From the Principal

Ngā mihi o te Tau Hou, Happy New Year and welcome to the commencement of the Ōtaki College 2020 year.

We look forward to seeing new students and parents at our pōwhiri on Monday 3rd February.  New students and their whānau should gather on the tennis courts at 9.30am.  

Staff at the College have already been busying themselves getting ready to meet and greet our students and we are excited by the opportunities that will be on offer through our teaching and learning programme over the coming year.  In order for your child to get their best out of education there are a couple of things that I would like to cover off before the year begins.

Mobile Phone Use

Research clearly shows that the use of mobile phones during instruction time is having a detrimental effect on student achievement and is also a contributor to growing issues around young people's hearing loss.

We have decided that mobile phones will not be used by students in class and, should students be found using mobile phones, they will be confiscated and handed into the office for collection at the end of the day.  In cases of emergency we urge you NOT to try and contact your child directly but rather contact the College Office so that we are in a place to help manage the situation with your child, should this ever occur.  We appreciate your support on this matter.

Attendance

 Attendance is a key contributor to student achievement and our ongoing review of this clearly indicates that students who are in class for 85% or more of their time are far more likely to succeed in their academic endeavours than those below this figure.  To this end we would urge all parents and whānau to work hard, alongside the College, to keep students' attendance at a high level.  One way of doing this is to try and schedule family events, shopping and holidays out of school time.

Other Matters of Interest

College Uniform

By now you should be aware that the BoT, working with the student body, have developed a gender friendly uniform code.  This is designed to allow students to have some degree of choice around the uniform option that they wear.  However, there are clear guidelines around these options and a requirement for girls to wear skirts at all formal occasions in line with our Ngā Hapū o Ōtaki tikanga and for senior students to wear blazers at these events.  Any concerns in relation to this can be directed to the Board Chair, Dale Nakhla, at dalenakhla@gmail.com.

Level 1 NCEA

For some time now there has been an ongoing debate around the requirement of students to undertake Level 1 NCEA as a formal qualification given that the government state sector target (announced in 2012) outlined that the minimum leavers' requirement for students in New Zealand Secondary Schools was Level 2 NCEA.  Alongside this has been the growing debate around the pressures of the NCEA Assessment system on young people and this being seen as a major contributor to our growing numbers of young people with mental health issues such as anxiety and depression.

In light of these debates, Ōtaki College have made the decision that we will no longer formally pursue Level 1 NCEA as a formal qualification but rather place more focus on the achievement of Level 2 NCEA over a two year period.  This is not to say that curriculum areas will not do Level 1 assessments but rather that they will be used as a way of scaffolding learning towards the minimum qualification.