Ōtaki College Newsletter No 9, 06 November 2013

Te Kāreti o Ōtaki Ma te hau tonga e whiu ai au ki ngā puke iri mai o Kāpiti i waho rā. The south wind carries me to the hills of Kāpiti out there....

Senior Drama Production

In the last week of term 3 the sen-ior drama class showcased their

production Harbouring Ghosts! Families, friends, teachers & members of the community all gathered together & watched the masterpiece that these 15 senior students created over the term with fierce critics saying they’d see it again if there was a sec-ond show! The cast had a huge role of pulling off this extravagant

production fully equipped with light-ing & music. Year 12 drama student & senior Director Anya George said, “It was incredible to see the confi-dence & talent of each student really blossom throughout the term! When production night came I had no doubt that the cast could pull it off. They did & made me SO proud!” What a great success for Ōtaki College! The senior production definitely set the standard for future productions of the college.

Ōtaki College: Ph 06 364 8204. Email office@otakicollege.school.nz Website www.Ōtakicollege.school.nz Page 1

News and Events

Digital Media

Digital Media at Ōtaki College gives learners the opportunity to

get hands-on with the latest in digital technology to explore, plan and pro-duce digital media products. Students can create digital media masterpieces to share with the world. There are op-portunities to work behind the scenes or appear in front of the camera. The course is for learners who are pas-sionate about digital technology and creativity. Digital Media is the new programme at Ōtaki College that uses the latest in digital media technology to give you hands on learning in a creative environment. • DME connects you creatively to

your world.• DME develops your inquiry learn-

ing across school and beyond.• DME enables you the learner to

connect, communicate and cre-ate.

• Live television broadcasting.• Video.• 2d and 3d game design• 2d and 3d animation.• Audio production.

Opportunities exist to collaborate on

digital media production for Ōtaki College and beyond. For example, students have been working on a vari-ety of projects around the community. One project is the editing of footage of blended fuel technology research re-corded at New Zealand’s first purpose built Clean Technology Centre opened located in Ōtaki. The school is includ-ing its minivan in the testing. Another project underway is the collaboration with a private film production company

in producing regular episodes for the internet on the new Kapiti Expressway to gauge the community response to this project as it develops.The new DME course is designed to allow learners to figure out their own strengths and design their own path-ways, linking into the New Zealand Curriculum and NCEA achievement standards in authentic and exciting ways.

Visiting Drummers

The College hall was filled with stu-dents beating over 200 drums fol-

lowing the lead of the award winning drummers from Rhythm Interactive. The drumming on African styled hand drums was both energising and enjoy-able for the students who took part in either the senior or junior session. The theme was “Actions speak louder than

words” and the lead drummer John Boon’s instructions were unspoken, requiring students to watch and follow to get the beat. And get the beat they did, the hall was pumping.

Marion Lumley, Acting Assistant Principal

ERO

The Education Review Office (ERO) have just completed their review

of the College. Having them at this time is very helpful as they provide an external lens to look at what we have been doing to get the best learning and social outcomes for our students. We can report that the Reviewers were very impressed with the College and the students. The final Review

Report will be available on the ERO website (www.ero.govt.nz) for public viewing early in 2014.ERO were impressed with the rela-tionships between staff and students and how this has been fostered through the Restorative Practices and PB4L initiatives in the College. They were also very complimentary about the way curriculum has been

developed in the College and the how teaching and learning takes place. Having such a positive ERO Review is an affirmation that the College is certainly heading in the right direc-tion with lots of great stuff going on to allow students to “strive to be the best that they can be”

College Gala

I want to take this opportunity to sin-cerely thank the College Home and

School Committee who have again organised and run a very successful College Gala. Many hours of work

and planning go into this event so without the energy and enthusiasm of this committee it would not happen. Thanks also to staff and students who helped out. The funds raised for this

will certainly help support programmes and resources that we could not nor-mally fund. THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH!

Prizegiving Ceremonies

A reminder to all parents that our Prizegiving season is upon us.

We look forward to you attending and celebrating the successes fo our

students.• Senior Prizegiving: Thursday 7th

November 7.00 pm• Year 9 and 10 Prizegiving: Mon-

day 9th December 1.00 pm• Year 7 & 8 Prizegiving: Tuesday

10th December 1.00 pm

Kapa Haka

There has been a desire amongst students and whanau to rebuild

Kapa Haka in the College. In an effort to fulfil this wish I want to thank Matua Ricki Baker and Whaea Destine Kuku-Heaeta for the work that they have been doing with a year 7 to 9 group. It was exciting to have this group

performing at Takiri o Te Ata Kapiti Schools Kapa Haka Festival. Marion Lumley, our Acting Assistant Principal attended the event and reported back saying that the students performed very well. Congratulations and well done. Numbers still continue to grow with

the Wednesday night Kapa Haka group which is being tutored by Anahere Miritana. This commences at 6pm to 7pm every second Wednesday and things are looking very good for this roopu as they develop.

Staff

Deputy Principal position: Interviews for this position are taking place

on 8th November. Once this appoint-ment has been finalised we will have our confirmed Senior Leadership Team going into 2014. The structure of the team moving forward will be a Principal and two Deputy Principals with the ability to pull in key staff as required.

