Otumoetai College newsletter - Reflections Issue 2

Issue 2 - September 2020

Reflections

PURPOSE Let Learning Enlighten Life Ōtūmoetai College is an inclusive learning community where identity, optimism and challenge form the foundation for all learners to flourish in a dynamic world. The learning environment will enable students to achieve their personal best in their academic studies, the arts, sporting and cultural pursuits.

During their journey, our students will grow into powerful learners who embrace diversity, resilience and develop meaningful relationships with others.

This is our purpose and our commitment.

VALUES Strive for excellence Kimihia tōu ake maungaga teitei Working together Whakakotahitanga Respect one and all Whakakoha tētahi ki tētahi Standing strong Tū pakari i te ao

Ōtūmoetai College Contacts Enrolments Greg Burnard (Deputy Principal) gburnard@otc.school.nz Office Gwen Livingston 576 2316 glivingston@otc.school.nz Friends of Ōtūmoetai College Emma Copeman pta@otc.school.nz Extra Curricular Contacts Sport - Paul Braddock (Director) pbraddock@otc.school.nz Music - Matt Bodman (HOD) mbodman@otc.school.nz Performing Arts - Mandy Rowe (HOD) mrowe@otc.school.nz Māori Performing Arts - Bobby Ketu (HOD) bketu@otc.school.nz 2

Features 03 06 08 10 13 14 16 18 21 22 24 25 29

The Power of Mathematics in Action Student Writing - Symphony Our People - Introducing the BOT Introducing Poutama HOD IT - BYOD An Interview with Deputy Principal - HR NCEA Exam Preparation - Carolyn Dwight NCEA Exam Preparation - Student advice Lilly and Liams Wellbeing Strategies An Interview with International Students Student Success - Dance NZ Made Student Success - An Insight into Robotics An Evening with Ian Foster

Regulars 04 From the Principal 07 Board of Trustees Chair 11 School Achievement 12 Editorial 15 Sport 26 New Staff 27 Celebrations and Tributes 30 Where are they now?

32 From the Archives 33 Calendar

The Power of Mathematics in Action During the first three weeks of Term 3, staff and students were amazed at the number of students consuming sherbet sticks. Just as concerning was the number of empty straws that were unable to find their way to a conveniently placed bin!

The class surveyed students as to why they chose to consume these straws. Survey results revealed the main reasons where that they were cheap, with the cost of a single straw being 0.598c, and they tasted nice.

Cometh the hour, cometh the class, 10MaTH to be specific.

As a result of the work completed by this class the supplier was approached and now no longer sells these sherbet sticks. A win for oral hygiene, a win for the environment and a win for the power of Mathematics.

10MaTH decided to do something about this unsatisfactory state of affairs.

They began by walking around the school spotting all the evidence of these empty straws, noticing there were more orange remains than any other colour.

Thank you 10MaTH

These straws are available for sale at $2.99 for 500 for these sugar, acid and preservative filled ‘treats’. Each packet of straws contained an equal number of each colour, with a local provider having 238 packets, or 119,000 individual straws ready to sell.

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Message from the Principal When meeting a person for the first time the

ago, “as a teacher I

perennial question pops up at some stage in the

possess tremendous

initial conversation “What do you do for a living?”

power to make a

After a slight pause I let the enquirer know that I am a

child’s life miserable

teacher, having already processed the two responses

or joyous, I can be

that are most frequently offered; 1) something about

a tool of torture or

having great holidays or 2) I couldn’t do your job,

an

(normally a combination of 1 and 2). This is often

inspiration,

followed by a derogatory comment concerning

humiliate or humour,

teenagers these days.

hurt or heal. In all

instrument I

of can

Mr Russell Gordon, Principal

situations, it is my response that decides whether The truth is, I love being a teacher. I love engaging

a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated, a child

with the vibrant, talented, multi-faceted teenagers

humanised or de-humanised”.

that populate the majority of our schools. Often the teaching profession is seen in a negative light by

Our purpose at Ōtūmoetai College is to grow our

society in general, but what other profession has the

students into young men and women who will

privilege influencing the direction of an individuals’

achieve their personal best, embrace diversity, grow

life simply by what we say and how we say it?

resilience and develop meaningful relationships with others. To achieve this purpose, we need to have a

Teaching is a powerful profession. It is safe to

strong partnership between school and home. So,

say that in 20 years time students probably won’t

the next time you have contact with your child’s

remember what content a teacher has taught them,

teacher, be it via email, letter, telephone or face to

but that same student wtill still remember how that

face, know that we are working as hard as we can to

teacher made them feel. Haim Ginott, a teacher

help your child become a ‘Powerful Learner’.

and trained clinical psychologist wrote 40 years

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LEARNING AT ŌTŪMOETAI COLLEGE Powerful learning occurs through real world experiences and new situations which challenge what we think and know, inspiring us to want to learn more. Whatever the context, learners critique and construct new ways of knowing and being, thinking and doing, alone and with others, in school and out.

Powerful learning is: Ako: Where we learn from each other.

Connected: Knowing who we are and how we connect.

Contextualised: Learning builds on and challenges what is known, leading to the unknown.

Environment: A space where learning is valued, nurtured, and celebrated, where learners feel safe to fail and succeed. A space where learning processes are visible through different modes of communication.

Expectations: Having a clearly communicated purpose for learning. Focusing on the value of thinking and learning as outcomes, alongside the completion of work.

Feedback/forward: Learners evaluating work to determine next, or new learning steps.

Framework: Enabling selfregulation, self- belief, and taking responsibility for learning outcomes. Learners see that outcomes depend on their efforts to generate, relate and / or extend ideas.

Language: Using a common language of learning to communicate and critique thinking.

Thinking about thinking: Self- awareness of knowing how, and when, to use strategies for learning.

Teaching at Ōtūmoetai College is seen less as the process of delivering the same curriculum to all students in the same year of school and more as the process of establishing where students are in their learning and providing appropriately targeted teaching and learning opportunities to allow all students to learn, grow and excel.

We are embarking on an exciting learning journey and I am so pleased that your children are a part of this.

Russell Gordon, Principal

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SYMPHONY If I should still hear you, It would be upon the powerlines In which you Would string your stave.

On the orange glow Of the street-lamps, You would play your Semibreves.

And on my slowing Heartbeat, Your staccatos would Sound.

If I should still hear you, The hills would be your crescendos, And the valleys Diminuendos.

The traffic-lights conduct The ritardando, And with a flash, Accelerando.

And you would Play your flats Upon my drooping Eyelids.

If I should still hear you, It would be upon the hum Of the engine, that you would Drum softly.

The haze of clouds above Would be your soft piano, Concealing the Moon’s forte.

The winding road Would be your symphony.

Still ringing In my ears.

Written by Ella Quarmby - Year 11 student.

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Board of Trustees CHAIRPERSON Mr Russ Brown, Board of Trustees Chairperson

As I write this reflection, COVID-19 has made an

so? These were the questions the board was asking

unwelcome return to our country. As we change

of the school. What we learned was that the staff

once again through alert levels, what has remained

of this college didn’t have the luxury of guesswork,

true has been the unifying mantra that ‘we have

they were prepared, just in case.

beaten this thing before and we will beat it again’, which can be heard echoing around the staffroom

This year has been anything but normal and I

and classrooms of Ōtūmoetai College.

would like to express my gratitude to Ōtūmoetai College staff on behalf of the board for all that they

Considering the year that has been, I would like to

have done, and continue to do in order to support

take this opportunity to acknowledge our staff for

and uphold our students learning and well-being.

their professionalism and duty of care they have so

Thank you for navigating this ‘new normal’ and for

ably demonstrated towards our students over these

providing an unwavering support to our students.

past few months. I appreciate the extra work it must

We are proud of you and your efforts!

have taken to set up distance learning programmes when we first went into lockdown. I salute your resilience in ensuring that our students would continue to learn, albeit from home. I also recognise the fact that our students have continued to receive high quality learning opportunities on their return to school, through Alert Level 2 and into Level 1.

