Junior Prizegiving

End of year prizegiving for Year 9 will happen on Monday 13 December, and Year 10 on Tuesday 14 December. Unfortunately due to Covid-19 restrictions these will be live streamed events with students and staff only. Parents are not able to attend in person. Early next week the whanau of prizewinners will be notified by email and given instructions for accessing the live stream. Due to privacy restrictions this event is not publicly available. 

Year 9 Prizegiving - Monday 13 December (11:00 to 12:15), school finishes and buses run at 12:30pm
Year 10 Prizegiving - Tuesday 14 December (11:15 to 12:30), school finishes and buses run at 12:45pm

WHS Foundation Annual Golf Day Raises $29,500!

The sun was shining on Wednesday as 100 golfers in 25 teams fiercely competed in the WHS Foundation Annual Golf Tournament at Millbrook Resort. Some say that golf is just a good walk spoiled however on Wednesday it also proved to be a great fundraiser with $29,500 raised! These funds will benefit all WHS students through the $350,000 in initiatives the WHS Foundation is funding in 2022.

Congratulations to the winners of the day:
Team Results
1st:  Justin Ralson's Team with Justin Ralston, Glyn Lewers, Blaire Deasy, and Jamie McIssac 
2nd: The Aprotean team with Stuart Dix, Craig Walton, Richard Parnell and Barnie van Biljon
3rd: Moore Markhams Otago with Heath Copland, Ben Irons, Peter Fullerton-Smith and Callum Rhodes
Individual Winners
Nearest to the Pin Competition Sponsored by Mitre10 Mega Queenstown
Stephen McArthur
Sarena Glass
Whip the Whippersnapper Nearest to the Pin Competition
Jack Gallie
Sarena Glass
The Longest Drive Competition Sponsored by Assembly Architects Limited
Jamie McIssac
Michelle King

We would like to thank Millbrook Resort for generously sponsoring the day as well as all the wonderful local businesses that sponsored Holes and donated raffle and auction items and our Auctioneer Brendan Quill of Colliers. A special mention goes to the WHS Whippersnappers - Jack Gallie, Noah Novacek, Mace Korani, and Oscar Stanley who joined us on the course to play against our golfers and help raise funds on the day. Our Annual Golf Tournament would not be possible without the support and generosity of all involved. Thank you!

International day of Persons with Disabilities

Special Education group of Wakatipu High School celebrated the International Day of Persons with Disabilities today, Friday 3 December. The group invites everyone to support inclusion within our communities by wearing orange.

Branches Photos

Branches Camp 1

Branches in school programme

Associate Principal's Message

At Wakatipu High School, our vision is to enable students to experience and develop through ‘Aotearoa/New Zealand’s best all-round education’, and once again, this week has delivered. 

Branches Camp offers students the opportunity to learn and grow holistically through a range of experiences, and by all accounts, Camp 1 is off to a stellar start, as the 140 students have had great weather experiencing the ‘Best of Branches’ - from Rafting to Polnoon to Lochnagar, and much more. Meanwhile the other half of Year 10 has been doing the ‘in-school programme’, in which they have been learning about the people and personalities in their respective Groups, while also learning astronomy, knot-tying, flax-weaving/harakeke. Yesterday, the students went up the Remarkables and helped clean up the environment while learning about the importance of citizenship and service. We look forward to welcoming back Camp 1 on Sunday and seeing Camp 2 off on Monday 6 December. (See below for photos).

Late last week, we were informed that Helena Hornbacher (Yr 12) and Kieran Leftley (Yr 9) had received the ICAS Medal for Writing and Digital Technology, respectively. Each student was the top student  in all of New Zealand and the Pacific in their respective categories. This is quite an achievement, and very uncommon, let alone for two students to win a medal from the same school in the same year. What’s even more remarkable, is that this is the second year in a row that Helena has won a medal as she received the English ICAS medal in 2020. See below for more details on all the ICAS achievements, and my congratulations to all those students who are striving to reach their potential, Kā Mauka Whakatipu!

