WHS Newsletter | Issue 1.07 | 14 March 2025

Principal's Message

Kia ora and welcome to the end of Week 7, it’s amazing how quickly this term is going and with only 4 weeks (and 18 school days) left in the term, a common theme at assemblies has been the need to be planned and organised and to ultimately buckle down, as senior students will have many internal assessments due in the coming weeks. 

One of the things that we have been emphasising this year, is the need for students to be attending regularly. The Ministry of Education defines regular attendance as being present more than 90% of the time and from this week, parents and students will be able to see their attendance percentage near the top of their weekly Learning Engagement report. We really appreciate your support in ensuring that students are at school and come to school on time. See below for more details. 

As previously mentioned, our weekly Learning Engagement reports are indicators of engagement and behaviour, rather than achievement and parents and students are encouraged to regularly check the Portal to see academic grades and comments regarding next steps for learning. Speaking of next steps, our Junior Next Steps afternoon and evening is coming on Tuesday, 25 March. This is an important opportunity for parents and students to meet for 15 minutes with their Kaiārahi to discuss engagement with school, as well as their learning, progress and achievement, See below for more details on how to book a time to meet with your students' Kaiārahi. 

Last Sunday, I had the pleasure of heading to Lake Ruataniwha in Twizel to watch our outstanding Rowing team partake in the South Island Secondary Schools rowing regatta. Our crews were in 20 A Finals on that Sunday and by the end of the regatta had come home with 8 Golds, 7 Silvers, 5 Bronze and the prestigious Bell Points Cup as the top rowing school in the South Island. Congratulations to all the rowers, the coaches, managers and supporters, and all the best for the National Maadi Cup in 10 days time! Speaking of Nationals, James Weber is the U18 National Champion in the 3000 metre event and Sienna Mackley won the Silver in the U20 5000 metre event. Phenomenal results and be sure to check out all the sporting results below. 

On Wednesday evening, the WHSF in conjunction with the Chamber of Commerce, hosted the Business After 5 (BA5) event at WHS. It was wonderful to see so many businesses there to support the BA5 and WHSF and our student leaders had the opportunity to meet and network with a wide range of people. The WHSF does an amazing job of supporting our school and if you wish to get involved or support the WHSF, please click here for more information. 

The last of our Year 9 Greenstone Camps came to a conclusion today, with Mackenzie House students recently arriving back to school. With each House having their own 3-day experience at the top of the lake, some of our teachers and contractors have been on camp for 12 days - a huge thanks to all those that enable the camp to happen, including AJ Hackett, Les Hutchins Conservation Foundation and Uncle Jack McPherson. The camp comes at quite an expense to the school and all families have been invoiced but only a portion of what it costs to run the camp - thank you in anticipation of that payment. 

Next Friday 21 March, as part of the Wakatipu Basin’s Community of Learning or Kāhui Ako o Wakatipu (KAW), the High School, along with all of the Basin’s Primary School’s are holding a basin-wide Teacher Only Day. Our Kāhui Ako has two achievement challenges that we are focusing on at the moment, they are Literacy and Mātauranga Māori. At WHS, we will be spending the morning developing school-wide strategies for teaching Literacy across the curriculum, and in the afternoon, all of the Primary School teachers will come to WHS for a presentation from Dr Melanie Riwai-Couch, who has recently published the book ‘Niho Taniwha: Improving Teaching and Learning for Ākonga Māori”

See below for a couple of other key dates and be sure to have a read of another action-packed newsletter.

Key Dates

• Fri, 21 March - Teacher Only Day (no school)
• Sat, 22 March - Summer Tournament Week Begins
• Mon, 24 March - Otago Anniversary Day (no school)
• Tues, 25 March - Junior Next Steps (classes finish at 1:50 pm with buses running at this time)
• Weds, 02 April - Musical begins
  

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend.

Ngā mihi nui,

Oded Nathan
Principal/Tumuaki

Junior Next Steps 25th March - book now

Tuesday 25th March: 2.15 pm - 7.30 pm

Junior Next Steps meetings are an important opportunity for Year 9 and Year 10 students and their parents to meet with their respective Kaiārahi who have a holistic view of their progress so far this term.

The discussion will centre around how the year has started, and will also cover their goals, Learning Engagement Reports, Progress and Achievement Grades, and involvement in extra and co-curricular activities. This is a really important opportunity to connect with the school and Kaiārahi and all parents are strongly encouraged to attend in person along with their student.

