TAWA COLLEGE
Issue 7
November 2018
Kia ora whānau Recently we held our final Deans assemblies for the senior students and at the start of Term 4 we presented our annual Cultural, Sports and Senior Academic prizegivings. As an interlude to these formal events the Music Department also presented their final concert for the year, Final Notes. All of these occasions have been rich celebrations of the talents and success of Tawa College students. I acknowledge your role in the success of the students by encouraging and supporting them to help them achieve at a high level.
Melie Kerr, CSW Sportswoman of the Year 2018
I would like to congratulate all of the prize winners for their achievements and I wish all senior students every success for their external examinations which they are currently undertaking. I like to thank the staff of Tawa College for their positive contribution in providing a number of revision classes leading up to the external examinations in order to provide every opportunity for our students to do as well as they possibly can. For the junior students there are still four weeks of Term 4 remaining. The Year 10 students undertook their end of year exams recently and the results will provide valuable data for the school to determine which course best fits each student at Year 11. At the end of Term 4 we will hold our EOTC programme for Year 9 and 10 students. There are some really exciting options available for each student and I encourage all students to be involved as much as they can in the activities offered. In Term 4 the Tawa College Cheerleading Squad travelled to Auckland to compete in the NZSS competitions where they finished in 1st place outperforming other colleges and a university team that was taking part. At the recent College Sport Wellington awards evening, Amelia Kerr was announced as the Sportswoman of the Year for the third successive year and Toby Gualter was named Male Cross Country/Road Runner of the Year.
Toby Gualter, CSW Sportsman of the Year 2018 Cross Country/Road Running
Our congratulations and recognition must also go to our Girls Netball teams, the Senior B, Senior C and Junior A Girls who all won their respective grades in the Wellington Collegiate Netball Competitions. Our Junior B and Senior D Netball teams also won their grades in the Kapi Mana competition.
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Congratulations also to the Tawa College Girls Hockey 1st XI who won their grade this season and earned promotion to Premier 1. It has been a busy and challenging year in 2018. I want to take this opportunity in the final college newsletter for the year to thank parents and whānau who continue to provide support and encouragement to the staff and the students. Educating our young people is a joint project and working well together we are striving for the best possible outcome in education and life for all of our students.
We all have those hilarious flashbacks when we dig out the yearbook so our kids can see how bad our hairstyle was. Now it's their turn. Memories fade but printed pages last forever. Cost is only $23 and you can pick them up from the office from the 26th November or if you are in Y9 or 10 they will be delivered to your class.
I hope that our students and their families will take time out over the long summer break to enjoy the warmer weather, relaxing with family and friends, visiting new places, doing new things and generally recharging ahead of another academic year in 2019. I wish everyone a safe and enjoyable holiday period. Staffing At the beginning of November, we said farewell to two Tawa College staff, Mrs Shona van Dyk our HOD Commerce and Mr Chris Sibley (Social Science Department). Shona had completed 15 years of service at Tawa College and Chris 10 years. We wish them both well in their future endeavours. At the end of the year we will also farewell Mr Mike Church (Science and Year 9 Dean), Mrs Cathy Hamilton (Science), Mrs Rebekah Genet (English), Mrs Trish Drummond (Canteen), Ms Bernie Ballard (Learning Support) and Mrs Rhonda Marshall (Learning Support). Again we wish these leaving staff members all the very best for their future undertakings.
PARENT PORTAL & SCHOOL APP
New appointments have been made and we will introduce our new teachers in the first newsletter of 2019. Murray Lucas Principal
TAWAHI 2018 The yearbook committee has once again produced a fantastic yearbook that records lots of activities, clubs and events that have occurred in 2018. Nearly every single student in the school can find their photo in the yearbook. Many talented hands have gone into creating this year's stunning time capsule. This glossy treasure is something to hold onto and cherish for years to come.
Parent/Student Portal: portal.tawacol.school.nz The Parent Portal was introduced in 2015 and enables parents and caregivers to access information including: timetable, notices, check contact details are correct, attendance, reports, assessment information, mentoring and fees. The Portal opened to the students in 2018 and allows student access to all the same information.
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Student Online Environment: https://e2learn.school.nz/ is Tawa College’s student online environment, linking to their learning through Hapara. It allows your student to have access to a number of important features from home as well as school. On the front page you will find important messages in the slideshow. The School Calendar and Daily Notices can be accessed from here.
PSYCHOLOGY We have just received the news from NZQA that from 2019 Psychology will be listed as a UE subject.