The annual WHS Foundation Golf Tournament was held again at Millbrook on Wednesday, and despite being under Level 2 conditions (maximum of 100 guests), this was another truly remarkable event. With more than $29,000 raised, the support that the WHS Foundation and Wakatipu community give to WHS is truly humbling. These funds have an immensely positive impact on students' education both in and out of the classroom, and as a school we cannot give enough thanks to everyone who is involved with organising and supporting events that contribute to the delivery of Aotearoa’s best all-round education. 

Today, I met with the Deputy Secretary of Education to discuss Phase 2 of our school build. As mentioned last week, progress has been steady and we are looking forward to having the new extensions available to us from April of 2022. Similarly, the remediation of our sports fields is tracking to schedule, which means they will be available for our start of year, including Participation Day 2022. See below for key dates to the 2022 Academic Year. 

Lastly, despite the country moving to the ‘traffic light system’ from today, the Secretary of Education has stated that all schools will stay with their current systems through to the end of the year, which means that at WHS, we will continue to operate at ‘Alert Level 2’. Unfortunately, this means that our end of year Prizegiving and Graduation will be livestreamed to parents/caregivers, as only students and teachers will be able to attend in person. Please see below for more details about Junior Prizegiving. 

I’m looking forward to going into Branches tomorrow and with Mr Hall continuing to support the smooth running of Branches, there will be no newsletter next week, with the next and final newsletter for 2022 coming on Wednesday 15 December. 

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend. 

Ngā manaakitanga,

Oded Nathan
Associate Principal

WHS Foundation

Student Job Vacancies

Go Rentals are looking for a car groomer over the summer period.  We are offering 40 hours worked over 4 days including weekends. We have a fun and active work environment which can lead to ongoing work during holidays etc. If interested email a CV through to Meghan meghan.pickup@gorentals.co.nz

REMARKABLES SWEET SHOP IS LOOKING FOR RETAIL SALES REPRESENTATIVES:
Bright, bubbly, customer and sales focused people who excel in a busy retail environment. Must be available to work from the 17 December 2021 – 16 January 2022, training in early December.

Seasonal fixed-term available in our Queenstown store. Includes weekend work and evenings.

If you want to work for a fantastic, and fun local company who truly values its employees send us your CV to hr@rss.co.nz

Gibbston Valley are looking for some school students to join the team this summer!
We have the following roles up for grabs:

HOUSEKEEPER:
As a housekeeper, you will perform routine duties in cleaning and servicing of guest rooms and property under supervision of Housekeeping Manager/Supervisor.

• Hours: between 10am-5pm shifts will be roughly 5 hours
• Must be available to work weekends (one-day minimum) and throughout the summer holidays, including the Christmas and New Year period!
• We can offer full-time or part-time hours

GREETER/HOST:
We are looking for a friendly host to greet customers as they enter Gibbston Valley Wines! You will need to be confident talking to people, making them feel welcome.

• Hours: 10am – 5pm
• Must be available to work weekends (one-day minimum) and throughout the summer holidays, including the Christmas and New Year period!
• We can offer full-time or part-time hours
• The role needs to be covered 7 days a week, we would be happy for students to job share the role.

Reliable transport is essential for both these roles! To apply for the following roles please email you CV through to hr@gibbstonvalley.com Or call Breslin Graham on 021 023 99004 for more information.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Sports News and Information

Southland School Sports Junior Adventure Race
20 WHS students competed in the Southland Junior Adventure Race last Friday in Invercargill. It was a cold and wet day of navigating while kayaking, biking and running. Highlights included running on sand, getting legs shredded from sharp grass and swimming to the checkpoints on the kayak, but despite all of that action, the teams did really well! The first team to cross the finish line were the Wakatipu Wogainers (Jess Hudson, Jude Deaker, Pete Davis, Abby Fookes) in under 2.5 hours, closely followed by Tom Schenk, Seb Watson, Siena Mackley and Sara Warmington. Everyone put in their all and came back soaked to the skin and full of stories. It was awesome to have five teams representing WHS in this growing sport! A huge thanks to Ms Dixon for all of her organisation and effort on the day.
Results were:
Wakatipu Wogainers: Jess Hudson, Jude Deaker, Pete Davis, Abby Fookes - finished 27th
WHS 1: Tom Schenk, Seb Watson, Siena Mackley, Sara Warmington - finished 4th
WHS 2: Abbie Rooney, Violet Smilie, Lucy Boniface, Neive McLeod - finished 7th
WHS 3: Elsbeth Purdue, Manuela Pedrosa, Charlie Manser, Harry Walker-Leech - finished 18th
WHS 4: Finn McCaw, Hyugo Saunders - finished 8th