Bookings are essential and will close at 5.00 pm on Monday, 24 March (Otago Anniversary Day).  Bookings can be made here using this link.

Please note that the strong preference is for these meetings to be held in person, onsite at Wakatipu High School, but we have an option for a virtual meeting if necessary.

Ms. Sarah Hill, one of our Deputy Principal's who oversees literacy and numeracy (including the co-requisite Common Assessment Tasks) will also be holding a drop-in session on the evening in the Boardroom.  Those parents requiring further information around how they can help prepare their student for these tests, which are coming up during Term 2, should feel free to drop in and see her.

We look forward to seeing you here at school for these important meetings.

Craig Morrison
Deputy Principal

Attendance

One of our school's key focus areas for 2025 is improving student attendance. Throughout the year, we will continue communicating closely with you so that together we can support your child's regular attendance. It's clear that students need to be in class to maximise their learning, and even a few missed days can quickly add up, significantly impacting their education. The table below illustrates the cumulative effect absences can have on your child’s learning time in class.

Every missed day impacts student learning, and regular attendance is essential for your child's success. As a parent or caregiver, you play a vital role alongside our school in developing strong attendance habits. All students are legally required to attend school each day; meeting this responsibility is a collective effort. To support you in this, you'll receive a weekly report detailing your child's attendance and their current Ministry of Education (MOE) in-class attendance percentage.

If you're experiencing challenges in getting your child to school, please reach out to our attendance officer or Dean. Also, we encourage you to contact your stdents Kaiārahi, so we can collaborate on strategies and provide support.

For detailed information regarding school attendance policies and responsibilities, please refer to the following resources:

• Ministry of Education: MOE Attendance Information
• Wakatipu High School Attendance Policy: WHS Attendance Information

Thank you for your ongoing support and partnership in helping every student achieve their full potential.

Giving Thanks to Uncle Jack

On Monday, Lucy Boniface, Grace Kunath, and I had the privilege of driving across to Cromwell with Mr. Nathan to visit Uncle Jack McPherson and his nieces, Robyn and Jude. Uncle Jack, a retired farmer, is a fantastic supporter of Wakatipu High School and the foundation. We had a great time sharing stories with him and discussing the positive impact he has had on the school. We also talked about what an amazing experience Greenstone and Branches camps are for everyone who goes, and that many students would say that Branches in year 10 would be one of the highlights of their time at WHS. 

We would like to thank Uncle Jack for his continued generosity and wish him a very happy 98th birthday this April!

Baxter Bamford
Year 13 Prefect

Supporting Your Child’s Ākonga Passport Journey

All our junior students are well underway in working towards their personal goals, aligned with our Ākonga Profile. As they achieve these goals, they earn points towards their Ākonga Passport—a recognition of their holistic, all-round development.

Year 9 students, in particular, should have already completed key digital literacy tasks, such as using email, along with well-being activities from our school-wide focus. Beyond these, students can gain points through various opportunities, including participating in House events, demonstrating our school values, achieving strong Learning Engagement Indicators, and taking part in extracurricular activities.

Developing into great all-round students is a key focus for our school. This term, junior students should be actively working towards completing at least one goal in each aspect of the Ākonga Profile, as well as setting and achieving new goals to further progress in their Ākonga Passport. These goals are set and worked on during Ako, but can be achieved at any time. 

Each junior student should aim to complete their Ākonga Passport over two years, and should be working towards achieving at least one level up per year:

• Bronze: 30 points
• Silver: 60 points
• Gold: 100 points

For a detailed breakdown of the Ākonga Passport points, please visit the Wakatipu website to learn more about the Ākonga Profile, Passport.

As parents and caregivers, your support is vital. We encourage you to check in with your child regularly to discuss their progress and aspirations. Parents can help set goals with students, which can then be communicated to their Kaiārahi to be entered into the school system. Students should also be recording the specific goals they are working towards in the hard copy of their Ākonga Passport, which parents can check in with and use to support their child’s progress. If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s journey to build their personal Ākonga profile through our Ākonga passport system, please reach out directly to your child's Kaiārahi, who can provide guidance and support in this space.

Greenstone Camp

Our Year 9 students are back from Greenstone, and we've heard some fantastic stories. Students had new experiences, faced challenges, building friendships, creating memories and skills that will have a lasting impact on their development. A huge thanks to everyone who helped make it happen: our staff, contractors, the Wakatipu High School Foundation, Les Hutchins Conservation Foundation, Uncle Jack, Skyline Queenstown, and AJ Hackett. A special thanks to the Stars Peer Mentors for their awesome support, and to the Graeme Dingle Foundation for their continued commitment to our students. We really appreciate all the support.

