Newsletter Issue 8 1-June 2012 - nghs.school.nz

Message fromourPrincipalDear ParentsThe term is very busy right now withsome students feeling under pressure.This term is important for ensuringthe girls fulfil the requirements theyneed to reach their goals for theyear. We are endeavouring to reportmore often with you so you can assist your daughter with her learning athome. You have already had the opportunity to access two reports viathe portal. You will be given access to current grades and another set ofcomments prior to the opportunity to attend a face-to-face interview withthe teachers in a few weeks time. Please encourage the girls to completeall work to the required standard as we believe they can.Attendance is vital for students to reach their potential. Attendanceis a legal requirement too. I receive requests from families to taketheir daughters out of school for a variety of reasons. I cannot grantpermission for students to miss school unless it is legitimate. Thisincludes illness, bereavements and significant occasions. Teachers cannotgive students permission to have time off school. Parents sometimeshave good reasons for wanting their daughters to be away but this isusually only advisable if it is 1-2 days or has been discussed with me inwriting. Some students are over-committing themselves outside theschool and this is impacting on their learning and confidence.Please understand that to achieve the best for every girl we need to worktogether. Please put any request for leave in writing, accept there may bean impact on learning and assessment even if the absence is legitimateand keep attendance every day as a priority.Good progress is being made on developing ICT at the school. A groupof students are trialling devices at school now that wireless is availableacross the school and hostel.I recently visited a school in Auckland where all Year 9 students areusing an iPad or similar device. It is likely that our school will promotewider use of such devices in the next couple of years. The cost of thesedevices is coming down and the advantages to teaching and learningare significant. NZQA now require many assessments to be done oncomputers and student devices are the way to go.I am advising you now so you can plan for the purchase of an appropriatedevice when it is needed. If families are unable to afford this we willdiscuss ways to assist at that time.Now that winter is upon us I wish to progress the introduction of the newschool blazer. Current Year 11 and 12 students will be given first optionto buy the first shipment. Any current student can try on and order ablazer. A set of each size is available to try on with Mrs Myers. The costis $180.00.NCEA UpdateHow NCEA worksThe National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) is the main nationalqualification for secondary school students in New Zealand.NCEAs are recognised by employers, and used for selection by universities andpolytechnics, both in New Zealand and overseas.Napier Girls' High SchoolPhone: 06 835 1069 Fax: 06 835 8164Web: www.nghs.school.nzPrincipal's Secretary Email: bhewitt@nghs.school.nzISSUE 8The blazer will be phased in to replace the current school jacket. At the end of 2013the two year change over period will end so all students will be wearing the newuniform at the start of 2014.Feedback on the new uniform is much appreciated. If garments are faulty they canbe returned to the Uniform Shop with an explanation. Obviously the supplier cannotaccept items that have not been cared for correctly but stand by the high quality theypromised us.The school is humming at the moment with exhiliarating music, dance and a myriad ofactivities.How it works• Each year, students study a number of courses or subjects.• In each subject, skills and knowledge are assessed against a number of standards.For example, a Mathematics standard could be: Apply numeric reasoning insolving problems.• Schools use a range of internal and external assessments to measure how wellstudents meet these standards.• When a student achieves a standard, they gain a number of credits. Studentsmust achieve a certain number of credits to gain an NCEA certificate.• There are three levels of NCEA certificate, depending on the difficulty of thestandards achieved. In general, students work through levels 1 to 3 in years 11 to13 at school.• Students are recognised for high achievement at each level by gaining NCEA withMerit or NCEA with Excellence. High achievement in a course is also recognised.NZQA has a formal quality assurance process to ensure that the assessment of eachstandard is fair across all students, regardless of the school they attend. This includesinternal moderation, external moderation and assessment system checks.NCEA FeesMary NixonFees statements will be posted next week which include the charge for NCEA fees.These fees must be paid to the school by 20th July 2012. A financial assistance formwill be enclosed for you to check eligibility. Please contact the school office if you haveany queries.

