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31 January 2025  |
Kia ora koutou A very warm welcome to the new school year and I trust you have all enjoyed some time to relax and refresh over the summer holiday break. It has been wonderful to welcome our new Year 9 students this week, as well as to welcome back all our returning students in Years 10 to 13. I would also like to extend a warm welcome to those students and families who are new to the area as we have almost 30 new enrolments in Year 10 and up. Nau mai haere mai ki te kareti ō Paraparaumu! The Year 9 Pōwhiri is always a very special occasion and we were joined by all our new Year 9 students and their families / whānau on Wednesday morning. Thank you to all who attended and a special thank you to Matua Rangi Halbert who spoke on behalf of the manuhiri. Our new Year 9s enjoyed a day of orientation and connection on Wednesday supported by our Year 13 Facilitators, and they are all now well and truly into their stride and attending their timetabled classes. |
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The new year finds us in great shape with NCEA results that are once again very strong. In particular, provisional results at NCEA Level 1 saw 82% of our 2024 Year 11 students gain this qualification, which is set against a national picture where results have dropped to 45%. In schools within our equity index band (schools across New Zealand with a similar demographic to Paraparaumu College) provisional Level 1 results are at 52%. Congratulations to our students for these achievements, as well as to our amazing team of teachers who successfully navigated new NCEA standards and content that all came into play last year. I would also like to congratulate our Year 13 students, 24% of whom gained NCEA Level 3 with an overall excellence endorsement. This is an outstanding achievement. I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you all to our new Head and Deputy Head Students, as well as to new staff joining us for 2025. Our Head Students are Joshua Ray and Isla Fellows, with our Deputy Head Students being Jay Thorne and Sue Madarieta. They have made a fabulous start to the year and we are all excited to be working with them as the leaders of our student body during the year ahead. We will be updating the Student Leaders section of our website soon after 10 February, which is when formal school photographs will take place. At that point I will take the opportunity to introduce the rest of the team to you all. |
Paraparaumu College is known for the outstanding quality of its staff and I am pleased to say that we have once again attracted some amazing teaching and support staff to the team. We are delighted to welcome the following:
New Support Staff
There is one name on the list that might be familiar to many of you, and that is Craig Steed. I am delighted to confirm that Craig is joining us as a part time teacher of Mathematics and we are all excited to see him back in the school that he loves. I know all our staff, new and returning, are looking forward to seeing you all at various events as they come up during the year. |
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Attendance The government has been very clear in its education messaging about the importance of attendance, and it has set a target that 80% of all students should be attending school for 90% of the time by 2030. That means students need to attend for at least 9 out of every 10 days they are at school. Absence from school has a direct impact on achievement and we can see at all year levels that students who attend do better than those who have a high absence rate. Some might think that missing a day a week is okay but over time the cumulative impact is significant. This adds up to 2 weeks missed learning each term, which over time equates to 8 weeks by the end of the year. That is almost a term’s worth of schooling, which is virtually impossible to make up in terms of lost learning opportunities. We know the vast majority of our students have fabulous attendance, including many who can proudly boast 100%! Our team will be working hard to ensure all our young people are here each and every day and we will follow up with you as parents and caregivers when your child is absent. Your help and support in working with us to ensure your children are at school is very much appreciated, and please reach out if you need support with any aspects of attendance. We are here to help. Reminder about cellphones I would like to remind you all that, like all schools in New Zealand, we have a cellphones away for the day policy which has been in place since 29 April 2024. This means that phones must be in schoolbags and out of sight between the hours of 8:40am and 3:15pm. This includes at intervals and lunchtimes. Your support in not contacting your child via their cellphone during the school day is appreciated. If you need to get an urgent message sent you can contact the school office and our friendly team can make sure this gets passed through quickly. |
Uniform We have high expectations of how our students wear the Paraparaumu College uniform and I am pleased to say that the vast majority are looking smart and wearing their uniforms with pride. If you are unsure about any items of uniform please check out the college website via the following link: https://www.paraparaumucollege.school.nz/join-us/uniform-appearance. Parental Portal You should have received an email this morning advising you how to access the parental portal. This portal provides a lot of information including teachers using the portal for live reporting. You will be able to see teacher comments on your student’s progress twice a year. There will also be other information you can access, including school reports (Interim Reports), school notices, calendar, timetables, attendance, results, groups, awards and careers. Bus Bays I would really appreciate your help in keeping the bus bays at the entrance to the college clear before and after school. There is a sign at the entrance indicating bus bays but cars are parking inside the school grounds by the bus bays and this is hindering the buses from being able to park in their designated areas. Please can you refrain from entering the school grounds at the front main entrance (by the school sign) at the commencement of school and at the end of the school day. Your help with this is greatly appreciated. Upcoming Events We have some key upcoming events happening over the next few weeks:
Student Successes - We want to know student achievements We are always keen to know about any student success that occurs. We don’t always hear about their wonderful array of achievements so please feel free to contact us - email: office@pc.school.nz with information and a photo too, so we can celebrate their success. |
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Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter and every best wish to you all for another fantastic school year. You are always welcome to get in touch with me via my PA, Cathy Lawry (reply to this email or Lwc@pc.school.nz) if there is anything you would like to raise or discuss. Kia pai tō koutou rā,
A reminder that we use our School App and Facebook page for any urgent messages and to highlight student success and we would love you to follow ups. You can find the links at the bottom of this newsletter along with a link to our Instagram page and Youtube. |
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