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Update from Student Leaders

Business After 5

On Thursday evening, the Student Leadership team had the privilege of networking and talking to some of Queenstown’s most influential business owners and foundation partners at the Business After 5 dinner hosted at our school. It was an incredible experience connecting with members of Queenstown’s business community.

With lawyers, travel agents, financiers, and everything in between in attendance, it was a chance for us to learn all about the different paths and careers we can go into after our time at WHS. We found the evening amazing, inspiring, and insightful.

One of the highlights for us was hearing Manuella's speech, focused on supporting the next generation, which resonated with ourselves and others willing to support Wakatipu High School. We also heard Daniel Gibbons’ inspiring words about the Wakatipu High School Foundation.

Being surrounded by so many business-minded individuals really opened our eyes to the endless possibilities available after school, and it left us feeling excited about the future, equipped with valuable connections and a greater understanding of the opportunities available in the business world.
Ava Weston and Zita Rylev

Leadership Speaker Series

Thursday morning, we kicked off our Leadership Series with an inspiring guest speaker! Our students had the incredible opportunity to learn from John Quinn, a presentation expert from Audience Alive.

The session focused on enhancing our public speaking and presentation skills, offering valuable tips and techniques, including how to hold the attention of the audience by projecting your voice and lowering the pitch to command attention, using our body language to project confidence, by standing tall and holding your hands in the center of your body. Along with this we learn the power of not using filler words like um and instead using silence to your advantage.

Here are his top tips summarised below!!

• Use cue cards with bullet points to maintain a conversational tone
• Incorporate stories to engage the audience
• Rehearse and video yourself for self-improvement
• Maintain appropriate eye contact
• Vary tone and pitch
• Use prosody to avoid monotone delivery
• Move away from the podium to engage the audience
• Speak slower and louder for clarity

And most importantly, smile and have fun!!

This session was an exciting start to our Leadership Series, helping equip those who attended with the skills to become powerful and persuasive speakers! A big thank you to Mr Quinn for coming in and we hope to see everyone at the next Leadership Series on March 20 - Dr Sam Hazeldine - World leader and advocate for Doctor wellbeing. He weaves education with entertainment to engage audiences at a core level to drive positive change. An extremely inspirational person with a wealth of knowledge.

Cleo Exell

5 Ways of Wellbeing

The wellbeing council is implementing 5 ways of wellbeing across 5 weeks to increase awareness about how we can take notice, give, keep learning, connect, and be active to help us feel good and function well.

This week’s theme was ‘Take Notice’ because paying more attention to the present moment, to thoughts and feelings and to the world around, boosts our wellbeing.  We hosted an amazing workshop on mindfulness, empowerment, and mental health and we also had a Gratitude Jar Raffle - Polaroid camera winner to be announced! We've been encouraging students to download the ‘Down Dog’ yoga app, which they can access for free with their school login.

Next week is 'Keep Learning' week! We're going to be doing some awesome things to encourage everyone to try something new. Check your student email for all the details, and follow the @wakatipuwellbeing  Instagram for updates and chances to win some sweet prizes! We'd love for everyone to get involved!"

Karakia Series

The Māori and Pasifika council has begun the weekly Karakia series over the school PA system. This is all about how we can, as a school, improve our Te Reo pronunciation and understanding of Māori culture. This is important because we use Karakia for a lot of things - before a meal, game of rugby, performance on stage, a trip, assembly, a Haka, the list goes on. So if you wanna get more involved join in on Monday Mixtape!!

Sorting station

Thanks to the Environment Council, a new sorting station has been installed in Te Kirikiri, courtesy of Coronet Peak for the term. Please take advantage of this resource and ensure you're recycling correctly by following the signs and placing items in the appropriate bins.

2025 Musical - Mamma Mia!Second week of Greenstone camps

Mamma Mia! is progressing beautifully! The cast is giving their all, and the show is going to be spectacular. A big shout out to the set design – it's coming together amazingly! Be sure to get your tickets before they sell out - click here to get yours now.

Week Two of Greenstone Camps

The second week of Greenstone Camps was a resounding success! Fox students had an exciting adventure from March 8 to 10, followed by the Hay students, who enjoyed their camp from March 10 to 12. Mackenzie students wrapped up the series with their camp from March 12 to 14. 

When asked about the Greenstone camp, Anne from Mackenzie (Year 9) shared that she was excited to “hang out with her friends and go swimming at the lake.” Based on feedback from previous camps, the action-packed 3 days were incredible, encouraging students to step outside their comfort zones and try new activities.