College Website: www.tawacollege.school.nz This is the main site for information that prospective caregivers may need; particularly the Join Us page. The notice banner on the main page is used in times of emergency. School App Tawa College has a School App which you can download to your mobile device. The School App provides a quick and convenient way to communicate student absences. It also provides links to the school calendar, daily notices, portal, e2learn and staff contact details for Senior Leadership, Deans and Heads of Department. Caregivers are encouraged to sign up for the notification alerts, as this is a main conduit of information in times of emergencies. The School App can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play.
Year 13 Psychology students
EDUCATION OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM EOTC WEEK
This is a reminder to parents that the $75.00 charge for local EOTC events in the week beginning Monday 3 December 2018 is due to be paid in full no later than 1 December 2018. Please ensure that this payment has been made before commencement of EOTC week. E2learn - New EOTC site for Y10's
PROPERTY TEAM
This is just a shout out from the Property Team at Tawa College to say a huge thank you to students and staff who put up with interruptions and disruption throughout the year on the grounds and in the buildings, whilst Allan, Colin, Michael and Paul go about the business of maintaining and upgrading the school property.
LOST PROPERTY If your child has misplaced any items, please ask them to call at the college office to check to see if we are holding it. We have a number of school jackets, hoodies and mufti items that we would like to see returned to their owners. At the end of each term, any unclaimed items are disposed of or donated to charity.
Rhys Hanrahan who was awarded 1st in 12 Digital Information Technologies has built the Website as part of a class assessment in Term 3. Our Y10 form teachers will share with their classes over weeks 5 - 8 so students can get to know what their Education Outside The Classroom is all about. There is helpful information on each activity and information sheets for students and parents to download to help for this Week 8 event. The site is available at the top of https://www.e2learn.school.nz/ also https://tawacollege-eotc.neocities.org/ HOD - Digital Information Technologies - Mr Foulds
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LEARNING SUPPORT DEPARTMENT
Volunteer Reader-Writers As part of Tawa College’s commitment to support students with their learning we are looking for positive people to act as a reader and writer on a volunteer basis for internal and external assessments. This role entails reading an assessment to a student and writing down their answers. Training will be provided. If you would like further information please email Alison Roberts, Head of Department, Learning Support, on aliroberts@tawacollege.school.nz or phone the college on 232 8184 Xtn 847.
POSITIVE FEEDBACK We had a very welcome letter from RNZAF recently thanking six of our students for their part in performing alongside the Royal NZ Air Force Band. In their words “ they performed splendidly and were a credit to you and your school. Their talents added so much to enhance the concert programme, as was evident by the exuberant appreciation shown by the large audience”. As Principal of Tawa College it is heart-warming and encouraging to receive such positive feedback about the contribution that our students make to the community and beyond and how well they represent the college, themselves and their families.
TAWA COLLEGE LIBRARY PE UNIFORM This is a request from the Physical Education Department for any pre-loved PE uniform items to be donated to the college. If you have items that you would like to donate please drop them off at the college office any time before the end of the year, or when the college opens again in January 2019. Thank you.
Would You Like to Host an International Student? We are looking for a few more families to join our existing pool of Homestay caregivers. We have International Students arriving in January for short and long term study. Hosting can be exciting, rewarding and educational. The College pays full board to host families. If you would like more information, please email our Homestay Coordinator, Mr Salter on jsalter@tawacollege.school.nz or leave your details with the school office on 04 232 8184. TRANSITION AND CAREERS DEPARTMENT
Summer reading is about reading for pleasure — allowing students to choose what they want to read, with the focus being relaxation and enjoyment and no 'work', such as writing book reviews or analysing the text. Why is it important to keep reading? A number of New Zealand and overseas studies into students’ reading loss over the long summer break have shown the loss can be significant. What the research shows: Weeks, if not a term or more, are spent helping students catch up to their reading levels from the previous year. In one New Zealand study, some students in a South Auckland decile 1 school lost 5.8 months reading progress over the summer holidays. (McNaughton et al, 2012).
Tawa College Careers Department and Facebook A reminder that the Career’s Department have their own Facebook page for all students and families to “Like”. This is proving to be a great communication tool for the students to keep up to date with what is going on with short courses, career visit dates and open days etc.
The consequences are cumulative and longlasting, often having a powerful influence on reading scores throughout secondary school and beyond. The loss is less pronounced or absent in students who have access to books and holiday learning experiences such as travel, museum visits, or other similar experiences.
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It's harder to close the gap once it has opened, so sign up for Summer Reading at Tawa College – it’s FREE! (https://natlib.govt.nz/schools/readingengagement/summer-reading/take-a-communityapproach-to-summer-reading)
It will ask you which library you belong to – search for Tawa College. Use your school login to authenticate yourself – so when it asks you for a username and password, use your school login. If you are using a laptop or if you just want to have a look to see what’s on offer, use the address: tawacollege.wheelers.co or visit the ePlatform via E2learn. Once the item is downloaded onto your device it will not use up any of your data to read or listen. If you are travelling, it is best to download the whole eBook or audio book before you leave home. Merry Christmas and happy reading from the Library Team at TC.