Junior Cricket Tournament
The Year 9 boys cricket team competed in the annual St Kevins Junior Cricket Tournament in Oamaru this week against schools from Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargill. This is the second year WHS has sent a team to this 40 over tournament and a great way for our Year 9's to spend time together as a group and play schools they normally would not get the opportunity to.  A late default from Waitaki Boys saw the team take on the North Otago Primary School rep team on Monday. The side were all out for 134 and had their opposition on the ropes at 18/5 in the second innings before easing off far too much and allowing the North Otago side to achieve the run target. On to a far better second day of the tournament where Hugo Bogue hit the form of his life make 135 runs off 104 balls, smacking 22 fours and one six. Hugo displayed plenty of elegant stroke making and looked good right from the first ball. The team set 204 to win against St Thomas' of Canterbury and got them all out for 176. Wickets were shared well throughout the team and there was some great fielding from Havyn Cooney with a spectacular run out. Unfortunately the third day was rained out. This team now goes on to play Southland Boys High School in Invercargill on Tuesday in the semi-final of the Otago Junior Boys Tournament. A massive thank you to coaches Mr McNamara,  Mark O'Neill and Reuben Bogue for their huge contribution to WHS cricket this week. 

Coaches/Managers Required for 2022
If you are keen to get involved in supporting the development and growth of our students through sport next year, please let us know. We are looking for coaches and managers in the following sports:
Basketball
Hockey
Netball
Rugby
Touch
Volleyball
Please send me an email to register an expression of interest; lnathan@wakatipu.school.nz

Keep Us Informed
The sports department would love to hear from you if you know of any awesome achievements from our students so that we can celebrate these as a school. Please send through details and photos to lnathan@wakatipu.school.nz. 

Support Sport at WHS
Jump on board and support the team by liking or following the Wakatipu High School Sports Facebook page. This is the best way to stay informed and up to date with the successes of our athletes and teams and help celebrate their great achievements. https://www.facebook.com/WakatipuHighSchoolSports/ 

Laura Nathan
Director of Sport

Special Education - Art

The Special Education group painted festive Christmas rocks yesterday which we will place along the Frankton trail near the Kawarau river. We hope that people in the community will find and enjoy our Christmas decorations!

COYEP Programme

This year we introduced an additional programme, COYEP (Central Otago Youth Employment Programme), at Wakatipu High School. COYEP has an educational focus and is a crucial component of an inclusive education here at school. It is designed to keep students engaged in learning through an interest related programme whilst identifying a possible vocational learning pathway.

This year COYEP  provided opportunities for a number of our students to gain their best academic level possible whilst remaining engaged in learning. The programme has been a combination of personally selected NCEA mainstream subjects and school/work-related packages. 

The other element to the programme has been work placement. This enabled students to develop vocational skills and interests and explore the ‘world of work’. It has profoundly impacted some of our students, increasing self-belief, motivation, and aspirations for their futures. 

We would sincerely like to thank a number of businesses that have opened their doors to providing work placement opportunities for our COYEP students, a vital part of the programme's success. Without support from our community, alternative learning programmes like COYEP could never be possible.

We wish to thank:

If you are interested in supporting our student community, and keen to have a hand in building and growing our vocational work force then we would love to engage with you further. Please get in touch, and if you have any further questions let us know.

If you would like to find out more information about COYEP please follow the link below. All enquiries to Lea Lawniczak at llawniczak@wakatipu.school.nz or 021 0245 1381.

ICAS success!

Kia ora koutou!