Whaea Hine Wilson: Whaea Hine is away most of this term after seriously injuring her achilles. She has spent

over a term battling pain to come in and teach but has finally been able to go in for surgery to rectify the injury. We all wish her well in her recovery!

Lindsay Moore: At the end of week 4 we will lose the services of Lindsay Moore who has been teaching in the Digital Technology and Technology Departments this year. Lindsay has made a big contribution to the college and the students during his short time here. He will be missed but he is mov-ing on to Upper Hutt College as Head

of Technology and will be closer to Masterton where has wife has recently been appointed to a Principalship. We wish Lindsay all the very best and want to thank him for his contribution to Ōtaki College.Our sincere condolences go out to

Janice Brown and her family. Jan-ice’s dad passed away on Monday 21st October and will be missed by all who knew and loved him.

Karen Boyes: Teaching Students How to Study

Karen is an internationally ac-claimed speaker and educator.

She came to the College on Wednes-day 23rd October and worked with year 9 to 13 students on study skills and examination skills (for seniors). The feedback from students has been very positive and many are now trying to utilise the skills they learnt in their

study leading into external examina-tions. These sessions were followed up with very successful workshops with staff and a parents focusing on how students can be taught and sup-ported to study and learn.We are looking at ways to fund Karen back early in 2014 to run workshops with students. We are also consid-

ering how to best utilise her study resource to support students to build their confidence and proficiency in reviewing and studying the work they do in their classes.Watch this space for 2014.

Andy FraserPrincipal

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From the Principal

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Events (continued)

Notices

Y12 Outdoor Education Ropes Camp

‘Three, two, one…’. ‘Nup, start again’ ‘Three, two one, JUMP!’‘YES YOU DID IT’

This sequence was repeated many times

as 11 Year 12 Outdoor Education students at-tempted and succeeded at the ‘Pamper Pole’ at the Waihoanga Challenge Ropes Course in the Ōtaki Gorge.

The Pamper Pole involves climbing rungs up a 12 metre telegraph pole, step-ping on to the top without anything to hold on to, then leaping to a trapeze.

Although very scary and challeng-ing the student wears a harness for

safety and is belayed by two people.

Other activities on the course had the students wonder-ing if they could possible do them, some only being possible by two people work-ing together. But with team cooperation, encouragement and self-confidence most of the activities were completed by the students and a huge amount of fun was had. The students returned to college buzzing with self-pride at their achievements.

Howard ManinsCurriculum Leader, Outdoor

Education

Sports Prizegiving

Congratulations to all of our sports prizewinners. The College would

like to thank our speakers - ex pupils, Heniti Davis and Hamish Buick, for sharing highlights from their sporting and academic careers. Particular congratulations go to Chris Gaudin, who was awarded the Ōtaki College

Cup for Outstanding Contribution to Sport and to Alana Fraser and Mitch-ell Rutter who won Top of Code in Touch and Multisport respectively at the prestigious College Sport Welling-ton Awards.

2013 Prizegivings

Whanau are warmly invited to celebrate the achievements of ŌC

students in 2013

Senior Prizegiving:7.00pm Thur 7th November

Year 9&101.00pm Mon 9th December

Year 7&81.00pm Tue 10th December

Teacher Only Days:There will be no Junior or International classes on 15th and 18th November for two teacher only days. ‘Read a Book This Summer’ campaignThere is an insert in this newsletter giving information about the Sum-mer Reading campaign and a form to complete to take part. If you want to know more then please contact the college librarian, Sue on 364 8204 ext 710 or email smm@Ōtakicollege.school.nz. The info will also be on the library blog: libraryoc.blogspot.com

Sue McMillan, Librarian

STUDENT JOB SEARCH – Is a free service created to help students get jobs. Need work this summer? If you are enrolled in a New Zealand Tertiary Institute for 2014 you can use the Student Job Search website for free! VISIT www.sjs.co.nz LIKE US on Facebook for Competitions & Prizes facebook.com/studentjobsearchnz

Singing and Violin lessonsExperienced teacher offering after

school lessons.Mondays and Thurs-days; Ōtaki. Wednesdays Raumati, Waikanae, Paraparaumu. Contact:

Rachel 021 936 749Email rachel@rachelmorgan.net

SAFETY ISSUEWhen picking up and dropping off students please DO NOT stop on the yellow lines - this is a serious safety issue.

Please Notify UsNotification, in writing, must be provided well in advance of taking students out of school for an extended period - this includes over-seas holidays. Such absences may impact on your child’s assess-ment deadlines and we cannot offer advice if we do not know about the intended absence. Also, please update the office immediately if your contact details change in any way.

Final Senior Sign Out Day is Tuesday 26th November. ALL BOOKS must be returned by this date. The Leavers’ Dinner is on 27th November - rsvp by Friday 22nd November.

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Soccer Success

Chris Hawley-Stone, Fergus Roy, Matthew Braddock and Brendan

Eastwood made up part of a mixed Waikanae/Ōtaki team that took part in the McCartney Tournament in Taupo on the weekend of 12-13 October. This is the second biggest soccer tournament in NZ. The boys played

teams from Auckland, Wellington and Wanganui, and won 5 games, drew 1 and lost 1. They were runners up in their grade II pool, with the top team beating them by 1 point on the table. The boys had only been playing to-gether for 3 weeks with the Waikanae team. A great achievment!

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