The camps proved to be a memorable experience for our Year 9 students, providing our Year 9 students with a unique opportunity to strengthen friendships, challenge themselves, and develop valuable outdoor skills. We hope all participants had an unforgettable and rewarding experience at Greenstone.

Rae Joseph and Luca Mitchell

A Taste of Kiwi Culture for our International Students

Last weekend, 22 of our international students had the opportunity to experience New Zealand culture at the Wānaka A&P Show. They explored the agricultural displays, sampled local cuisine, and some even participated in sheep shearing. The students also enjoyed supporting their fellow students in the show-jumping events and watching the popular Jack Russell race. It was a wonderful day out experiencing local traditions. Thank you to Kate Ide, International Homestay Assistant, and Ms. Sarah Hill for organising and facilitating this valuable experience.

Sport and Active Recreation News

Rowing

The Wakatipu High School rowing crews dominated at the South Island Secondary School Champs, held at Lake Ruataniwha over the weekend. The crews achieved an incredible 8 golds, 7 silvers and 5 bronze medals to take home the Points Bell for top overall school - for the third year in a row! The 20 medal haul saw WHS sitting well clear on the points table. A huge thank you to the coaches, parents, sponsors, and the Whakatipu Rowing Club for all of their mahi behind the scenes. The crews are now preparing for the Maadi Cup at Lake Karapiro, Cambridge. Kā Mauka Whakatipu!

🥇U18 Boys Single: Harry Lightfoot
🥇U18 Boys Double: Harry Lightfoot, Seb Watson
🥇U18 Boys Quad: Charles Manser, Seb Watson, Max Davis, Harry Lightfoot + Cameron Hall
🥇U17 Boys Single: Charles Manser
🥇U17 Boys Double: Charles Manser, Max Davis
🥇U17 Boys Quad: Oli Watson, Max Davis, McKellar Thornton, Jasper Crawford + Cameron Hall
🥇U15 Girls Octuple: Caitlyn Julian, Keira Lightfoot, Scarlett Cavanagh, Cinnamon Williams, Liberty Hide, Mimi Blundell, Annie Clark, Jesse Bates + Bella Noton
🥇U15 Girls Quad: Caitlyn Julian, Keira Lightfoot, Scarlett Cavanagh, Liberty Hide + Bella Noton
🥈U18 Boys Single: Seb Watson
🥈U18 Boys Double: McKellar Thornton, Jasper Crawford
🥈U17 Girls Double: Lucy Clark, Amy Paterson
🥈U16 Girls Double: Zara Small, Eve Pagan
🥈U16 Boys Single: Oli Watson
🥈U16 Girls Quad: Zara Small, Caitlyn Purdue, Caitlin Roberts, Eve Pagan + Amelie Dee
🥈U15 Boys Quad: Reuben Davis, Phineas Thomas, Henri Monnier, Baxter Kingan + Jessie Glover
🥉U18 Boys Novice Quad: Liam Major, Liam Feeley, Flynn Weber, Zebbie Jarvis + Bella Noton
🥉U17 Girls Single: Lucy Clark
🥉U17 Girls Quad: Lucy Clark, Amy Paterson, Zara Small, Eve Pagan + Amelie Dee
🥉U15 Boys Octuple: Baker Schmitz, Baxter Kingan, Reuben Davis, Henri Monnier, Phineas Thomas, Kaito Nakazawa, Flynn Weber, Zebbie Jarvis + Jessie Glover
🥉U15 Girls Double: Caitlyn Julian, Keira Lightfoot

A few notable mentions:

Annika Arlett, Eva McGee, Harry Lightfoot, Oli Watson, Zara Small and Eve Pagan for having the best row of the season at SISS. Max Davis, Charlie Manser, the whole Novice Girls and Novice Boys squads for an outstanding contribution to the medal tally.

A huge thank you to all of the rowers that challenge and encourage their team mates to achieve their very best results and who contribute to the collective achievement of the group, especially those not travelling to Maadi who are supporting training and logistics. We couldn't do it without you.

Athletics

The Jennian Homes New Zealand Track and Field Championships were held from the 6th - 9th of March in Dunedin, seeing some of the top athletes in the country compete. A huge congratulations to James Weber who won the Men’s U18 3000m! Siena Mackley also podiumed with a Silver in the Women’s U20 5000m.