We were all getting used to life returning to normal when, seemingly out of nowhere, COVID-19 re-emerged, bringing with it new and complex challenges. Would we go back into lockdown? Would we resume distance learning? Are we ready to do

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Our People Introducing the Board of Trustees Our School Board is comprised of dedicated professional people from all walks of life and connections to the School - with one common purpose.

The careful stewardship of the School’s Purpose, Vision and Values and the strategic framework that guides the growth and development of Ōtūmoetai College in the present and into the future.

Name: Russ Browne About: I am the current board chair of the Otumoetai College Board of Trustees and a trustee of the Otumoetai Education Trust Fund. My wife and I reside in Matua, and our two children have been educated at Otumoetai College. I am the Managing Partner in a local accounting firm, Manning Warner Browne and am committed to good governance as a member of the Institute of Directors, and a director and chairman in several private businesses.

Qualifications: Bachelor of Management Studies, Chartered Accountant

Name: Gavin Frost About: I have lived in Tauranga for the last 25 years and am married to Carolyn.

I have three children who have all attended Otumoetai College with two now in further study. I managed football at the college for 6 years and I am a life member of the Otumoetai Football Club. I have served on the BOP Polytechnic Council, and manage Beca’s BOP office with a professional services team of 280 and am involved with a number of organisations that help young people with their career choices. I enjoy football (while my knees still hold out), sailing, scuba diving, motorcycling and working on my life sentence block.

Qualifications: Bachelor of Engineering (Civil)

Name: Matthew King About: I’ve been practising as a lawyer for over 20 years in Wellington, London and, for the last 12 years, Tauranga.

My wife Adele is an OTC alumnus, my oldest child is in year 11, and my youngest will start at OTC next year. This is my first term as an OTC Board member, but I was Board Chair of Bellevue School before that.

As a lifelong tennis enthusiast, I belong to the Otumoetai Tennis Club and I help oversee its junior tennis programme. I am an avid sports watcher and have to confess to the odd bout of binge-watching on Netflix.

Qualifications: LLM LLB/BSocSci (Economics)

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Name: Bryce Lawrence

Name: Lisa Adams

About: I became a BOT member in 2019 because I wanted to contribute to my community and I have a passion for people and education. I am an ex primary school teacher/ principal, an ex professional rugby referee and my current role is National Referee manager for NZ Rugby. My wife Clare teaches at Bellevue and both our daughters have been through Pillans Point, Otumoetai Intermediate and Otumoetai College. I believe NZ has a world class education system and great teachers and school leaders. My role as a BOT member is to assist staff to “make a difference” – a difference for every pupil, a difference for every family/whanau and a difference for our community. I am a proud “Oats Old Boy” with very fond memories of my school life and I am motivated to serve our school community.

About: I was born in Matamata but have lived in Tauranga since 1987. I grew up involved in a successful family business before leaving Matamata to follow a career in Tauranga.

I returned three years ago to that family business to assist with running our Tauranga branch.

I have been married to Andy for 19 years and we have 3 boys, 2 at Otumoetai College and 1 at Otumoetai Intermediate.

I have been on a primary school board for the past 7 years with a keen interest in finance, employment, international students, health and safety and the achivement of students.

I’m very passionate about everything I’m involved in and genuinely care a lot about our school and community in general.

Qualifications: Dip in Teaching, Bachelor of Education, Post Grad diploma in Human Resources Name: Eloise Stephen About: I have been at Otumoetai College for 17 years and have enjoyed every moment. I love being involved in many facets of the school and joined our Board of Trustees a few years ago as the elected staff representative. In my time on the board it has been a pleasure to be involved in and learn about school governance and to get to know members of our community who have the same positive attitude as I do when it comes to getting the best for our educational community.

Qualifications: BA Dip Tchg 09

Highlighting Ko Mauao te maunga, Kopurererua te awa, Okohanga te whare wānanga, Poutama o te Mātauranga te whānau, Ōtūmoetai te kura.

Hurinoa i ngā kainga maha, nei te mihi mahana ki a tātou katoa te whānau whānui o te Kareti o Ōtūmoetai.

As seen far and wide, 2020 has brought many challenges to the world, to our communities, to our schools and to our homes. Facing these challenges, and supporting each other to cope, enables our rangatahi to strengthen their own resilience to persevere and push on.

Poutama has seen a very strong start to the year with a new influx of fresh, inspired, and motivated young rangatahi leaders across all year levels. Our Tātāriki, our lead manu of the flock from Years 12 and 13, develop what Māoritanga looks and feels like in and around school while growing their collective and

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Poutama

individual leadership. Our Ruamano Executive committee, which focuses on diversity and the inclusion of culture, has initiated collaboration across the student leadership body to bring positive growth and, where needed, change to the student environment. Our Poutama Ambassadors from years 10 and 11 form the force of energy that helps to lead and inspire our teina from Ōtūmoetai Intermediate School through the Tuākana- Teina initiative of Te Ara Poutama.

the mahi, and the mauri amongst the whanau Poutama post lockdown has been testament to the amount of growth that has occurred considering the trying circumstances.

E kore rawa te tangata e pakari i te wai mārino. One does not develop in calm waters.

Poutama o te Mātauranga is a leadership development programme, inclusive of the biculturalism of Aotearoa, in a multicultural community. Providing opportunity, culture, tautoko, leadership and connection, Poutama allows us all to find the confidence, the principles, and the resilience needed to navigate the world of a rangatahi, now and in the world of their futures.

Regardless of the challenges 2020 has laid before us, it is in these rough waters of time that we as a whānau lean on each other for support and guidance to navigate ngā piki me nga heke, the rise and fall of the seas ahead of us. The involvement,

Ānei te whanau o Poutama o te Mātauranga: 2020 Poutama Photo

As kaitiaki of tīkanga Māori in our kura, we value and cherish the bond we have with Ngai Tamarāwaho and Ngāti Ranginui, the Mana Whenua of our surrounding area. He mihi kau atu ki a Koro Tūmatawhao rāua ko Nana Maora. Nā rāua i arahi, i tiaki i a mātou.

Deputy Principal of Achievement Mr Stephen Tisch Deputy Principal

Ōtūmoetai College is pleased to announce it has secured centrally funded professional learning in the area of practices and outcomes for assessment at the Year 9 and 10 level. The goal is to build an assessment capable system where the use of the evidence we choose to gather is relevant to student needs and is driven by the decisions we want to make to improve teaching and learning. We’ll be working with an Education Adviser in assessment from the New Zealand Council of Educational Research (NZCER) - the home of the Progressive Assessment Test (PAT) and research-based thinking about effective assessment practice.

This year we acted on advice from NZCER and administered the PATs later in Term 1 so that students were more settled into school routines.

We also tailored the choice of test for each student to better reflect student achievement levels.

Pleasingly, on average, both Year 9 and Year 10 cohorts at Ōtūmoetai College achieved above the National Reference Group.

Further analysis of subgroups has identified opportunities for improvement and we welcome working with NZCER to develop an assessment capable system and improve student achievement outcomes.

Use of the Writing Framework is being led by our Social Studies staff. Analysis of the students writing samples identifies strengths and opportunities.

Reassuringly, 89% of our junior writers can effectively plan a piece of writing. Moreover, they have no problem generating prose under time pressure and in separating their ideas into individual sentences. 95% of our junior students were able to communicate their ideas in a paragraph of at least four complete sentences; 77% wrote at least 120 words in fifteen minutes. Evidently then, we need to focus on improving the quality of the abundant words and sentences we know our junior students can produce.

As has been the case up and down the country, COVID-19 has significantly disrupted students’

progress with NCEA. From field trips not happening, to lack of devices and less than optimal distance learning arrangements to name a few. Both NZQA and Ōtūmoetai College have made adjustments in response which will help students to still be able to achieve their achievement goals this year.

