WHS Newsletter | Issue 3.02 | 06 August 2021

Principal's Message

Kia ora and welcome again to the Wakatipu High School newsletter. While it may only be Week 2 the term is well and truly underway with heaps going on. As well as the important and well-attended House basketball competition at breaks, we have had a number of events this week.

First up on Tuesday was Option Afternoon. This was well-attended by parents and students, which was great to see. A reminder that the important process of students choosing their subjects for next year is happening right now and closes next Friday 13th. Please do make sure that your student is on track to submit their choices correctly on time; see below for more. Related, today is our Year 10 Careers Day so Year 10 parents do ask your students about that.

Also on Tuesday was the ‘Raising Teenagers in Queenstown’ evening for parents. This was very well-attended, which was also great to see, and with the mayor, police and experts in sexual health and the law speaking it was an informative evening for parents. 

In terms of takeaways from the evening, one was for parents to have conversations and talk with their children about the issues they potentially face as teens, including things like alcohol and drugs, social media and porn. 

In terms of parenting, Senior Sergeant John Fookes observed that the police see two types of young people - those they deal with only once and those they see on more than one occasion, with a common difference being parents who hold their children accountable versus those who make excuses for their children. While we know parenting teens is challenging, this is not dissimilar to our experience (and to what I noted recently re our students developing responsibility).

In terms of other themes of the evening from our perspective (including when we end up having to deal with the fallout from weekend or other events), hot tips would be for parents to know where their children are, who they are with and what they are doing; and, following questions and discussion on the evening, to contact parents hosting gatherings, including re alcohol, (even if that makes you the ‘worst parent in the Wakatipu/world’) so that you can make informed decisions and have discussions with your child. As the experts pointed out - when things go wrong the impacts can be long-lasting and affect many people. 

It was a very good evening, and our thanks go to all the presenters and to everyone who attended.

On Wednesday evening we had a WHS Foundation Business Partners event here at school and it was good to be able to update these important supporters re what is going on and coming up at WHS and the Foundation.

It has also been a big week for our all-round education, with lots happening from the Reader’s Cup teams’ success to senior geography and Outdoor Recreation class trips at the Snow Farm and Remarkables (keep an eye out on Facebook for posts on these and more). 

As we’re well into winter a number of sports are now at the sharp end of their competitions. A big congratulations to our girls’ rugby team who won the Central Otago competition for the first time on Wednesday night (also see Facebook), as well as to all our netballers playing in the local competition finals last night - and it was great to watch the Senior A team win the premier grade!

Last but not least in terms of all-round education, our jazz crew are currently on their annual pilgrimage to the Blenheim Jazz festival, with the band and Ollie McLean’s harmonica apparently bringing down the house at a warmup gig at the local hostelry in Renwick on Wednesday night.

In terms of supporting our all-round education, Branches Trust have their big Art Auction next Friday 13th at the Memorial Hall. This is always a really great social evening, and a very important fundraiser for the Trust - please put it in your calendar and come along to support the Trust and Branches Camp.

Junior Mid-Year Reports came out earlier this week and we encourage parents to read through these reports with their students, and to acknowledge great work and engagement and identify areas that need work. The Year 10 reports also included self-management reflections. Please contact subject teachers, Kaiārahi and/or Deans if you have any questions or concerns.

As per my previous newsletters there are a number of important events coming up in the next few weeks, including:

• Junior Mid-year Prizegivings, and Excellence, Ad Alta & Ākonga Passport Assemblies - Monday 9 August. Prizewinners’ parents have been notified, and we look forward to seeing many of you on Monday. Please note that these ceremonies start on time, and to allow time for parking.
• Accord (NCEA) Teacher Only Day - national day to prepare for NCEA changes, Friday 13 August.
• Senior School Exams - Thursday 19 to Wednesday 25 August, ie now less than two weeks away. Seniors need to be looking towards preparing for these exams.
• Junior Teacher Only Day - our annual TOD for junior students during senior exams, Friday 20 August.
• Junior Next Steps - are on Tuesday 24 August.

