BOARD UPDATE March 2020
Tēnā koutou katoa Welcome again to any families joining our Horowhenua College family in Term 1! We are more than half-way through the term and these last six weeks have brought significant change to college life. Foremost on your mind may be the evolving COVID-19 virus situation. At both our Health and Safety and School Board meetings we have been discussing our preparedness including ensuring our Pandemic Plan is up-to-date. We are regularly receiving advice from the Ministry and the School Trustees Association. At time of writing the virus is not currently spreading in the community beyond people who have had direct contact with a traceable source of infection. It is also important to remember that the main risk is students spreading the disease to others in the community who are vulnerable, not that students will become seriously ill themselves. If the situation should change the Horowhenua College Board of…
BOARD UPDATE October 2019
Tēnā koutou katoa The year is fast drawing to a close, and the examination period for our senior students is nearing it’s end. Sincere thanks to all our staff for the additional support provided to our students in the lead up to exams. At our last board meeting we again looked at detailed achievement data to see how our students were fearing in the lead up to exams. It is so good to know the academic tracking ‘traffic light’ system that management have put in place is functioning well, and staff know what each student requires. This year has also seen the system extended to year 9 and 10 students and this is paying dividends, in that students who may need extra support are identified at the earliest opportunity. We have also been receiving reports at recent board meeting from our staff member in charge of special education needs, and…
BOARD UPDATE September 2019
Kia ora Koutou By the time you read this we are well into the school holidays. I am sure this is a welcome break for both students and staff before we begin Term 4 and the run down to end of year and NCEA Exams. During Term 4 we celebrate through a variety of events the achievements of our students but also we recognise the additional pressures on our students in completing term work, assessments, portfolios and exams, so again will be doing our best to support them through this period. Term 3 has been a busy one for the Board. We are looking at further property work to update and modernise parts of the school, and have continued to review our health and safety procedures, including discussing preparedness for any Measles cases, and developing a Traumatic Incident Response Plan. We have decided to take up the Ministry of Education’s…
BOARD UPDATE June 2019
Kia ora koutou I hope Term 2 has ended well for you – it has felt a very busy term with plenty going on within and outside of the school curriculum. I enjoyed attending performances of ‘Hairspray Jnr’ our first school production in seven years . This was a huge undertaking and many congratulations to the students involved and to all the staff that supported them. Thank you to parents and whānau for supporting the performance and all those students who played an active role. The same might be said of our Fia Fia night and Pasifika Fusion – how good it was to witness our College win the kava bowl for best cultural performance, and to see this award come back to Levin again! I had the privilege of watching both Waiopehu and Horowhenua Colleges celebrating together after the event. It was wonderful to see our students enjoying their…
BOARD UPDATE April 2019
Kia ora koutou katoa This term seems to have gone by very quickly. There has been plenty happening and I do hope students who are new to the school are now well settled into classes and routines, and enjoying the range of activities Horowhenua College has to offer. Winter sports are beginning again and the school production practices are well underway, our first school production in 7 years, so definitely something to look forward to in Term 2! It is with great sadness that we learnt of recent events in Christchurch and it has been a reminder not only to ensure our Health and Safety procedures are robust, but of our responsibilities as a Board of Trustees to support the health and wellbeing of our staff and students. As a board we are well aware of some of the challenges our young people face. Our support of Gumboot Day to…
BOARD UPDATE March 2019
Tēnā koutou katoa If you are new to the school – welcome! It’s great to have you as part of our Horowhenua College family! Term 1 is well underway, and we are almost into parent conferences where you have an opportunity to discuss with whānau teachers and your young person, their academic goals for the year. We encourage you to come along, as a board and a school we are wanting to continue to develop exciting and relevant learning pathways which lead into employment and/or further education and training. We so appreciate when our parents engage with us our students learning journeys, and parent conferences are just one of a number of ways we endeavour to build relationships, encourage responsibility and lay a foundation for success (our core NUA values). In 2019 we again we have a full complement of school trustees on our board, I am always in awe…
BOARD UPDATE December 2018
Kia ora koutou As I write this we are racing towards Christmas and the end of the year! 2018 was a busy year in the life of the college with lots of great learning going on in the school. Our Year 9 and 10 academic tracking system has been developed across the year and in 2018 we continued to track the progress of our Year 11-13 students. The development of tracking systems is important as it enables staff to provide extra help and learning support where necessary. We will be focussing again on lifting academic achievement in 2019 as it is the core academic business of the College. The Board of Trustees work in partnership with Mr Congdon and the Senior Leadership Team and it is great that we are united in our actions being directed towards ‘continuous improvement’ in all areas of the school. Through the year we have…
BOARD UPDATE October 2018
Kia ora koutou October’s Board of Trustees was lengthy but productive! I am very grateful we have such a dedicated team of trustees who read all the meeting documents prior to the meeting. We work electronically so thankfully we avoid the need to print off reams of paper! Becoming familiar with the Google Docs system (something our students and staff use) has been good professional development for a number of trustees – including myself! Our October meeting was also the first for our recently elected student trustee Sam Anderson and it was great to welcome him to the board. We really value our student trustees and the perspective they bring to our discussions. Sadly it was also the meeting where we farewelled outgoing trustee Brooke Antonsen. Brooke has done a wonderful job in her role as student trustee. We have appreciated her thoughtful and insightful contributions as a board member…