Every year students from across all year levels take part in ICAS assessments. ICAS assessments are designed to recognise and award academic achievement in Mathematics, English, Writing, Science, and Digital Technologies.  Student achievement is recognised with Commendation, Merit, Distinction, or High Distinction awards in each subject. Students with the highest score in each year group and subject within New Zealand and the Pacific are also awarded a medal and a medal winner’s certificate. 

This year we are proud to announce that two of our students have been awarded an ICAS medal. Helena Hornbacher attained the medal for top Year 12 Writing student and Kieran Leftley top Year 9 student in Digital Technologies. This is a fantastic achievement and we're all very proud of your success!

Principal's Awards were also presented to the top students in our school in each assesment area. In addition to our top prize winners we also had a plethora of students awarded with certificates. Congratulations to you all and to everyone that participated this year!

PRINCIPALS' AWARD
English and Writing: Helena Hornbacher
Digital Technologies: Kieran Leftley
Mathematics: Tom Schenk
Science: Abby Fookes

STUDENT AWARDS
Harriet Blundell- Credit in English and Mathematics
Georgia Chinn- Distinction in English, Credit in Writing and Science
Peter Davis- Credit in Mathematics
Jorja Dawson- Credit in English
Louis Denney- Credit in Mathematics
Daniela DiFazzio- Distinction in English
Abby Fookes- Credit in Mathematics and Science
Anthony Hollyer- Distinction in English, Credit in Mathematics
Helena Hornbacher- High Distinction in English, High Distinction in Writing + Medal
Paige Jones- Credit in English
Kieran Leftley- High Distinction in Digital Technologies + Medal, Credit in Mathematics
Tom Martin- Credit in Mathematics
Alice McPike- Distinction in English
Alisha Messingham- Credit in Mathematics, Credit in English
Mia Pagan- Credit in Mathematics, Credit in Science
Daphne Ricketts- Credit in English, Credit in Writing
Tom Schenk- Distinction in Mathematics
Ricky Webster- Credit in Mathematics
Sorcha Wilkinson- Distinction in English, Merit in Science, Credit in Writing

Arts News & Information

2022 Musical Update
Thank you for your patience with updates on the 2022 Wakatipu High School musical. As some of you know, we announced that the show for 2022 would be “Heathers - The High School Edition”. While Heathers is a great musical it does contain complex themes including bullying, mental health and suicide, and accordingly, our intention was to develop a plan for how to address these matters appropriately and ensure it was a positive experience for students. However, from the feedback we have received, as well as our own research we have made the decision that now is not the right time to do Heathers and we need to do another musical in 2022.

While we know that there will be students and local arts folk who will be disappointed with this decision, we do still think that Heathers has real merit as a musical and it is our intention to do it at some stage in the future.

What does this mean for students who have been selected for the 2022 Musical?

Naturally, this poses some questions for students already cast for 2022. Firstly, all students who have been selected through the 2022 audition process will still be a part of the 2022 show. However, as we are changing the show for 2022, the roles that have been cast must be re-cast. The reality is that some students may miss out on lead roles. This process will be extensive, and it is our goal to endeavour to be fair to all students.

So if it is not “Heathers - The High School Edition”, what is the new show?

This is likely the first question that pops into the minds of the cast and parents. We wanted a show that would have the same buzz in the student community as “Heathers - The High School Edition” would have created. Along with this, we needed a show that would fit our current cast. With that in mind, we have selected “Footloose” for 2022. 

“Footloose'' is a fantastic show that focuses on love, truth and dancing. At a deeper level, this show dives into the complicated love between family, friends and the community but ultimately the power of forgiveness. Like all musicals, “Footloose” represents society and it raises issues like child abuse, bullying, religious overreach and the message that if we never trust our children how will they ever grow up trustworthy. In the words of Origin theatre, “Footloose celebrates listening to the young people and guiding them with a warm heart and an open mind”. Accordingly, parents are advised to conduct their own research to ensure they are comfortable with their students participating in this show. 

New Release for No Man's Land
No Man's Land has released their newest song 'Safehouse' yesterday. Listeners can find it on Spotify at the link below. 