The WHS App has had an update, which is to ensure it notifies Android devices properly - which is particularly important for snow days and the like. Please see below for more.

Another busy and good week at WHS. Do be sure to get the upcoming events and dates in your calendar as the next few weeks will fly by. Associate Principal, Mr Nathan, will be writing this piece next week so you’ll hear from him next Friday. A bit of everything forecast this weekend - fingers crossed for some ok weather to get out and about in.

Steve Hall
Principal

Course Option Afternoon

On Tuesday 3 August, we held our Option Afternoon to kick off the process of students selecting their Course Options for 2022. It was great to see so many parents and students making the most of the opportunity to hear about the process and talk to teachers, Deans, Careers and SLT about their options for 2022. If you were unable to attend the afternoon, please see the link below to the powerpoint presentation. We appreciate that this is a complex, yet very important process, so if you would like to meet up with a member of the Senior Leadership team to discuss Course Options for 2022, you can make a 20 minute appointment through www.schoolinterviews.co.nz using the code:5eas9. If there are no appointments available or you are unable to make any of the times listed please email office@wakatipu.school.nz and a member of the Senior Leadership Team will be in touch to arrange a time.

A reminder that students must complete their option selection through the School Point portal by 4 pm on Friday 13 August.

Oded Nathan
Associate Principal

Senior Exams

Senior Exams start on Thursday 19 August and are being held until Wednesday 25 August. The timetable has been finalised and sent out to all students.Please click here to view the exam timetable and associated details.

Morning exams begin at 9:15 am and afternoon exams begin at 1:15 pm. Buses run as normal throughout the Senior Exams. Students should be at school at least 20 minutes prior to their exam.

Students should now be preparing a plan and begin their study. School exams are important for a number of reasons, including for students to practice the art of performing well in an exam environment, and they are used for ‘derived grades’ for the number of students who are always unable to sit external exams at the end of the year due to illness, injury, accident etc. Additionally, these results are used to determine end of year prizes.

Lee Hiestand
Assistant Principal 

SZApp Updates

Schoolzine are releasing an important update to their Android SZapp that will resolve the notification issues some users may have faced, which we have pushed them to resolve particularly for urgent situations such as snow days.

Please ensure that your app is up to date with the latest release. Instructions on how to do so can be found at the link below.

https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/113412?hl=en

Wellbeing

Kia ora everyone,

Following our focus on the "Take Notice" aspect of the Five Ways to Wellbeing last term, our new focus is on the aspect of "Keep Learning".

As part of this, we have begun work on both Junior and Senior wellbeing activities. The activities for the Senior School are centred on study skills and wellbeing tips for what can be high pressure time leading into exams. Students were given a selection of different "big ideas" to consider and support them in their planning, preparation and execution of their study. Please find attached a copy of the presentation slides below for reference.

The Junior School's wellbeing activity is focused on the importance of learning for building our taha hinengaro (mental wellbeing). When taha hinengaro is strong, you can better cope with life’s challenges. You can express your feelings and reach out for support from friends, whānau and hoamahi (colleagues) if you need to. The Junior students have been challenged with a task of learning a new skill. Students have been asked to select a skill that they want to learn, record themselves trying the skill for the first time, complete a block of practice and practice logs and then record themselves again at the end of their practice block. We will then have a shared assembly celebrating the awesome mahi and learning our students have done, with prizes being drawn for the best year level videos and some spot prizes being drawn for those who work hard and enter their videos.

Please get in touch if you want to further discuss either of these wellbeing actvities.

All the best for the upcoming exams, make sure you find a balance and look after yourselves!

Ngā mihi

Sam King
Student Wellbeing Coordinator

Vaping

Vaping continues to be a very serious concern for the school. As part of our ongoing efforts to educate students on the dangers of vaping, here is some useful information to understand the health risks associated with vaping. 