Our Academic Support Mentor, Mrs Stacey Shefferd, along with other supporting staff, has facilitated two workshops targeting students who were identified as being at risk of not achieving their NCEA based on credits predictions. These students were offered additional learning opportunities to help them increase their credit totals. As more students are identified, more workshops will be offered.

NCEA and external NZQA examinations are new to most of the Year 11 students. To help them prepare, our Specialist Classroom Teacher, Mrs Carolyn Dwight, has been sharing How to Study for Exams (see included in this edition of Reflections) during a series of presentations at school.

Our school senior examinations are planned to start on Friday September 11th and go till Friday 18th September. These will be important on a number of fronts: (1) simulating the external NZQA examinations, (2) generating evidence for external standards if necessary and (3) giving an indication of current achievement levels. We wish our NCEA students all the best as, together, we make the most of an eventful year.

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Editorial Introducing BYOD Many have been the times my children have asked

speakers” of the digital language of computers,

the question “why?” After providing some passable

video games and the Internet.

answer, their next logical move was again to question “but why?” This process would continue

Those of us not born into this digital world, but have

for some time until I would end the proceedings

adopted aspects of its technology, are described as

with “You are too young to understand.” This ritual

Digital Immigrants. This would describe many of the

question and response format was brought into

people involved in the evening I spent discussing

stark reality for me recently when I was asked to

social media. Many said they felt a certain disconnect

be part of a panel to comment on the phenomena

between the digital world of their children, and the

of social media. After an evening spent discussing

world they were familiar with. The world, which

Face book, Twitter, and the like, I felt a growing

their children inhabited, seemed way beyond their

conviction that I was out of my depth, and simply

expertise. I know what they are saying, because I

too old to comprehend!

feel the same way. My challenge is to learn as much as I can about this new technology, because this is

One thing I do know is that our students are

the world young people inhabit, a world where there

embroiled in a world that is foreign to many, the

are few rules of engagement, and a world where

world of digital technology. To paraphrase Marc

tomorrow is today. Our goal at Ōtūmoetai College

Prensky’s work, our students today represent the

is to continue to modernise the school experience,

first generation to grow up with this new technology.

to embrace integrated technologies, in order to

They have spent their entire lives surrounded by,

support the learning for every student within a safe

and using computers, cell phones, and all manner

and respectful online environment.

of other toys and tools of the digital age. Prensky describes these kids as Digital Natives, “native

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Head of IT - BYOD Digital devices at Ōtūmoetai College School-owned digital devices have been an important teaching and learning tool at Ōtūmoetai College for a number of years now. As the world has become more reliant on digital technology, the demand for access to learning devices has increased dramatically and students have relied on sharing school equipment.

Lifelong learning At Ōtūmoetai College we believe that now is the right time for all students to have access to their own learning device. The ability to access digital learning tools at anytime from anywhere is an important element of enabling students to become independent, resourceful and lifelong learners.

BYOD in 2021 To this end, starting in 2021, we are introducing a “Bring Your Own Device” policy at Ōtūmoetai College for all Year 9 students.

opportunity to learn via electronic and online media as well as traditional faceto-face teaching (sometimes known as “blended learning”).

It will also allow learning to take place anywhere, at any time, as we discovered during the recent weeks of school closure during lockdown.

We consider digital devices to be a useful tool in a student’s learning toolkit, but not the only one. Use of these devices for learning will be purposeful not aimless. They will be used to enhance nondigital ways of learning, not to replace them altogether. So they will not be used in every lesson of every subject.

•

•

• We will be developing our blended learning programme across all years levels gradually over the next 5 years with each new Year 9 intake. Students in Year 10 and upwards are welcome to bring their own devices but this is not a requirement for 2021.

1:1 devices will enable staff to provide students with a greater

•

•

● Please note that phones and tablets are not approved as BYOD devices. ● Chromebooks are our preferred device, though late model Windows and MacOS devices may be acceptable. ● All devices must have enough battery life to last a school day without needing to be charged. ● We recommend that devices are kept in a protective case or cover to protect them from damage in school bags. ● There are a number of purchasing finance options

Mrs Ros Lee, Head of IT

available through retail stores.In some cases grants for the purchase of devices may be available through Work and Income. The school may be able to assist in cases of extreme hardship.

More information can be found in the enrolment section of our school website at www.otc.school.nz • •

•

BYOO Device Guidelines for 2021 (Year 9 only) BYOD - Recommended Suppliers List for 2021 (year 9 only) BYOD Device FAQs for 2021 (Year 9 only)

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An interview

with Deputy Principal HR Greg Burnard Q. Tell us a little about your background?

A. I grew up in Mairangi Bay on the North Shore of Auckland. I have three sisters, two of whom are nurses. My daughter is also a nurse, so it must be a family thing.

I enjoyed playing rugby in my youth and was fortunate enough to be selected for several Auckland sides - Murray Deaker (before his days as a sports radio host) was my coach for one of these teams.

After graduating as a teacher I moved to Orewa where I taught at three separate local high schools. I am married to Jo and we have three adult children.

Q. When did you arrive at Otūmoetai College and what schoo have you come from?

A. I was appointed at Ōtūmoetai College in mid-2019 upon the retirement of the venerable Mr Bruce Farthing. My previous college was Whangaparaoa College, north of Auckland.

Q.Why did you choose to become a Deputy Principal?

A. I had the opportunity to become Acting Deputy Principal in 2017 when my Principal had a sabbatical and one of the Deputy Principal’s stepped into the head role. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and remember telling colleagues when the role ended that I’d be keen to “do more of this sort of thing!”

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Q. What do you enjoy most about being a Deputy Principal of Otūmoetai College?

A. In my role there is the opportunity to work with staff and students across all areas of the school. I enjoy the breadth of my job and love to support the great work that takes place in our college.

Q. What are some of the things you have learnt about our students in your role?

A. I have been delighted to see how well our students rise to leadership opportunities when presented with them.

The vast majority of our students are learning to successfully navigate through the ‘white water rafting’ years, developing in resilience, empathy and character.

Q. What is your best experince to date as Deputy Principal?

A. It was a privilege and a thrill to host Ian Foster at our college recently. He was able to connect with our students with simple but profound leadership wisdom.

Other than that, surviving the first week of Teacher Relief!

Q. I f y o u could pass on one piece of advice to Year 9 students, what would that be?

A. Treat others with kindess and respect.

We all need it!

Q. If you could pass on one piece of advice to year 13 students, what would that advice be?

A. Aim high! Don’t short change your future be settling for average.

Q. What is a little know fact about you?

A. After being granted a sabbatical in 2004, my wife and I packed up our family and lived in Hawaii for 6 months, studying and serving on several YWAM campuses.

Director of School SPORT Paul Braddock The year started off like any other with the National Secondary Schools Beach Volleyball Championship being held over at Mount Maunganui Main beach the weekend before school commenced for the 2020 year. We had 30 teams competing at this event which is an awesome amount considering we were not back at school yet. Larissa Meads and Rose Akkerman who are in year 13 and have partnered for beach most of their time at Secondary School won the senior girls final and became the National Secondary Schools Champions. What a way to start the year! Rose also was selected into the New Zealand u19 Beach Volleyball team.

We then got into the school year and sports started straight away. The BOP Secondary School Triathlon was the first event and we had Olivia Cummings continue her amazing record with the event winning the u19 girls race, may I add she beat all of the u19 boys as well, winning her 5th title at the Bay of Plenty event.

The BOP Secondary Schools Tennis Championships was next up and we had some superstar seniors that competed very well throughout the day in the stunning summer heat. Hannah Walpole made the final and in a close battle finished as the senior girls division one champion for 2020. Lisa Evans and Emily Mahon competed in the division one senior girls doubles, taking on five other teams and winning.

Term one Summer sports were underway and he had many teams training hard for their Summer Tournaments at the end of March.