Volleyball

The Volley South Indoor Champs were held in Invercargill on Sunday 9th of March. It was a huge day of volleyball for our Senior Boys and Senior A, B and Navy Girls teams. The Senior A Girls team finished top of their pool with wins against Aurora College and Verdon College to face James Hargest College in the final. It was a tight match up, going to a 5th set, which James Hargest clinched. Thank you to Steve Henderson, Matt Hollyer, Julian Patino, Sian Horn and Aroha Solomon for their support on the day. The Senior A team are looking forward to the National Champs in Palmerston coming up during Summer Tournament Week.

Touch

The Mixed A Touch team competed at the Otago Touch Champs on Saturday winning three of their four games, losing the final game against South Otago by one point, to tie for first overall. A big thank you to coach Nick Saunders, Corey Tiananga and Jackie Rule. The tournament was a great lead into South Island Champs in two weeks time.

Futsal

The Central Otago Futsal Champs were held in Cromwell on Tuesday 4th March. WHS entered two teams into the competition for the first time. The teams finished first and third in the six team competition, which is encouraging considering most of the students were juniors. Special thanks to local Futsal coach Iuri Batista and also Joel Marques for taking the boys to the event. A bright future ahead in this sport.

Golf

The Wakatipu High School Gold team had to settle for runner-up at this year's Otago Intercollegiate Competition, held at Cromwell on Monday 3rd March. Kings High School topped the table with the low three scores all being Kings High students. Josh Harris was the best of the Wakatipu High School team, carding a respectable 73 followed by Noah Novacek on 74.

Surfing

The Southland Surfing Champs were held at Colac Bay on the 8th of March. The surf was the biggest it has ever been for the secondary school champs, with some waves up to 2.5 meters high. The wind made for challenging conditions but the 8 WHS surfers met the challenge to finish as the second school overall. Congratulations to the following students for their top placings.

• Angus Roberts: 1st U16 Boys, 2nd U18 Boys, 3rd Long Board Boys
• Brody Baker: 3rd U16 Boys
• Harley Hamilton: 4th U16 Boys, 4th U18 Boys
• Sid Galbraith: 4th Long Board Boys

Coaches - We Need You!

WHS is seeking passionate coaches for the upcoming winter season. Please get in touch if you are interested in supporting sport at WHS. In particular we are after coaches for the following teams:

• 2nd XV Boys Rugby
• 1st XI Boys Hockey, 1st XI Girls Hockey, 2nd XI Hockey
• Senior Basketball
• Junior Netball

Keep Us Informed

The Sports Department would love to hear from you if you know of any awesome sporting achievements from our students! Please send through details/results and photos to Sian at shorn@wakatipu.school.nz so we can share and celebrate these as a school.

Support Sport at WHS

Support the team by liking the Wakatipu High School Sports Facebook page. This is the best way to stay up to date with the successes of our athletes and teams and celebrate their great achievements!

https://www.facebook.com/WakatipuHighSchoolSports/ 

Sian Horn
Director of Sport

Arts Department News

Get Ready for Mamma Mia!

Our full production of Mamma Mia! is coming to the stage from Wednesday, April, through Saturday, April 5, with five shows in total, including a matinee! Tickets are selling quickly so secure yours now through iTicket –  click here.

To give students a sneak peek, we're hosting two special foyer performances featuring key songs from the show. Join the Leads, Ensemble, and Band on Tuesday, March 18, and Wednesday, March 19, for these preview sessions.

These foyer performances will offer a taste of what you can expect when Mamma Mia! officially opens on April 2. We look forward to sharing the excitement with you!

Musical Rehearsal Updates: 

The cast and band have been rehearsing weekly since late January, and have been absolutely smashing it with their singing, acting and dancing alike. This show is shaping up to become an unbelievable adventure of drama, love, chaos, and Abba! So if you’re interested in coming along to watch, get your tickets quickly, as they’re selling out fast! 

The Set Design Team are off to a great start for the Mamma Mia production, working hard to help make this show the best show in the Wakatipu for 2025!!!  It all looks amazing - come along and to the show to see their fantastic work - buy your tickets before they sell out.

Toi Wearable Arts

The Toi Wearable Arts Group are asking for donations of

* sewing materials, old curtains etc 

* to borrow sewing mannequins / shop mannequins for our groups or if any has one they would like to sell please let Mrs Brown know .