• Most vapes sold in New Zealand contain nicotine (more than 99%). They contain nicotine in quantities higher than found in traditional cigarettes.
• Nicotine harms the developing adolescent brain. The brain keeps developing until about age 25.
• Using nicotine in adolescence can harm the parts of the brain that control attention, learning, mood and impulse control.
• Each time a new memory is created or a new skill is learned, stronger connections - or synapses - are built between brain cells. Young people's brains build synapses faster than adult brains. Nicotine changes the way these synapses are formed.
• Using nicotine in adolescence may also increase risk for future addition to other drugs.
• Vape aerosol is NOT harmless "water vapour".
• Vape aerosol that your child is breathing from the device contains harmful and potentially harmful substances including:
  • Nicotine
  • Ultrafine particles that cause lung damage
  • Flavourings such as diacetyl, a chemical linked to a serious lung disease
  • Volatile organic compounds
  • Cancer-causing chemicals
  • Heavy metals such as nickel, tin and lead

(Source: https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/e-cigarettes/Quick-Facts-on-the-Risks-of-E-cigarettes-for-Kids-Teens-and-Young-Adults.html#why-is-nicotine-unsafe)

New Zealand is substantially behind other countries globally in regulating the use of vape products and in educating our youth.   Parents need to actively participate in educating their young people about the dangers of vaping.  Some good resouces for parents include: 

• https://vapingfacts.health.nz/vapefree-schools/supporting-parents.html
• https://www.hpa.org.nz/programme/education/young-people-vaping

Please start the conversation.

6 & 7 Geography Snow Farm Field Trip

This week our Year 11 & 12 Geographers traveled to Snow Farm to explore the future sustainability of alpine environments commercially and environmentally while gaining important data for a GIS (Geographic Information Systems) mapping assessment. 

Ms Wood led a bunch of students on a snowshoeing exhibition. They explored some stunning mountain scenery, alpine meadows, rock features, and alpine streams.

The rest of us started with a quick cross country skiing lesson about the gear, techniques for flat, uphill and downhill terrain. Mr Richards then led a group of keen students on a cross country skiing trail, passing on some of his skiing wisdom. Most students then progressed onto the skating skis for the afternoon. 

Overall we had a fantastic day experiencing the stunning New Zealand alpine environment as you climb, descend and traverse the gentle rolling hills and peaceful valleys of the Pisa Range.

Huge thank you to teachers Mrs Ray, Miss Webster, Ms Wood, Mr Richards for joining us and making this field trip an awesome experience for all.

A special thanks to AJ Hackett Bungy for very generously donating a 4WD bus and driver to us for the day. 

Mr Kendall - Geography Teacher

Reader's Cup

On Monday, two teams travelled down to Invercargill to compete in the Regional Final of the Reader's Cup. It was a bookmark curling, tense and close-fought battle.  When the final scores were tallied, Wakatipu High School Team B took out second place. An epic result. Congratulations to Oscar McCartney; Ellana Badenhop, Jorja Dawson and Alisha Messingham for placing 2nd and to Caitlyn Bibby, Madeline Harvey, Chloe McQuoid and Lucy Boniface for placing 3rd in the Year 9 category.

Ruth Needham
TIC Reader's Cup

OREC Mountain Expedition

A few photos from the Year 13 Outdoor Rec classes who had their first overnight Mountain Expedition up on the Northern end of the Remarkables this week. Some testing weather yet great learning!
Ken McIntyre
OREC teacher

Lead Prefect Message

Kia Ora and welcome to the end of another busy week here at Wakatipu High School. 

Many students braved the cold this week on the Year 13 outdoor education camp up The Remarkables. Students camped in tents along The Remarkables ridgeline learning how to manage themselves and their equipment in an alpine environment. Walking/digging myself out of my tent on Tuesday morning to see the mountain covered in a thick blanket of snow was breathtaking and definitely made the cold night worth it! The Year 13s weren’t the only ones making the most of the winter conditions this week, with the Year 11 and 12 Geography students heading out to the Snow Farm on Tuesday to practise their mapping and data collection skills! 

Last Friday a number of students headed over to Wānaka to participate in the Wānaka Model United Nations. The theme of the event was "Fakenews and Censorship" and we all had a lot of fun debating and arguing the perspective of our countries in a number of different scenarios. As the representative for the Russian Federation, I certainly found it very entertaining and informative to explore and debate Russia’s perspective on the topic! All in all it was a great day and we came away from it with new friendships and confidence in public speaking. 