Our Rowers were fortunate enough to be able to compete at the North Island Secondary Schools regatta where they all had some outstanding individual results with some students claiming medals in an A final. Emma Averill finished 2nd u16 Single, Chloe Wright and Jenna Brangwynne 2nd u15 double and Emma Averill and Rhianna Loughnan 3rd u17 double.

Our Volleyball teams were also fortunate in that they managed to finish off their Bay of Plenty Secondary Schools Championships.

The standard of the top 4 teams in both the boys and girls tournament this season was very high with some very close games. Our senior A girls went down to Trident High School in the final finishing 2nd and the boys missed out narrowly on the final and finished 4th overall.

we had 17 events cancelled out of our secondary schools sporting calendar.

This impacted a lot of the BOP Secondary Schools events as term one and two are very busy terms for sports events.

Our winter Sports were put on hold and we had no idea if there was going to be a winter sports season or not.

Once we were back to school in a COVID-19 Alert level 2 we were still awaiting to see if any sports were going to go ahead.

It was a bright day when New Zealand moved into COVID-19 alert Level 1 and we were able to get back into sport. This was towards the end of term 2, all winter teams were training and some playing and we managed to fit in a few sporting events. Unfortunately during the lockdown, all of the National Secondary Schools winter tournament were cancelled for the 2020 year. Hockey decided to still run regional tournaments and a couple of other sports tried to organise games within regions as well.

Our Junior and Senior Badminton teams competed at the Western BOP Badminton championships, competing for a spot in the finals for each grade. Of the 12 teams we had competing, 10 made the finals, 6 senior teams and 4 junior teams. Our Junior girls played incredibly well at the finals and went on to win division one.

In Table Tennis we had 12 students compete within the two events with Alex Freeman finishing 2nd in Senior Boys and Alex and his partner Angus Raeburn finishing 3rd in the doubles event. We then had the teams event and Alex Freeman, Moses Caldwell and Angus Raeburn finished 2nd in the senior boys teams event.

The last North Island event that was held was the Secondary Schools Duathlon in Pukekohe in which Alex Rawlinson finished 2nd in the u14 girls.

We have been very fortunate that all of our winter sports have managed to make it most of the way through the season and are continuing to play in level two at the moment.

It will be interesting to see what term 4 brings.

Unfortunately we were then hit with the Corona Virus in New Zealand and put into level 4 lockdown which meant that Summer Tournament week was cancelled, school was out and no sports were being played.

As a result of COVID-19 and along with Summer Tournament week,

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NCEA Exam Preparation Have you ever read a whole page of something and then thought, “I can’t remember a thing I just read”?

That’s why just “reading through your notes” is a really poor way of studying. Not much better than sleeping with your notes under your pillow! So what’s the answer?

1. It’s called active reading.

• Go over all your notes/handouts and annotate them, scribble notes in the margin, make links, draw arrows, draw little pictures/symbols in the margin, circle, underline, highlight.

• Reading without a pen in your hand is a waste of time, you’ll retain NOTHING. If you have material/ textbooks you are not allowed to write on, make notes from it on paper.

2. THEN RETRIEVAL – the word retrieve means to bring something back – to go hunt in the back of your mind and bring it to the front. Here’s how: • After you’ve read through and highlighted some notes/handouts/part of a textbook, put it face down and see what you can recall. o You can scribble it down – this is called a brain dump. o Or you can say it OUT LOUD. • Then go back and check which of the highlights/ main points you missed – and focus on these a bit more.

• Convert all your notes into summaries – either bullet point or mind map style: o Wherever you can, add colours and little pictures/ symbols. o RETRIEVE these study notes – try replicating them from memory, then check what you missed.

3. Memorise quotes (English) • Make a recording (voice recorder on cellphone – download an app if you need to) of quotes, or other important material, and listen to it while you are in the car/tidying your room/walking to school…

• Write the quote at the top of a piece of A4 scrap paper, fold over, rewrite from memory, unfold, check, 16 8

fold again and repeat from memory until you are getting it right 4. Re-read the short stories/poems/novel (written text), rent the film (visual text) from itunes or youtube (English)

Caroline Dwight

5. Use a revision Specialist Classroom Teacher book - these books are great for contentheavy subjects like maths/science etc – not so good for English.

6. If you do practice maths exercises, MARK THEM so you know where you are going wrong.

7. Make up mnemonics to remember things e.g ROYGBIV (colours of the rainbow), Mark’s very extravagant mother just sent us ninety parakeets (order of the planets) 8. Do extra practice exams/write practice essays/ answers – ask a teacher to mark them.

9. Or – just write a plan for a practice essay/ answer – then RETRIEVE IT • You can view past papers and real student answers here: http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/qualifications • For Unfamiliar text (English) – the resource booklets don’t show the texts as they are copyright.

See if your teacher can loan you some.

• Here’s a link to the student exam hub: https:// www.nzqa.govt.nz/ncea/ncea/ 10. Visit http://www.studyit.org.nz/ This is great for content heavy subjects (only so-so for English) it’s the online version of a revision book and it’s free. It’s NZ based.

11. No Brain Too Small - is a New Zealand specific science website. http://www.nobraintoosmall.co.nz/

Exam Technique 1. Skim-read the whole exam paper very briefly first (2-3 minutes).

2. Keep track of time: you can’t bring in a watch but there will be clocks on the wall – E.g. English: 3 standards worth equal credits in 3 hours = one hour each.

3. Start with the standard you are best at/the easiest one/the one with the best essay topic.

4. DON’T run out of time. BUT: if you do run short, this way you are writing drivel about your least confident standard, rather than being about to launch into the perfect essay topic on your strongest standard that was an almost guaranteed excellence.

5. English: If pushed for time, do Unfamiliar Text last.

It is possible to pass this without finishing e.g. by doing a thorough job of just (any) two texts OR a briefer job of all three with a view to coming back and writing more if you get time. Consider doing the poem last. (Does not apply to Year 13 English)

12 EXCITING WAYS TO STAY MOTIVATED FILL YOURSELF WITH POSITIVITY If you are struggling with motivation, control your threads of negative thoughts and start thinking about your ultimate dream.

MAKE YOUR JOURNEY CLEAR AND CONCISE To create a clear vision, it is pivotal to define your goals. Moreover, it’s a crucial stepping stone between planning and execution which further helps to put your thoughts into the action flow.

BE ORGANISED An uncluttered environment can increase your chances of efficiency and productivity.

BREAK BIGGER GOALS INTO SMALLER ONES Instead of jumping right into something big, you should start small by breaking goals into short-term and smaller tasks.

DO NOT GET DISTRACTED PERSISTENCE IS THE KEY

AVOID PROCRASTINATION

6. When you have chosen an essay topic, underline important words in the instructions/topic.

Putting yourself in the well of hard work is essential for the achievement of your goals.

Being persistent is the only mantra for success.

Don’t waste your time or make excuses justifying your act of procrastination.

The right time is NOW.

7. Spend a few minutes writing a quick plan for your essay.

PAINT A PICTURE OF YOUR SUCCESS IN YOUR MIND

REWARD YOURSELF It is of utmost importance to appreciate yourself after completion of the dreaded tasks.

Since motivation starts from within, devise a system of rewards for yourself.

8. Remember, you are allowed to write on any part of the exam papers, including the resource booklet for Unfamiliar Text (English). So, when you read the passages, do ACTIVE READING with your pen – underline things etc

Visualise your success as it can help you keep yourself focused and motivated. By painting a picture of your journey in your mind, even setbacks seem nothing.

FIND AN INSPIRATION

CONSUME CHOCOLATE

Prior to the exam 1. Get a good night’s sleep.

2. Eat a good breakfast or lunch – with some protein in it (meat/eggs/fish/cheese.)

3. Expect some stress, this is normal. Think positive.

You can stay motivated by reading or listening to stories about successful people who have built big businesses from scratch.

Chocolate contains a neurotransmitter called serotonin which will help promote calmness.

Apart from this, it also releases dopamine which will stabilise your heart rate and boost motivation.

All you can do is your best. Reframe the nerves as ‘adrenalin’ – which will help you perform better.