Community Notices

Key Dates for 2022 Start of the School Year

TaxGift

We are excited to announce that Wakatipu High School has partnered with TaxGift, a simple to use platform that enables you to donate your tax refund back to us, boosting your donation by up to 48% at no additional cost to you! It takes less than a minute to opt in to TaxGift by clicking the link below. Then your job is done. TaxGift will integrate with Inland Revenue to claim the donation tax credit and pass them back to us, as a further gift from you.

Uniform Shop Guidelines for Incoming Year 9 Students

As we approach the end of the year, incoming Year 9s will want to start organising their WHS uniform. Most of the WHS uniform items are for online purchase only and can be found here in the Online Shop.

 Here is the Guideline Chart to help you with taking proper measurements.

For parents who need to help with the sizing, WHS will be opening a pop up uniform shop downstairs in the Food Tech learning common area during the following days and times. Please enter via the side door opposite the first staff carpark. There will be signage on the door. All small items such as socks, belts, jerseys and ties are available to purchase at the onsite shop.

2021 Dates: Monday 6 Dec - Friday 10 Dec, Time: 10:00am - 4:30pm
2022 Dates: Monday 24 Jan - Friday 28 Jan, Time: 9:00am - 4:00pm

Covid restrictions apply to the WHS pop-up shop and we ask that every visitor please adhere to the following

• Sign in on arrival using the covid tracer app
• Wear a mask at all times
• keep 2m social distance

Sports and Physical Activity Coordinator - 2022 Semester 1 position

We are looking for an excellent facilitator to coordinate the successful and safe delivery of sport and physical activity to students. This fixed-term role is 30 hours per week, term-time only for Semester 1 (24 January - 8 July) 2022. 

The ideal candidate will have a passion for youth education through sport and physical activity, excellent organisation and communication skills and be committed to increasing student participation and enhancing student enjoyment in our sport and physical activity programmes.

For more details on the position and information regarding the application process, please see advertisement on SEEK:  https://www.seek.co.nz/job/55123962 

Applicants should send a CV and covering letter to apply@wakatipu.school.nz by 12.00pm on Monday 6 December. 

Associate Principal's Message

Kia ora everyone,

While things may be slowing down in high schools across the country, this week felt like another big week at WHS as seniors had their first NCEA exams, final Branches meetings were held, and the roof began to assemble on our new double-gymnasium. 

After a delay due to Covid, our senior students have completed their first week of the NCEA end of year exams, and our exam invigilators have reported that students have worked extremely hard in the exam throughout the week. It is really important that we continue to encourage students to exemplify the key value of  Resilience/Te manawanui me te ū, over these next two weeks of exams, as they strive to achieve their best all the way through to their last exam - Kā Mauka Whakatipu! A reminder to parents and students, that while the NCEA exams are technically a standards-based assessment, marks are scaled accordingly should students across the country find an exam particularly challenging. 

As mentioned above, the first of two Branches Camps (Camp 1) heads into Branches Station on Monday 29 November.   The amount of time, effort and energy that so many people put into the Camp, both at school and in the community is truly remarkable. It is an extraordinary experience for our young people and wouldn’t be possible without the support of the school and the community. A huge thanks to the Branches Trust who provide tens of thousands of dollars each year to keep the cost down for families. Thanks also to those who have paid their $350 donation, it’s not too late to make the donation and even if you are able to pay part, any donation would be greatly appreciated. We know that the students are very excited for this amazing opportunity and we hope that they really enjoy their time at camp.

This year, with the camp being split into two (due to the size of this and future year’s cohorts), we are also running a pre and post Branches ‘in-school’ programme. A great in-school programme has been developed to support and consolidate the learning that occurs at Branches. It is a compulsory part of school with all Year 10 students expected to attend school whenever they are not at camp, with normal attendance procedures applying.

Phase 2 and the expansion of the school to raise its capacity from 1200 to 1800 students is going well, and on Monday members of staff and the Senior Leadership Team took a tour through the Northern and Southern wing extensions. Included in these extensions are additional Science Labs, a new mini-theatre, purpose built learning commons to house our Digital Technology and Media Studies classes, the new Duncan and Hay House social spaces, plus much, much more. We are really looking forward to these new spaces and feel very fortunate to have such a world-class facility to support teaching and learning and WHS’ great all-round education.