Students of all year levels piled into the gym at break times this week to cheer on their Houses in the House basketball competition. The high-energy matches are always good fun to watch and it's awesome to see everyone out supporting their Houses. Good luck to everyone playing in the upcoming games next week!

With mock exams just around the corner, I thought it fitting to share with seniors some study tips and advice on how to deal with the pressure these exams may bring:

1. Make a list of all the areas you need to improve on/study for each paper you are sitting, then recognise what actions you need to take to strengthen your understanding in each of these areas. This could be doing practice exam questions, learning flashcards, revisiting book material, creating notes on the topic etc. 
2. Once you have an idea of the revision tasks you have to do, distribute these tasks out over the next two weeks on a calendar with 3 or 4 study tasks to complete each day. This will help you to stay on track of all your study without having to cram the day before your exam. It will also help you feel more confident and less stressed going into exams. 
3. Have a designated study space. This will help you to associate your space with study and productivity and will help to avoid distractions. 
4. Use the Pomodoro study technique of studying for 25 minutes, making note of any distractions that come to mind and then returning to the task. After 25 minutes of focused study, take a 5 minute break and repeat. After four repetitions of this, take a 30 minute break. 
5. In times of stress like in exams, making time for exercise, self-care and mindfulness is vital. This helps you to relax your brain and makes your study more productive and efficient. 

That’s all from me, have a great weekend!
Jasmine Crichton
​Environmental Lead Prefect

Sports News and Information

Girls Rugby Champs
For the first time ever the WHS Girls 1st XV rugby team are the Central Otago champs after beating Dunstan High School 17-10 in the final in Alexandra on Wednesday night. There was a packed crowd at DHS and plenty of WHS parent support that witnessed a mighty battle for the title. Five minutes of solid defence helped WHS to close out the game late in the second half. A big congratulations to our players and coaches Jake Hansen and Brad Fleming. This was the first time that WHS have made it into the finals and we are very proud of the team for winning the Don Clark trophy. The team has also entered the NZ Secondary School Girls Top 4 competition meaning they now progress through to play St Hilda’s, the winner of the Dunedin schools competition.

E-Sports - National Finals
The WHS Boosted team qualified second in their regional pool and fourth in NZ to make it through to the quarterfinals in the national secondary school Valorant competition. The team have a very busy schedule over the coming two weeks as they look to play their way into the national final in Auckland on Saturday 21st August. 

Wakatipu Netball Centre Competition Finals
WHS had filled five of the six finals spots across the three grades of the Wakatipu Netball Centre competition. It was great to see so many of our students playing finals and demonstrating how much they have improved across the season. The games were fantastic and the Senior A grade final between 10A and Senior B Gold was a super close encounter! The Senior A team started well and held their advantage throughout the game with a number of great interceptions and successful shooting from Ruby Kirk and Sydney Kay. Well done to this team as they continue their journey towards SISS Champs. A huge thank you to our coaches and to all of the umpires.
Results were:
Premier grade: Senior A beat Queen Bees 42-31
Senior A grade: Senior B Gold beat 10A 33-32
Senior B grade: 9A Mystics beat Senior Development B 38-18

Wakatipu Wild
Congratulations to Year 12 student Caitlin Hollyer and Year 10 Inge Kemp who have been selected into the Wakatipu Wild Women's Ice Hockey team. This team is one of four teams competing in a newly formed national women's ice hockey league. Exciting stuff! The NZWIHL has two weekend tournaments in Dunedin before a finals weekend in Queenstown. All the best girls as you take to the ice this weekend!