ENJOY THE PROCESS If you want to stay on the road of motivation, make your journey full of exciting adventures. Find different ways to include fun into your journey.

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NCEA Exam Prep Advice from Students Eight Tips to Ace Your Exams by Academic Mentoring Sensei and Exam Ninja, Josh Peacocke 1. Quality, not quantity Regular study is key. ‘Quality not Quantity’ does not just apply for writing. Go back to your previous study session to improve your memory, or create good efficient flashcards.

2.

Spread your study out Spread out your study over multiple days, this not only gives you breaks but also will let you remember what you studied better.

3. Remove distractions Your brain has a limited amount of concentration, so eliminate distractions rather than ‘I just won’t look at my phone’. Get out of your room or the house to make sure you spend the time studying.

4. Repetition is good Don’t be afraid to repeat practice tests you have already done.

Going for them again will help you fix minor mistakes you typically would gloss over. Try to aim for a perfect score on these.

5. Have time-specific study times 18

Have a fixed amount of time to study as a goal rather than an amount of study. 1-hour sessions are what I go with, whether this is for just one subject or small catch-ups for all.

6. Flash Cards Flashcards are an excellent way to memorise and understand key ideas, but make sure you are using them correctly. If you have a word on one side and definition on the other, flip the cards around sometimes. Services like ankiweb (https://apps.ankiweb. net/) are excellent at making and dealing flashcards for strong memorization.

7. Bed time ‘All nighters’ will make your exam experience worse, so rather than finishing one more practice test, get some water and sleep at a regular time.

8. Get help in your race against time Time is your enemy with study, so rather make conscious decisions about how you spend it. Tutorials are available for science and math, and Academic Coaching is available for working out problems with students.

Josh Peacock, Year 13

. . . .

1. Take advantage of morning tutorials/lunchtime tutoring.

These are an easy way to fit in extra study and they take place in distraction-free environments with teachers around to answer questions, which is super helpful.

2. Be realistic about what you can achieve in a week. It’s easier to come up with a long to-do list or strict timetable than it is to stick to it, so I find setting a reasonable study goal important. This means that I might aim to do a practice exam and go through flashcards for a subject one day rather than setting out to study the subject for several hours. Doing this means that I don’t focus as much on all the tasks I haven’t completed which helps with motivation in the long run as well.

3. Try study methods that make you actively think. Sometimes I find myself rewriting notes for a subject neatly as “study”, but doing this doesn’t really help to learn content. I find going through flashcards and trying past exam papers to help with

understanding a topic much better.

Amy McAulay. Year 12 . . . .

1. Pay attention in class Just like every other person, I do not enjoy doing homework. I aim to minimise the amount of learning I have to do at home by doing it in class. I honestly believe that the best way to ensure you pass is simply to show up, pay attention, and do the activities given by your teacher.

Avoiding work and talking to your friends in class means that you are wasting the most effective study time you have. Make good use of your teachers knowledge and ensure you ask questions to fill holes in your knowledge.

2. Academic Coaching Our school mentoring committee provides help for students of all year levels for a wide range of subjects during lunch times 2-3 times a week.

3. Schedule regular times The best way to actually get around to doing some study is to set aside time every week for your study. Make these times the same every week so that you get into the same weekly habits and you are more likely to remember. The amounts of time you set aside is also very important. Too little time and you will not get enough achieved, too much time and not only will you be less motivated

to actually sit down and do the work, but you will completely drain yourself if you actually get around to sitting it out. Maybe set yourself an hour on Saturday morning and an hour on Sunday afternoon.

4. Drink water Once you have your schedule and the time has come to do some work, drink some water. The worst thing you can do is give yourself a headache because you are overusing your brain and you haven’t had a drink. Also, keep a water bottle nearby.

5.

Eliminate distractions This seems obvious, but is the most crucial part to ensuring you are able to focus for an extended period of time. Place your phone in another room and forget that it exists.

6. Find the right material Personally I find that doing practise exam questions is by far the most effective way of studying. Also, make sure that no matter what material you have, mark everything you do. Go back and find out what went wrong and learn how to get the correct answer.

Harry Parkes, Year 12 ....

1. Set up an environment where you have resources within reach.

This helps to keep the flow when studying. Getting up to dig your English book out of your

school bag in the middle of your study session proves to be very disruptive, especially when you are already comfortable at your desk with a blanket strategically wrapped around you. Having a hot or cold drink also helps to give you short periods of time to enjoy a momentary sip, this will help to keep you sustained for the length of time you will be sitting stationary (also a few snacks are good!). Make sure to set a time that you will revise each subject but don’t expect yourself to be interested in your biology paper for three hours straight.

Remember to take breaks!

2. Make use of NZQA resources!

These are great because they give you student exemplars of how to pass the standard with options of achieved, merit and excellence answers. Structuring your practice exams off these helps to memorise what type of information the question wants in the answer. You can also refer to the marking schedule when completing practice questions to make sure these guidelines are met.

3. Write notes! Writing notes is an effective way of reinforcing what you have learnt over the topic.

Writing down everything that is most relevant and using examples to then annotate and explain makes them easier to understand later. Also, colour coding these makes it much more interesting and helps with recognition of the information. These notes can then be condensed from say five pages down to one, which can then be reinforced by reading repeatedly.

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From this, you could also make flash cards or post it notes to look at when you have short intervals of time spare.

Doing this will visually reinforce your learning.

4. Place note cards around your house. Doing this will force you to read your notes while completing everyday tasks. Stick one on your toothbrush, your hairbrush, your cat, or anywhere that is guaranteed to be seen within your household.

5. Your classmates are also a good avenue for tips. Help each other out, what you may be struggling with they could be an expert at and vice versa. They may have a different take on an explanation that you could just click with!

6. As soon as you don’t know something, take a note and ask about it! There is no point in being confused about something when you have an awesome teacher to ask the question in class, or before class. Clarifying until you get it is important for understanding something in the correct way.

7. Print out a calendar and map out a plan of what subject to study and when. Make sure you don’t leave studying too close to exams or internals. Cramming the week before is stressful and you 20

will simply run out of time!

Rachel Dunn, Year 12 . . . .

1. It’s okay to be task focused. For me, an hourby-hour study timetable for exams just doesn’t work, it just makes me stressed about how much time I am spending on things and I hate leaving things incomplete. I prefer to create a todo list for this reason and it also makes me feel more productive when I can visually see the things that I have completed. I feel like all of my teachers were raving about how study timetables are the only way to go last year, but I quickly found out that it was not for me. I felt like I was studying ‘wrong’ for a lot of the year, however, I don’t think there really is a wrong way if you are still improving your knowledge.

2.

Morning tutorials and academic coaching!!!!

Mr McDermid’s math tutorials are awesome because they really force you to spend some time practicing the work (esp when you’d rather die than do calculus homework, like me). They are 3 days a week, all year round and so they’re a really great way to solidify knowledge throughout the year. The same with the science tutorials, though they are a little

bit more intimidating and are only on around during mocks and exams. They are best if you come in with a question and so it forces you to learn where your gaps are.

Academic coaching is also a great resource and less intimidating than asking help from teachers.

3. Don’t procrastinate internals.

Much easier said than done, but in the long run is SO beneficial.

4. Drop the study guilt. It’s not uncool to study or to want to do well. There isn’t a perfect way to study - figure out what works for you and roll with it.

Amy Charman-Moore, Year 12 . . . .

Lilly & Liam’s

Wellbeing Stategies

CHANGE Its a small word with a lot of meaning. A lot of us avoid it when we can. Sometimes, like an annoying alarm telling us to get up for an exam, we can even ignore it. Covid-19 however has forced the world to reassess the way we do things and as something we cannot ignore we should take this time to explore ways to grow.