Today was another of the nation-wide Teacher Only Days to support the implementation of the NCEA Review, and while most of these changes will not be in place until 2024, as a school and as a staff we are intent on continuing to develop our understanding of mātauranga maori, which is an integral part of the NCEA review. Today we learned more about He Hītori Māori o te Whakatipu - Māori History of the Whakatipu and about Ingoa Wāhi o Te Kura Tuarua o Whakatipu, place names associated with our school. It was a really interesting and fantastic day for all the staff.

While we welcomed the parents/caregivers of next year’s new entrant Year 9’s in our newsletter a few weeks ago, due to a technical glitch, it turns out those newsletters were not sent, so once again, a big warm welcome to those parents/caregivers. We hope you enjoy reading this and future newsletters as you become better acquainted with Wakatipu High School. 

Like this weekend’s weather, there is still an element of uncertainty with the end of year Junior Prizegiving and Year 13 Graduation as we wait for further clarity from the Ministry of Education. We will be looking to make a decision by the middle of next week as to the format of these very important events, which we’ll communicate in next week’s newsletter.

Have a fantastic weekend and I’m looking forward to seeing many of you at the Branches Camp 1 departure on Monday morning. 

Ngā mihi nui,

Oded Nathan
Associate Principal

Branches Camp

Yesterday morning saw the final Student Meeting before the first camp goes in on Monday 29 November.  The key messages were a reminder of the Camp Objectives - personal and social development, and how the school values of Excellence, Respect, Responsibility, Inclusion and Resilience underpin this and all the activities at camp. 
Students were given a presentation outlining expectations and rules regarding behaviour and discipline at Branches. Key points are that normal school rules apply, and safety is paramount.

Students must follow instructions and respect all staff (including external Contractors and the Farm Managers). We must be able to trust students and that they will do the right things at the right time, including in terms of safety. If we decide that their behaviour suggests we can not trust them this may well be grounds for discipline. Depending on the circumstances students may be warned or given a consequence, or they may be removed from camp. Discipline is the responsibility of the Camp Manager.

Emergency communication - last year we trialled a communication system which enables us to contact the school from camp. We will have regular daily communication with school, so if you need to get an urgent message to your child while they are in at Branches, please phone the school main reception. They will pass this message on to the Camp Manager.

After a huge amount of work organising the logistics of transport, parents have been emailed  the transport lists. These are final and we will not be switching students to different vehicles. Whilst passenger requests have been granted where possible, priority is that all students are accounted for and have transport. Details for transporting students out of camp will be emailed to all parents by Wednesday 1 December. If you have specific questions, or if your circumstances have changed and you now cannot provide transport then please contact kmurray@wakatipu.school.nz. Transport details for Camp 2 will be emailed in due course.

On the day students go in, they need to bring their own packed lunch (early Loch groups do not need to bring a packed lunch), full water bottle, broad brimmed sun hat, sun block, chapstick and any personal medication / take travel sickness tablets if required, as well as a fleece top and rain jacket. All in their day pack so it is accessible during the set-up on Monday.

I head into Branches early tomorrow with a set-up crew to establish the Base Camp infrastructure before the students arrive.  A big thank you to parents and Staff in anticipation of seeing Camp 1 students on Monday after the drive in. 

Key dates
This years' two 7-day camp dates are: Camp 1 - Monday 29 November to Sunday 5 December, and Camp 2 - Monday 6 to Sunday 12 December. 
Other important Branches dates to note are:
Mon 29 Nov - Camp 1 in
Mon 29 Nov - Thurs 2 Dec - Camp 2 in school programme
Fri 3 Dec - Camp 2 - Work Day
Sun 5 Dec - Camp 1 out
Mon 6 Dec - Camp 2 in;  Camp 1 rest day
Tues 7 Dec - Thurs 9 Dec - Camp 1 in school programme
Fri 10 Dec - Camp 1 Work Day
Sun 12 Dec - Camp 2 out
Mon 13 Dec - Yr10 Rest Day
Tues 14 Dec - Yr10 Prizegiving

Bridget Janse
Branches Camp Coordinator

Student Job Vacancies