Park Attack
Round one of the Snow Sports NZ Slopestyle Series, Park Attack was held at Cardrona two weeks ago. Results of WHS students were:
Madeleine Disbrowe - 1st U14 Girls Freeski
Brooke Hansen - 2nd Open Women’s Snowboard
Taylor Breen - 4th Open Women’s Freeski
Abbie Rooney - 4th U14 Girls Freeski
Bella Maroszek - 6th Open Women’s Freeski
Sam Riddle - 9th Open Men’s Freeski

Emerging Sparks Programme
Congratulations to Year 13 student Paige Loggenberg and Year 10 student Abby Fookes who have both been selected into Otago Crickets Emerging Sparks programme along with ten other girls from across the province. This involves additional skill and team sessions in the upcoming preseason period. Well done girls!

Central Otago Secondary School Basketball
The Central Otago Junior Basketball competition got underway on Monday and WHS has four teams competing across three grades. It is awesome to see how this sport has grown in popularity over the past two years and this season WHS has fielded eight school teams! It was a solid start to the competition for our junior teams winning three of four matches. Go well!

MAC Exchange
The annual MAC exchange will be held on Wednesday 18th August at the Event Centre. This was cancelled last year due to COVID and we are amping to make sure our name stays on the trophy for another year. All parent support is welcome on the day. Please see the draw here: MAC Exchange Draw 

Results:
Basketball - Central Otago Competition
WHS Year 9 Boys beat MAC B 48-43
WHS Junior Boys A beat MAC A 90-19
Junior Girls beat Dunstan High School 62-16
Year 10 Boys lost to Dunstan High School Gold 52-33
Southland Secondary School Basketball 
Junior Boys A lost to Central Southland Junior A 49-19
Senior Boys A beat Aurora College A 58-42
Senior Boys A beat Verdon Senior A 74-59

Football - Central Otago Competition
WHS Girls 1st XI beat Dunstan High School 6-1
WHS Boys 1st XI beat Cromwell College 11-0
WHS Boys 2nd XI lost to Mt Aspiring 1st XI 6-0

Hockey
WHS 1st XI lost to Upper Clutha Black 10-1. Player of the day: Sammy Fookes
WHS Gold beat WHS 2nd XI 3-2. Players of the day:
WHS 2nd XI: Emily Clearwater & Blake Jackson
WHS Gold: Harriet Blundell & Kate Woods
WHS Blue lost to DHS defenders 7-1. Player of the day: Harry McNay

Netball
Senior A beat Queen Bees 42-31
Senior B Gold beat 10A 33-32
9A Mystics beat Senior Development B 38-18

Rugby
1st XV Boys lost to Waitaki Boys 35-12
U15 Cup beat South Otago HS 66-17
U15 Carnival beat Kings U14 Tigers 38-29
U14 beat Johnnies Carnival B 59-14
Girls 1st XV beat Dunstan High School 17-10 - Central Otago final 

Weekly Draw
Basketball
Southland Secondary School - Friday 6th August
Junior A Boys vs Verdon Breakers - 6pm Stadium Southland
Central Otago Competition - Monday 9th August
Junior Boys A vs Dunstan High School - 5pm Dunstan High School 
Year 10 Boys vs MAC A - 5pm WHS
Year 9 Boys vs Cromwell - 6pm WHS
Junior Girls vs Roxburgh B Mixed - 5pm Roxburgh

Football
Monday 9th August
Girls 1st XI vs Cromwell College - 4:30pm Cromwell
Tuesday 10th August
Boys 2nd XI vs Cromwell College - 4:45pm Cromwell
Boys 1st XI - bye

Hockey - Cromwell Turf
Thursday 5th August
WHS 2nd XI vs Maniototo - 5:45pm 
Friday 6th August 
WHS 1st XI vs DHS 2nd XI - 4:30pm (playoff 5th/6th)
Sunday 8th August
WHS Gold vs DHS Dodgers - 4:00pm 
WHS Blue vs Cromwell Blue - 5:15pm 

Netball - Southern League
Wednesday 11th August
Senior A vs Menzies College - 5:30pm Winton
Playoff game

Rugby
Saturday 7th August
1st XV vs Combined Co-ed Schools - 12:45pm WHS -OSSRC semi final
U15 Cup vs Otago Boys High School Blue - 12:45pm Opoho 1 - U15 Cup semi final
U14 vs Taieri College - 12:45pm Event Centre

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

Arts News and Information

Southern Jam Youth Jazz Festival

The Wakatipu Jazz Band has been practising for months to compete in the Southern Jam Youth Festival. They have been performing around Blenheim this week and have just completed the competitive aspect of the festival. We look forward to their return and to find out the results. This Saturday they will be performing at the Southern Jam Gala at the ASB Centre in Blenheim. 