They can be brought into the school office but please make sure they are named so we can return them

Arts Time

Wednesday morning Arts time is well underway running from 8.00am - 9.00am as we welcome any students to come and join us. This is a fantastic opportunity for students to explore their creative interests before the school day begins. Activities include the Jazz Combo in the main band room, practical sessions on Live Performance Sound and Lighting led by our senior students, open access to the Dance studio and band practice rooms, and Junior Singing with Mrs. Fraser. We encourage students who have signed up for Junior Singing to attend, as it's a wonderful chance to develop their vocal skills.

Tom Maxwell was our songwriting tutor for this week's songwriting. As both an ex-student and a regular gigging musician in Queenstown, Tom brings a wealth of industry experience and has worked both as a solo act and with his band, The Killergarms. It was great to see so many students attend this session and we look forward to having him back in three weeks time. Next week we bring back Violet Hirst to follow up from her first session looking at lyric writing.  

Extracurricular groups - all updates will be posted on the All Things Arts Classroom Group.  

• Junior Jazz / Jazz Full Band / Jazz Combo  

• Digital Music Production

• Songwriting Group

• Junior / Senior Singing

• Social Art Club

• Year 9 Band Hub

• Knitting & Crochet Club

Check each of the  Classroom Groups for more details and updates

Exciting visits in ART

Being able to access a visiting artist is an incredible opportunity for our students to get first hand input from established artists. We hope to welcome more artists and professionals in the arts space in the future. If you would like to share your experience and knowledge please get in touch with Arts Coordinator Stine Cooper scooper@wakatipu.school.nz.

Upcoming for Term 1 & 2 - 

NOW - Mamma Mia! Tickets on Sale!!!!

18 March - Year 9 Band Hub
19 March - Arts Time 8 am-9 am
2-5 April - Mamma Mia!  WHS Musical for 2025
30 April - Entries close - Play It Strange Junior Songwriting Competition (Yrs 9-11)
3-4 May - YAMI - held in Wānaka
11 May - Rockquest heats (if needed)
24 May - Big Break (Bands and solo/duo)
30 May - Entries close - Play It Strange - Peace Song Competition 
09 June - Toi/Showquest
14 June - Rockquest finals
20 June  - SIX
16 July - Entries close - Play It Strange - Lion Foundation National Songwriting Competition (Yrs 9-13)
31 July - Entries close - Play It Strange - Waiata Māori Competition

Te Atamira - is a multi-purpose arts and cultural space at Remarkables Park Town Centre - check out what is happening at Te Atamira here

Te Wahi Toi - Nau mai, haere mai, Te Wāhi Toi is the meeting place and online directory for Queenstown and Wānaka’s creative community.  Find them here

Let us Know
The Arts department would like to know about any artistic achievements that students have attained outside of school be it in Drama, Dance, Music or Visual Arts. Please send details and photos to scooper@wakatipu.school.nz

Support the Arts
We are always looking for local professional performing and visual artists to visit our school and run workshops for our students. If you or someone you know is interested, please contact Mrs Cooper the Arts Coordinator at scooper@wakatipu.school.nz

Instagram Page
Follow our school’s Instagram page for recent successes or news within the school’s Arts Department at whsartdepartment.

Careers

It's been a busy period, and we’ve had the pleasure of offering a variety of tailored courses to our Gateway students.

This week, some of our Gateway students participated in a Working at Heights course, which proved to be an exciting and valuable experience. During the session, students learned how to safely use a harness for personal fall protection while working at elevated heights—skills that are particularly beneficial for those pursuing careers in fields like construction, scaffolding, and audio/lighting technology.

Additionally, we offered a Health and Safety Risk Assessment course and a bespoke program covering key topics such as workplace harassment, discrimination, time management, and an introduction to banking products and services.

These courses are designed to help students successfully transition from school to the workforce, equipping them with essential skills for their future careers.

Year 13 Tertiary Liaison Visits - Key Dates!

Each year during Term 1, university and polytechnic liaison officers visit our school to introduce Year 13 students to the opportunities available at tertiary institutions.

If you are considering your study options after high school, these sessions are a must-attend! They are a great way to explore your options, ask questions about courses, campuses, career pathways and get helpful advice straight from the experts.

Click the link below for session details and to register.

Tertiary Liaison Visits:

Monday 17 March - Massey University   https://wakatipu.careerwise.school/post/110
Monday 17 March - NZ Defence Force https://wakatipu.careerwise.school/post/444
Wednesday 19 March - University of Waikato  https://wakatipu.careerwise.school/post/438
Monday 31 March - AUT https://wakatipu.careerwise.school/post/100
Thursday 3 April - SIT https://wakatipu.careerwise.school/post/916

WHS Foundation

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