Sports News2012 HB Schools Orienteering Champs - IndividualsSectionNapier Girls’ High School preyed on Havelock North's unavailabilities in theIntermediate grade on Sunday 27th May at Rochfort Road, to open up a 37point lead in the race for local supremacy (116 to 79).In the process the team notched up half of the podium finishes available, 9 inall.Championship victories went to Holly Edmonds in Seniors with an emphatic 7minute margin, and Vida Fox in Intermediate. Annie Creagh won the SeniorStandard Grade.Backing up these winners were Brianna Massie and Naomi Anderson 3rd and4th in Seniors, and Amber Helliwell and Alice Lumsden 3rd and 4th in theSenior Standard Event.Intermediate Championships saw an all Napier Girls’ High School podium, withMonieka Scott and Molly D'Ath 2nd and 3rd. Georgia Massie placed second inthe Intermediate Standard section.Despite the withdrawal of Napier's hot favourite Georgia Creagh in the Juniorsthere was just enough fire power left to have a narrow lead in Juniors withOlivia Radovanovic taking a meritorious 2nd in the championship section,followed by Olivia Beckman in 5th and Brooke Wedgwood 7th. Best of ourJunior Standard girls was Catherine Foreman in 6th. However, there is apromising group of Juniors new to the sport who are ready to produce thatspecial error free run and appear on the leaderboard for the first time.We had 13 juniors entered on Sunday and another 5 or 6 keen to get involved.Relays are at Craggy Range Road in a fortnight. It was great to see ZivanaDonnelly out there supporting the girls despite being unable to competeherself due to injury, and, of course, Mrs Vennell also showing a keen interest.Derek Morrison - Manager/CoachTauranga Girls’ College Sports ExchangeOur 1st & 2nd XI Hockey, 1st XI Football, Senior A & B Netball, Junior Netball,Senior Premier Basketball teams and a Cross Country team are travelling toTauranga on Sunday 24th June 2012 for our annual sports exchange. Ourstudents will be billeted with school families for the night. The Tauranga fixtureswill be played on Monday.NetballLeague 2 TGC Courts 9.30am (4x15mins)League 1 TGC Sports Hall 11.00am (4x15mins)Junior A TGC Courts 11.00am (4x15mins)Cross CountryTGC Course 9.30amFootball 1st XITGC Field 10.00amBasketball Senior Premier Sports Hall 9.30am ( 4x10mins)Hockey 2nd XITauranga Boys’ College Turf 9.45am (2x30mins)Hockey 1st XITauranga Boys’ College Turf 11.00am (2x30mins)The buses will depart from Coote Road on Sunday morning at 10.00. We willreturn to Napier on Monday at approximately 7.00pm. The travelling cost perstudent is $60.00. Girls will travel on the Sunday and back on the Monday in fullschool dress uniform i.e. kilt, white shirt and tie, black tights or school socks andregulation black shoes. They will need to bring a packed lunch and snacks for thejourney. There will be a brief stop on the return trip, but not a food stop.Several staff coaches will be travelling with the teams. In an emergency we maybe contacted on 022 0891940. Should any students wish to stay privately withfriends in Tauranga they must hand in a letter of consent with the contact detailsas soon as possible.Selected players must return the health and permission form with payment tothe school office by Wednesday, June 13th at the latest (Hewett House girls maycharge). If you have any queries regarding this trip, please contact me on 8351069 or by email on jvennell@nghs.school.nz.Mrs J Vennell - Head of SportCanoe PoloThe Canoe Polo Senior A team came third in the National Championshipin Fielding (30 March - 1 April). The team consisted of Kelsie Campbell,Shardae Woodford, Natalie Armstrong, Poppy Tainsomjit and Nicola Wilson(Captain). The Junior A Team who played in the Senior Divison 2 came fourth.Congratulations to Poppy Tainsomjit, Shardae Woodford and Kelsie Campbellwho have been selected for the Hawke’s Bay A representative team. NicolaWilson plays for a local womens team in the same league.SailingIn March the Napier Girls’ High School Sailing team competed in Taupo in theCentral North Island Championship and were the number 1 girls team and placedthird overall.In April the girls competed in Algie’s Bay, north of Auckland, in the NationalChampionship and placed the fifth girls team in the country.This is an excellent effort for all sailors as they are a very young team with hugepotential.The team members were: Anna Callinicos (Captain), Isabella Radovanovic, Saree-Louise Peachey, Nelle Cameron, Ruth Clifford, Lilly Devine, Rachel Mannering,Kaitlin Faulknor, Brooke Wedgewood, Ava Mannering.RugbyNapier Girls’ High School has entered two teams inthe Secondary School Girls’ Competition and startedthe season last week with the two teams, Blue andGold, meeting in the opening round. Understandablythere were a few nerves as the game started, butbefore long, both sides were competing with greatrigour and determination to gain the upper hand.Blue took the honours in the end, but the lessexperienced Gold side is to be commended for its fight backto narrow the score to 42-34. Much praise should also go to the coaches,Arthur Brown, Dave Sutherland and Spencer Bethell, who had both teamsplaying at a very skilful level. The spectators were treated to a spirited andentertaining encounter in what looks to be a very promising season for bothteams.PE DepartmentParents are reminded that students in Year 9 and 10 MUST wear the correctPE uniform to class each lesson. During the winter they may wear track pantsinstead of shorts. Several girls are not coming with the correct shorts/tops –please support us with this.ICT UpdatesReport UpdateYou will have been notified either by email or by post that your daughter’sacademic data is now available for viewing on the school portal. If your daughteris in Year 11, 12 or 13, it will also show which NCEA achievement and unitstandards she is entered for.At this stage we would encourage your daughter to have a conversation with herteachers to explore an action plan to help build even better learning outcomesfor the second half of the year.Your daughter should then discuss this with you. To complete the conversation,you are invited to the parent teacher interviews on June 20th and 22nd at whichtime you are able to discuss any further issues or how you could further supportyour daughter in her learning.Parent Teacher Interview InformationHow to book on-lineYou will have been sent information either by email or post on how to make anon-line booking. Please contact Ms Jane Myers by phone (8351069) or by email(jmyers@nghs.school.nz) if you are having any problems with making an on-linebooking.Parent Teacher Interview datesDay students Wednesday 20 June 2.00pm – 7.00pmHostel students Friday 22 June 1.30pm – 3.30pmOn Wednesday 20th of June, school will finish at 12.40pm Buses will leave at1.00pm.On Friday 22 June, school will finish at 12.25pm and buses will leave at 12.40pm.Students must go home and not be in town in school uniform.