TAWA COLLEGE COMMUNITY EDUCATION
As classes start winding up for the end of 2018, preparations are being made for the new 2019 programme. This will be loaded onto the website www.tawacomed.co.nz by early December.
Don’t forget that we also have a fantastic collection of eBooks and eAudio available 24/7.
A number of new exciting classes are being planned for the new year. These include a number of new craft classes, Cross Stitch, Bobbin Lace Making and Decoupage. Japanese will be added to the list of languages being taught which already include Maori, Italian, Spanish and NZ Sign Language.
Check out our ePlatform at tawacollege.wheelers.co To download an eBook or audio book you need to be connected to the internet. If you are using a smart phone, eReader or tablet download the Wheelers Eplatform app from the app store on your device. Search for
(it’s a free app).
The programme also includes a one-night workshop making Persian Sweets. New personal development workshops on “Planning and Creating Your Ideal Retirement”, “New Year-Fresh Start” and “Discover Your Strengths” using the online web based strengths assessment tool. The creative writing course will be run as a course for writing children’s books and writing short stories.
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Gil Roper author of “Tawa the tree, the community and its reserves” will take a course on the flora and fauna in Tawa teaching you how to identify and care for them. Take a look at the web site www.tawacomed.co.nz to enrol for these new classes or the popular ones such as Pottery, Woodwork or Maori which fill up quickly. Judith Havill, Coordinator www.tawacomed.co.nz comed@tawacollege.school.nz COMMUNITY EVENTS and NOTICES
Spirit of New Zealand
Recycle your old Cell Phones. It does not matter how old or what condition. Put them in the box in the student office. Save our landfills. Raise funds for Autism NZ. A win win. CHEERLEADING TRIALS Do you love Dance, Gymnastics & Tumbling? If so, Cheerleading is for you! Bigair Gym will be holding trials throughout November for our 2019 teams. Bigair is dedicated to the sport of cheerleading! We have a positive culture that promotes respect, dedication and commitment, while teaching athletes lifelong skills and how to reach their potential. If you or your child would like to trial or find out more about this rapidly growing sport, please register your interest ASAP by emailing william@bigairgym.co.nz. OLYMPIC JUNIOR ATHELETICS - GRENADA NORTH Registration is now open for the summer season. Club night is Mondays 5.30PM to 6.45pm for children 3-6 and 7-14 year old age groups. For full details visit www.olympicjuniors.nz
We have two half day sailings around the Harbour on Sunday the 25th November 2018 Either 9am – 12noon or 1pm – 4pm Bookings can be made directly on our website - https://www.spiritofadventure.org.nz/voyages/voyag e/public-day-sail
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Are you looking for enjoyable and rewarding parttime work? Have you been a keen swimmer or previously involved in coaching children’s sport? Are you a parent interested in developing new skills or keen to help the next generation? Wellington City Council is looking for part time aquatic education instructors to help teach our SwimWell programme at each of our four facilities (Karori Pool, Keith Spry Pool, Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre and Tawa Pool). We are looking for positive and energetic people who have a passion for the water, a great customer service ethos and would get a buzz out of teaching life skills to children. Experience is preferred but not essential as we will provide training to applicants with the right attitude. For more information please visit the Wellington City Council Careers page
UPCOMING EVENTS (can be subject to change)
Please refer to the school calendar for a full list of all events on the e2Learn website November 2018 Wednesday 7 – 30 Friday 23
Thursday 29 December 2018 Monday 3 Tuesday 4 Wednesday 5 Friday 7 Monday 10 Tuesday 11
January 2019 Tuesday 22 Wednesday 23 Monday 28 Tuesday 29 Wednesday 30 Thursday 31
February 2019 Friday 1 Monday 4 Tuesday 5 Wednesday 6
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NCEA Examination period Central 6 Junior Tournament PPTA Paid Union Meeting Students will be released at 12.20pm. Students who need to remain at college will be supervised until 3.20pm Year 8 Orientation Morning
Year 10 Careers Day Year 10 EOTC Week Leavers Dinner – Hall 6pm Year 9 Tabloid Sports Day Year 9 & 10 Deans Assemblies Junior Prizegiving – Hall 9am Early finish – Term 4 ends
School Office opens Senior Course Confirmation 9am to 11am Teacher Only Day Teacher Only Day Year 9 students 9am to 12pm Year 13 students 1pm to 3pm Year 10 students at 10am Year 11 students at 11am Year 12 students at 12pm
All year levels full school day Begin with form time 8.35am Normal school day Normal school day Form class photos Waitangi Day – school closed
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