We hope everyone had a refreshing break and welcomed back a productive start to term 3! Over the past fortnight, our senior learners focused on setting academic intentions, looking ahead to future pathways, and building essential real-world knowledge. From personal academic tracking to civic responsibilities and future planning, it has been an engaging couple of weeks for our learners.

Here is a breakdown of what took place over weeks 1 and 2.

Week 1 highlights

📈 Academic check-ins and learning conversations

To kick off the new term, students pivoted back to their academic goals through targeted learning conversations and academic check-ins.

• Learning outcomes: Learners identified their personal progress and areas for improvement through rigorous academic tracking.
• Graduate Kete update: Students spent time gathering evidence for their Graduate Kete and celebrating their 2026 progress. This included reviewing their term 2 goals, utilising the R2A academic tracker, adding R2L badge applications, and updating their achievements.

🎓 General scholarship information

As the end of the year approaches, learners moving off into the wider world began preparing applications for their next steps.

• Applications: Scholarship information will continue to be posted to the Advisory Google Classroom, take advantage of these and apply well before the deadlines.
• Key deadlines: University of Canterbury scholarships close on Thursday 6 August, and the Otago University scholarships close around the 15th of August.

Week 2 highlights

🩸 Community contribution: NZ Blood Drive

Learners took part in an important NZ Blood drive lesson titled "Become a Blood Donor NZ". They explored the critical importance of donating blood, learned about why people choose to donate, and evaluated whether they met the eligibility criteria to become donors themselves.

✈️ "How to Adult" – Travel 101

Building on last term's life-skills workshops, learners dived into a Travel 101 session. They learned the key elements of planning and budgeting for independent travel before putting their skills to the test. Using a 10-day holiday travel planner and workbook, learners designed a comprehensive 7-to-10-day itinerary based on curated travel destinations.

🏛️ Civics: How our government works

Understanding our societal systems is an essential part of growing into active citizens. In this Civics session, students explored the inner workings of the New Zealand government and looked at how state systems impact their daily lives.

🚀 Future pathways and presentations

Week 2 featured two major external pathway presentations:

• University accommodation presentation: This was a session for any year 13 student planning to study outside of Christchurch next year, covering residential halls and accommodation options.
• Defence Force presentation: This was a compulsory event for all year 12 students, where they explored vocational, technical, and career opportunities within the NZ Defence Force.