One Act Play

This weekend the WHS One Act Play Drama group will be performing two different plays (‘An Illustrated Death of Eddie Five Trees’ and ‘The Brink’) at Logan Park High School in Dunedin. This year we have a cast of all ages. We hope they have a wonderful performance and a great time away. 

Lost Property

The lost property is overflowing again, please ensure all belongings are clearly labelled. Naming all your belongings helps you find your lost items and also helps us to return them to you.

If you would like to purchase personalised labels, we are fundraising with Stuck on You. Make a purchase and we'll get 20% commision to go towards our annual Branches Camp.

Meaz Nathan
Student Services

Scholarships - Careers Department

Careers Department - Student Job Vacancies

NJ Blocklaying
We are looking for a student leaver to be a labourer and join our team, with the view of this position leading to an apprenticeship down the line for the right candidate.

We need someone who is not afraid of hard work, takes pride in their work, is punctual, and keen for a break into a trade for life. Full training will be provided by us.

Brick & blocklaying is an international trade, meaning once you have completed your apprenticeship Level 4 with us you can travel the world with your qualification and experience.

Our Director, Nathan, left school with few qualifications, dyslexic and a little lost. He was helped into brick & blocklaying and subsequently set up NJ Blocklaying in 2006 here in Queenstown. Since then, he has built the business into the huge success it is today and he is now looking to give back by helping another keen youngster into a rewarding career.

We are willing to take people on a paid trial day to see if it is something you think you would be keen to pursue, and if it is for you, we pay $20 per hour for a minimum 40 hour week. All uniform and PPE is provided by us, and must be worn at all times, we also pay for you to do your SiteSafe Building Passport and Apprenticeship.

If interested contact:  Charlotte Pringle 021 023 94989, njblocklaying@gmail.com

Weekend Student Salesperson – H & J Smith
Love people, sales & teamwork? Vivacious, energetic & keen to learn? Have a passion for fashion and / or beautiful home wears? Let’s chat.

We’re looking for a Weekend Salesperson – which would be a perfect role for a senior school student in our Queenstown branch. A great entry level role to help grow and develop customer service skills. Variety is the spice of life & we are looking for someone who is flexible & keen to support all facets of our store. You will learn & assist across a range of areas e.g. apparel, Children, furniture, giftware, footwear or beauty. You will passionately promote our wide range of beautiful brands across all departments.

The purpose of our Salespeople is to ensure a consistently excellent experience for our customers all day, every day. You will be:

• A real team player & enjoy the variety of working in different areas of our business
• Able to maximise customer satisfaction
• A fast learner to pick up the needs of different departments
• Dynamic and driven with the ability to work solo and as part of a team

Varied daily tasks: customer service, drive sales achieving KPI’s, product knowledge & sales training, restocking, stock takes, maintain safety and security of staff & customers, cleaning & store presentation, proactively identify & implement improvements.

Hours: Variable but looking for someone that can work weekends & school holidays.

Non-negotiable: passion for people, previous sales or customer service experience, superb communication skills, drive to continuously improve & a positive attitude!

Benefits include: Store network discount, friendly & experienced team, in a family owned business.

Apply ASAP via email tanya.wallace@hjsmith.co.nz with Cover Letter & CV. (Please detail your availability for example if you have sports Saturday morning.) Applications will be considered as they arrive.

Branches Art Auction

ART AUCTION:  Friday 13 August, 2021
Tickets for this marvellous event are on now and can be bought from WHS Front Desk, Brandlands at Five Mile and there will also be door sales on the night.  Tickets are only $20 and include lovely nibbles throughout the night.  Make sure you get your tickets and come along to what is always a great WHS social night! 

WHS Foundation

Community Notices