Exams, stress and study. Three words intertwined with change. When a lot of students think of exams they think, “yeah nah” or come exam day they have forgotten to study and become stressed. Stress itself isn’t negative. It’s about the way you harness and release it that’s important. Now you may be thinking “How am I supposed to do that?” Good question. That’s where ‘Study strats with Liam and Lilly’ come in. Change puts pressure on us and that can cause a bunch of stress that we find hard to release especially exam-related stresses. Here are a few pointers when it comes to study and pre-exam posture. In regards to study

GETMO One of the best principles we ever learned. GETMO stands for “Good Enough To Move On” and applies perfectly to study and everyday life. You don’t have to be an ‘excellence’ student, just be ‘excellent’ in your attitude. Do not become a perfectionist, just do your best and when that done (here’s the tricky part) know when to move on

tank. In life and the upcoming exam period, study and other things will drain you dry. Find those things that ‘fill’ you up again and make time to do them. You may find you even have more energy and an incentive to complete your study session or exam.

ENCOURAGE SOMEONE ELSE BEFORE THE EXAM A lot of people will probably be feeling nervous because we are only human. Instead of just standing around awkwardly, go and spread some positive encouragement to your classmates and peers. Take time to notice other people’s fears and feelings and start off the time prior to the exam well. Don’t spread negative self talk such as “I’m definitely going to fail.” Instead do the best with what you have. Practicing positivity is like building muscle; it doesn’t happen overnight. You need to work at it and never give up and eventually you will be able to see positive changes in your attitude and mindset.

As the saying goes “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t you are probably right.” The hardest thing to overcome isn’t the study or the exam, it’s your mindset that you need to work on.

So that’s our top three study strats with Liam and Lilly, I hope you learned something new and begin to implement some of these strategies not only when it comes to exams, but in life in general. Thanks for reading, You got this Ōtūmoetai College students!

Lilly Muspratt & Liam Turner

DO THE THINGS THAT ‘FILL’ YOUR TANK There are things in life that will fill you up. Things that give you a positive energy boost and things that satisfy you. Know yourself. For me, going for a run or doing a training session, playing sports, all those things fill my 21 25

An Interview with International Students How long have you been at Õtūmoetai College?

Since January 2020 Why did you choose to study overseas?

I want to talk to a foreigner. I wanted to know something I didn’t know.

I wanted to experience another culture.

What is the biggest difference between school in New Zealand and your school overseas?

School size – Otumoetai College is much bigger. Students have individuality. My school is more strict. You cannot wear jewellery.

What is it you love most about being at Ōtūmoetai College?

Everyone looks happy and is fun. It’s good that there are no weird rules like Japanese schools.

If you could pass on one piece of advice to someone considering studying overseas, what would that advice be?

You can have many different experiences. You can broaden your view.

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What is the biggest thing you have learnt as an honorary Kiwi student?

Communication is fun. The students taught me when I didn’t know what to do next. I am glad the students helped me if I was in trouble.

Yuma Okabe Japan

How long have you been at Õtūmoetai College?

One and a half years Why did you choose to study overseas?

Because studying overseas can be seen as an important opportunity in your life, it can broaden your horizons and increase your knowledge. It is also good for self improvement.

What is the biggest difference between school in New Zealand and your school overseas?

In Chinese schools, students need to learn many subjects, such as Chinese, English, Maths, Chemistry, Biology. We need to make sure we pass every subject. Schools in NZ are more relaxed and we can choose the subject we like.

What is it you love most about being at Ōtūmoetai College?

We have more freedom here. After school, we have more time to do activities and sports. Teachers and students are friendly, helpful and thoughtful. You will make many friends from different countries.

If you could pass on one piece of advice to someone considering studying overseas, what would that advice be?

People who can speak different languages and understand different cultures are international talents.

Before you decide to study here, you must lean the purpose of studying abroad.

You should give full consideration to your learning goals and have confidence in yourselves.

However, studying abroad is a special experience, it’s definitely worth a try.

What is the biggest thing you have learnt as an honorary Kiwi student?

Studying with Kiwi students in Kiwi classes let me learn that the importance of being kind to others and how to get on with people.

Junyi Shao China

How long have you been at Õtūmoetai College?

It’s been nearly 6 or 7 months

What is the biggest thing you have learnt as an honorary Kiwi student?

The biggest thing I’ve learnt as an honorary Kiwi student was always think in good way like be positive and don’t be afraid of failing because no one is perfect.

What is it you love most about being at Ōtūmoetai College?

I love most about Otumoetai College that you do practical work in school.

We are not only learning how to do something, but we are also actually applying the things we have learnt.

Dana Kim South Korea

If you could pass on one piece of advice to someone considering studying overseas, what would that advice be?

My advice would be that you have to be prepared for something different.

In the beginning it will be challenging and overwhelming that everything is new, but you will get used to it.

Why did you choose to study overseas?

My parents wanted me to get a better education system instead of just studying and do some sports.

What is the biggest difference between school in New Zealand and your school overseas?

Firstly, I could say there are lots of opportunities for students in NZ school like drama auditions, sports competitions, music, bands.

In Korea, actually there were not much things to do at school. After school everyone just go to academy schools.

What is it you love most about being at Ōtūmoetai College?

I love my music lessons and symphonic band. I play the flute for school Symphonic band. We have our practice every Monday after school.

I just love making an awesome sound with all my band people.

If you could pass on one piece of advice to someone considering studying overseas, what would that advice be?

I would say come to OTC and find things you are interested and having passion about. There are lots of opportunities here waiting for you.

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How long have you been at Õtūmoetai College?

I came to New Zealand in January and attend my third term now here at Otumoetai College.

Why did you choose to study overseas?

I chose to study overseas because I wanted to get to know a new / other school system. Furthermore, New Zealand is a beautiful country that I always wanted to go to.

What is the biggest thing you have learnt as an honorary Kiwi student?

The biggest thing I have learnt as an honorary Kiwi student is that the most important thing is not to do things perfectly, but to give your best. It’s not always about being the best student of the class, but about being the best version of yourself.

Lisa Kupper Germany

What is the biggest difference between school in New Zealand and your school overseas?

The biggest difference between school in New Zealand and my school in Germany is that I can choose my subjects here. In Germany I have to take way ore subjects that are also very different, for example the subjects “Photography” and “Outdoor Education” don’t even exist in my German school. Moreover, we have no school uniforms in Germany.

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Student Success Dance NZ Made At the Dance NZ Made Interschool Dance Competition, Otumoetai College in the solos competition won the year 9, 12 and 13 champions ( Klarion, Bethan and Judith) with 2nd and 3rds in year 10, 11 and 12.

Representing our school at Nationals In Palmerston North with the overall top marks Bethan and Deija..

Our Stage Art entry came 2nd.

Our Junior Troupe placed 3rd in the Open category.

Our Contemporary Troupe won the Open Championship and our Year 12 girls won the Year 11-13 Championship then, were awarded Overall Regional Champions out of 9 competing schools.

Both these winning troupes will represent Otumoetai College at the National Competition later next month in Palmerston North.

Click here to view Blinding Lights

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Student Success Robotics “Oats Robotics” has celebrated its 10th year at Ōtūmoetai College. During these 10 years we have won the Robotics World Championship once, come second twice, won the Australiasia Championship and NZ national title a number of times.

Students meet on Saturdays to design, build, program and drive their robots as well as attend tournaments - called “scrimmages”. Students at all levels (years 9 to 13) are welcome to join with no previous experience required, and are given “on the job training” by more experienced members of the club.

Although lots of learning takes place, the emphasis is on having fun while doing so.

As from next year, students will also have the option to participate in Robotics as part of their NCEA courses- in other words during school time as a regular curriculum course worth about 20 credits at each senior year level (11 to 13).These Robotics courses will be run by the Electronics Technology Department. Some great news is that the college has been granted 2 scholarships, worth $5000 each per year for the duration of your tertiary study, that will be available to students attending the Robotics course.

Deon Wessels, Teacher “Oats robotics” is a club of passionate students with a wide range of experience; from our year 12s who’ve been with us for 4 seasons, to the year nines that just joined us last term.

