Newsletter - Term 3 Week 7

Having managed to avoid the snow this week, we have been fortunate to enjoy a fairly undisturbed week of learning! There are many inconveniences associated with Alert Level 2, however, the bright side for school continues to be the reduced interruptions to learning.

Over the last two weeks, we have been able to welcome some learning partner visitors into the school, and send small groups of students out to learning activities - these have all been adjusted to the Alert Level 2 health requirements.

Learning Partner Visits:
Students have been able to participate in visits from our Malcam Trust Youth Workers learning about work-ready behaviours; our Enviroschools facilitator has delivered new resource books; Catriona Gower continues her ‘Bat Lady’ learning adventures across a number of classes and the seniors were fitted for the new uniform blazers.

Smaller Visits/Trips:
A few students were able to continue with their Winter Tournament Plans (read more in the Sports News); Shannon Gordon, Dannielle Mason and Bronte Williams baked for Daffodil Day and delivered their items to the Owaka Stall; the Year 10 group were able to provide Service to The Yellow-Eyed Penguin Trust at a planting and tracking box construction day at Long Point.

So, with adaptations, we’ve been able to keep to a smaller scale ‘business as usual’!

Staff have now prepared boxes for every student in the school in the event we do have to quickly transition to a higher alert level - there is a sense of preparedness should we have to make changes at pace.

In the coming weeks, our Year 10-13 students are preparing for their examination period. Students should be working at home to prepare for any exams they are undertaking using the materials provided by their teachers. For many, external examination entries were confirmed with NZQA in our September 1st file. Their grades from these exams are important - should a student not be able to attend their NCEA external exam (for a reason such as a bereavement, or a change to a high Alert Level), this grade will be used by NZQA for their qualification. As always, preparation is the key to success. Parents may wish to follow these links to some advice around helping your child prepare for examinations:

News

Year 10s and the Yellow-Eyed Penguin Trust

Yesterday, the Year 10 students, accompanied by Ms Darmody and Miss Currall, assisted the Yellow Eyed Penguin Trust to plant native trees around their new base at Long Point.

Senior Exams Year 10-13

School exams will be held from the 16th to 18th September. We have explained how important it is that students do their very best in these examinations. This cannot happen unless the students have prepared well by keeping up with school work, completing homework and revising earlier work.

COVID-19 Testing in Balclutha

Clutha District residents are encouraged to get tested for COVID-19. Clutha Health First, Tokomairiro Waiora, Clutha District Council, WellSouth primary health network and Southern DHB are providing COVID-19 swabbing at a one-day ‘pop-up’ surveillance testing site.