. After all, our actions speak louder than our words.

‘Please’, ‘thank you’ and ‘sorry’ are powerful phrases but only when the recipient believes you. The next time we need to say sorry, go through the whole 3 step process with an emphasis on the third step. Love one another by demonstrating it through your actions.

Brendan van Oostveen, Principal

NCEA Review

As you may be aware, the Ministry of Education is looking at ways to strengthen NCEA so that it benefits all young people. They will be talking to New Zealanders, from a range of backgrounds, to talk about their experiences with NCEA. There is opportunity for you to have some input into the conversation regarding NCEA. The 6 areas that are under discussion are:

1. A restructuring of NCEA Level 1 and a reduction in the number of credits offered to gain Level 1
2. Considering some of the barriers to NCEA such as NCEA fees, assessment conditions and teaching material
3. Records of Achievements conveying the range of achievements that tell us about the learner as a whole
4. Gaining Literacy and Numeracy which show employers and tertiary providers that learners can be successful in that area
5. That NCEA levels 2 & 3 demonstrate connections to learning beyond the classroom, and include pathway opportunities towards work placement, industry training or an out-of-school qualification
6. Making it easier for teachers, schools and kura to refocus on teaching and learning.

Ways in which you can have your say is by completing an online survey, attending a regional hui or workshop, leading a group discussion, submitting a detailed submission online, going online and joining a discussion about NCEA and posting your views on social media. All of these options can be found at the following link.

The opportunity to share through a quick survey is available at the following link.

Students from ages 5- 20 also have a chance to enter into the Make your Mark competition, sharing a vision of what education could look like in the future. See the above website for more details. This public consultation process will close on the 16th of September, 2018 so please take this opportunity and ‘Have your Say’.

NCEA Corner

We are now halfway through the academic school year and it is a good point to stop and take stock of where each senior student is academically. Tracking their progress early is one of the ways in which we ensure that students are positively progressing towards their goals of achieving NCEA for that level. Ways in which you can check in with your child is to:

1. Access their portal and view their grades
2. Encourage them to login to their NZQA Profile account as well
3. Praise their progress
4. Have the necessary conversations around achievement
5. Ask the question - ‘What’s next and how are you getting there?’
6. Contact their teacher for any queries you may have regarding a particular subject area
7. Contact the Dean for any questions regarding their overall progress

Year 11s should be working towards 10 credits of Numeracy and 10 credits of Literacy as part of their 80 credits required to gain Level 1. The Year 13s should have established by now, the subject areas they want to gain University Entrance with and checked that they have gained UE literacy, which comprises of 5 credits of Reading and 5 credits of Writing. Students may already have established what they will be doing in 2019 - a trade, work or a tertiary program - and they need to check to ensure that they have taken the appropriate actions to gain NCEA level 3 by the end of this year.