Here at Ōtūmoetai College knowledge is passed down from older students to the newcomers. Every Saturday morning

from 8:30 to 12:30 the Technology block is scattered with students hard at work building, programming, testing and engineering our robots to the best of our abilities. Around once a month, we journey up to Auckland where we push our robots to the maximum in scrimmage competitions against teams from other New Zealand schools. These scrimmages are huge learning opportunities for our teams as they make even small mechanical problems stick out.

The week after a scrimmage is always very hands on as everyone knows what needs fixing next. The Vex Robotics Competition is great for teaching skills such as engineering and programming but even more prominent is the team building, collaboration and communication skills that are made. The environment in the club is very friendly and encouraging.

Tournaments are especially great at promoting communication as to succeed in the elimination rounds you must make a strong ally. Alliance selection requires you to talk to other teams and promote your robot, to find a robot that you believe will best compliment yours.

Every February the National championships is the ultimate proof of our efforts as the pressure is on to qualify for the Vex Robotics World Championship held in the USA. The biggest competition in New Zealand, with around 70 teams competing with their best efforts to prove their worthiness.

Oats robotics has generally done very well on the national stage and has competed in the States numerous times in the past, most recently in 2019. The world tournament is both a fun and friendly event and an extreme, high stakes competition where every second team may be your enemy.

Robotics Students

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New Staff Profile Lisa Sushames Why did you choose teaching as a career?

I decided to become a teacher while I was employed as a Student Liaison Adviser at university in Wellington. In that role I discovered how much fun it was working with secondary school students, and I knew that teaching would be a terrific way of helping young people reach their full potential. .

a

List your extra-curricular activities / hobbies: Reading, writing, walking, travelling, and watching Test cricket.

What is your best experience as a teacher to date?

The moments when individual students reach a milestone in their learning (like mastering possessive apostrophe use); or when they complete a challenging task (like delivering a speech); or when they achieve a significant goal (like winning a national poetry competition).

What you are looking forward to this year: I started teaching at Otumoetai College at the beginning of Term 2, during the Level 4 Lockdown. It was fantastic to finally arrive at school in May and meet my students and work colleagues face to face. I am thoroughly enjoying getting to know the Otumoetai College team.

A little known fact about you: I love aimlessly wandering around art galleries.

Lisa Sushames, English Teacher

New Staff Profile Newton Rewi Why did you choose teaching as a career?

In teaching you meet a lot of people and can help them to make sense of themselves and the world around them. It’s also a flexible career that can take you different places, and seems relatively safe from being made redundant by robots.

List your extra-curricular activities / hobbies: Football, running, basketball, reading, movies, art, nature, robots.

What is your best experience as a teacher to date?

Happy people having fun!

What you are looking forward to this year: Going outside.

A little known fact about you: I hung out with David Lange in the Brisbane International departures lounge when I was about 12.

Newton Rewi, Social Studies Teacher

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Celebrations and Tributes Welcome to the world baby Mila Jane!

Arrived on the 18th August 2020. Brand new baby daughter for Simon & Katie Hood. Congratulations Katie and Simon.

Nicola Wolken and Dale Weller welcomed twins on the 31st August. They arrived a little earlier than expected - but doing fine. The perfct pair - a boy and girl. Welcome to the world, Jay and Ivy.

Kay Gatfield

It was with much sadness that our college received the news on Monday 14 Septebmer that Kay Gatfield had died after a relatively short illness. Kay joined the staff of ĹŒtĹŤmoetai College in 2002 as an assistant teacher in the English Department, a position that she held to her untimely death.

Throughout her teaching career Kay specialised in teaching English. She taught with good humour and her classroom was always immaculately presented. It was her room and students knew it.

Her philosophy towards teaching was built on growing positive relationships with both students and staff. The learning would follow, she always argued, if the classroom environment was comfortable for one and all.

Kay was a very caring and immensely valued colleague who will be sadly missed by many.

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Student Celebrations Amber Harrison has been selected to attend the Young Enterprise YES Latin America CAPE Trip... she is one of 20 chosen from over 4000 students participating in YE - with well over 150 students that applied. Last year the trip was an all-expenses paid trip to Chile so these students could have a life changing experience immersing themselves in Chilean culture visiting local and NZ businesses based in Chile... unfortunately due to COVID it is NZ based this year.

Emily Mahon, Flora Clarke and Millie Tisch graduated from the Summerhill A1 Academy Leadership Course.

Summerhill Youth Academy provided amazing opportunities for leadership and growth, and was executed through weekly sessions with people our age from across all Tauranga schools. We got to hear from a variety of speakers that provided an inspiration for ways to lead and live our values, as well as doing fun activities and competitions in our groups.

Holly Thompson New York Conservatory Scholarship About 3 months ago I was doing a bunch of research into acting academies all over the world and the New York conservatory for Dramatic arts stood out to me so I registered my interest, then a week later I got an email saying they were offering Australian and New Zealand applicants a scholarship if they can complete their application by next week.

Obviously I had to go for it, not expecting to get in or get a get a scholarship at all.

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I auditioned through a zoom call face to face with Richard Omar

(the Artistic director and president of NYCDA) and Elaine Capella (the admissions advisor) in the audition I had to do a 1 minute monologue and then have a discussion with themes (kind of like an interview where I just had to tell them about myself) then they gave me direction on my monologue and got me to do again differently.

Two weeks later I got a call from Elaine and she told me I had been accepted into the two year acting for film and television programme with a $13,500 (US) scholarship per year.

An Evening with Ian Foster a Rugby Fundraiser On Thursday 23rd of July, many of Otumoetai College’s top athletes had the opportunity to attend a talk by All Blacks coach, Ian Foster. He discussed sport and leadership, concluding with the First XV rugby team receiving a coaching session from Foster himself. His talk outlined what it takes to be a successful sportsperson, coach and leader.

One of the first things that Ian Foster discussed was his leadership style and his values as a leader. He described himself as a ‘collaborator’ who believes in the power of the team as a whole. ‘My role is to create an environment where they feel free to come in and talk, share ideas,’ he told us. His shared approach to leadership demonstrates how he values honest conversation, putting the team

first, acknowledging individual and collective needs, and applying these principles to everyone involved. ‘It takes learning to figure out the right questions and then shut up,’ he said, ‘I think this world’s got too many talkers

and not enough listeners’. He also mentioned being inspired by Richie McCaw’s leadership skills, recounting how he allowed himself to be taught

by younger players in order to learn the skills for a position other than his own.

The role of recovery in athletic performance was another point made during the talk. We learned about the importance of eating well after training, particularly on Sundays after weekend sport. This also illustrated his ‘team first’ approach which the All Blacks abide by: eating poorly after a game can result in a bad sporting performance over the following days, which negatively impacts the team.

Mr Brown then posed the question, does hard work ever outweigh talent in sport? Ian Foster responded with the idea that ‘smart work’ produces

better results than hard work, which can lead to burnout. A combination of both are essential for a successful sporting career, he suggested.

Ian Foster was also asked about his strategies for motivating a team. In regards to his coaching position, he commented that ‘[his] job is to operate an environment that people want to do their work in and get better in’. He stressed the importance of a positive environment for the motivation of his team, where the athletes ‘know that when they train, they’re going to get better.’ We learnt of the need to foster a good team atmosphere before concentrating on developing internal drive. ‘If you get in that focus, the motivation just looks after itself,’ he added.

Ian Foster discussed the importance of dismissing opinions on social media, a relevant message to us all.

He mentioned how publications went from calling him a ‘bumbling idiot’ to a ‘supercoach’ depending on the success of the team, and how he learned to pay them no mind as it is their job to criticise, and there is ‘not much point in worrying about it.’

Thank you to Ian Foster for taking time out of his busy schedule to speak with Otumoetai’s athletes and take a coaching session with the First XV rugby team.

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Where are they now?

It’s always exciting to learn about what happened to past students and both Jessica’s and George’s stories show that an Ōtūmoetai College education provides an important grounding for future endeavours.

Jessica Tiplady (nee McNamara) Jessica became a primary health Nurse Practitioner in April and was awarded NZNO Young Nurse of the Year 2017.

She was one of only four NO’s under 35 and was the youngest Māori nurse to have achieved NP status in New Zealand.

What year did you graduate from Ōtūmoetai College?

2005.

Current job title / role?

Aerospace Engineer. I am a I currently have two jobs. The first as a Nurse Practitioner in GP’s practice in Manurewa South Auckland. Here I diagnose and manage a wide range of patients similar to how your GP would manage your health. Within this role, I visit a local high school to make sure all young people have access to contraception and sexual health screening.

I also look after a group of people who used to be under mental health services but now, I look after their health.

My second role is as a Youth Health Specialist working with rangatahi who are excluded from mainstream schooling 30

(and are now in alternative education) and a youth justice facility.

How long have you ben in this role?

I have worked in General practice for 10 years and been a prescriber/Nurse Practitioner for 3 years.

What is a lasting (positive) memory you have from your time at Ōtūmoetai College?

The friends I made during my time at Otumoetai college, many of whom I am still friends with to this day and see on a regular basis.

How well did you feel Ōtūmoetai College prepared you for tertiary study / the workforce?

Really well. One of the most important things to get through university is being able to be an independent learner. No one at Uni checks your attendance, no one follows up if you have handed in your assignment or not. It’s all on you. Otumoetai taught me to be an independent learner as well as an independent thinker. That’s probably one of the silver linings of COVID19 for school students: skills to learn independently which for those going on to University will be a real strength.

Did you know what you wanted to do when you left college?

I knew I wanted to work in health but not in which area.

Once I got to University, I saw how many different options there were rather than just the traditional ideas of nurse, doctor or physio.

Why did you pursue your current area of work?

Two reasons – I wanted to improve the health of communities who sometimes get short changed by the health system in particular young people. Once I started working in South Auckland it was very clear to me that poverty is not just something that occurs in developing countries. Many New Zealanders don’t realise how difficult some young people have it growing up. I also wanted to do something innovative and different.

Becoming a nurse practitioner allowed me to do some cool and exciting things like working in the youth justice facility rather than traditional roles nurses have done in the past like ward-based nursing.

How did you get into the field you are now currently working in?

I did a conjoint degree (nursing and health sciences/ population health) then I did a masters degree. Once I had done my masters and worked for 5 years I could sit an extra exam to be able to diagnose and prescribe medications the same way a doctor would. I joined the company I am with who provide health care for young people who have been excluded from school and society. I loved it so much I have now purchased some shares in the company and sit on their board as an intern director. This is another good example of how nursing in the community can lead to opportunities such as being a small business owner.

If you had to do it all over again, what would yuj do differently?

I would learn Te Reo when I was younger. I was too shy to take it when I was at school because I was worried I wouldn’t be good at it. It’s much harder to learn when your older! However, it is something I am doing now.

That would be my advice – it’s important to do things your passionate about and interested in not just those things that you “need” for your career path.

What is one piece of advice you would give to current Ōtūmoetai College students?

Don’t stress if you don’t know what you want to do. There are more options out there than any of us realise when we are at school. By getting into Uni or Polytech, you become exposed to all the options then you can choose from there.

Easier said then done when people are asking “what are your plans for next year?” but I changed my course several times and ended up doing two degrees when I couldn’t pick between the two. Both were important in making me a good clinician.

George Ansley What year did you graduate from Ōtūmoetai College?

2007.

Current job title / role?

Doctor – General Practice Registrar How long have you been in this role?

I’ve been a doctor for 5 years.

I have just started training in General Practice this year.

What was a lasting memory you have from your time at Ōtūmoetai College?

There are many. A big one is the tight friendships I had and still have with the other students who went to Oats.

understanding that there were many ways people viewed and lived their lives which has helped me a lot when relating to patients.

Did you know what you wanted to do when you left college?

Not really. I had an idea that I might want to do dentistry because orthodontists seemed to live a pretty good life. But that idea went down the toilet when I didn’t get the grades in my first year at Uni!

What was your most valuable life lesson(s) learnt during your college years?

To have a good balance of work and play – work is important, but you’ve got to enjoy all of the other things in life too!

Flexibility – if something doesn’t turn out the way you want it, it’s not necessarily a failure, it could end up better!

Why did you pursue your current area of work?

After my first year of Uni I was a bit lost with what to do.

So I decided to do a Science degree in Pharmacology. I enjoyed learning about how different medications worked but never really thought about medicine as a career. In my last year of that degree I decided to apply for medicine, just to see if I was at the same grade as others applying. I was quite surprised that they actually accepted me, so I thought I’d give it a crack, and here I am.

How well did you feel Ōtūmoetai College? prepared you for tertiary study / the workforce?

I think I went into Uni and then into the work force with a good foundation to learn from because of my time at Oats. It’s a big school and you are surrounded by awesome people from all walks of life.

This helped give me a bit of an

How did you get into the field you are now currently working in?

I worked for 4 years in hospitals over New Zealand, mainly in Emergency Medicine, which I really enjoyed. But the shift work involved wasn’t something that I wanted for the rest of my career. So I looked into General Practice.

General Practice has good

hours, intere sting work, and you get a chance to see patients progress over time. So that suited me just fine.

If you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently?

Nothing, I’m happy with the way it has panned out so far.

What is one piece of advice you would give to current Ōtūmoetai College students?

What is one piece of advice you woud give to current Otūmoetai College students?

You are only at the very start of your careers, don’t be too narrow sighted, roll with the punches, and enjoy the ride!

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Archives Remembering.....

1967 - The first College production

1972 - The first Trek Magazine published by the students

There are magazines for 1965 - 1968 and 1970 - 1971.

However, 1972 was the first magazine published by the students.

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OCTOBER 2020 Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12 Term 4 Starts

13

14

Rōpū Talent Quest Showcase - All day and evening performance

15 WINTER SPORTS Photos and IFFS Photo

16

17

18

19 3.30-5pm Year 9 Options Afternoon in PAC

20

21

22

23 11.30am

24

26 Labour Day

27

25

Special Needs Production 28

29 6.30pm CREATIVE ARTS AWARDS Evening

30

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NOVEMBER 2020 Sunday 1

Monday 2

8

9 LAST DAY FOR YEAR 13s

Tuesday

Wednesday

Friday

Saturday

5

6

7

11

12

13

14

3 6.30pm SPORTS

4 6.30pm MAORI &

AWARDS EVENING

PASIFIKA AWARDS EVENING

10 SENIOR AWARDS 10am - Year 11 12 noon - Year 12

Thursday

(students to leave after prizegivings conclude)

6.30pm YR 13 SENIOR AWARDS EVENING

15

16 NCEA Exams

17 NCEA Exams

18 NCEA Exams

19 NCEA Exams

20 NCEA Exams

21

22

23 NCEA Exams Teacher Only Day

24 NCEA Exams

25 NCEA Exams

26 NCEA Exams

27 NCEA Exams

28

29

30 NCEA Exams

DECEMBER 2020 Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

1 NCEA Exams

2 NCEA Exams

3 NCEA Exams

4 NCEA Exams

Saturday 5

6

7 NCEA Exams

8 NCEA Exams

9 NCEA Exams

10

11 JUNIOR AWARDS 12

13

14

15 School Office Closes

16

17

18

20

21

22

23

24

25 Christmas Day 26 Boxing Day

27

28

29

30

31 New Years Eve

Yr 9 EOY Oddball Yr 10 EOY Wider Horizons

Yr 9 EOY Oddball Yr 10 EOY Wider Horizons

Yr 9 EOY Oddball Yr 10 EOY Wider Horizons

10am-11am - Year 10 11.30am-12.30pm - Year 9 (students to leave after prizegivings conclude)

19

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105 Windsor Road, Bellevue, Tauranga p. 07 576 2316 f. 07 576 8903 www.otc.school.nz