Kia ora koutou katoa
It is hard to believe that we are nearly at the end of Term 1 this year. I want to thank and acknowledge all members of our community for your ongoing support of our school and our learners this term. In particular, it was fantastic to have many of you onsite for our Whānau and Excellence evening earlier this term. Please look out for more on-site events over the coming terms!
Rostering home tomorrow – Year 9 and 10 students
Unfortunately, we have had to make the difficult decision to roster home all Year 9 and 10 students for tomorrow 6 April.
As you may be aware the PPTA have been taking collective action this term and our union staff are unable to cover classes for their colleagues over their weekly teaching entitlement. We have done our very best to minimise the disruption to our learners throughout the term, however, we do not have enough relieving teachers to cover all our classes tomorrow, April 6. Unfortunately, this means we are unable to provide teaching for our junior students tomorrow, so will need to roster home all Year 9 and 10 students.
My apologies for the late notice and inconvenience this will cause – sadly, we have no other option and we need to ensure our senior students are onsite to complete their assessments for the term.
If you, or anyone you know might be interested in relief teaching at Edgewater College in Term 2 then please get in touch with our Deputy Principal Angela McCamish: [email protected].
Attendance and Engagement
It was fantastic to host the student leaders from Anchorage Park School, Riverhills School, Riverina School, Pakuranga Intermediate and our school last week for a hui on how we can improve attendance and engagement in our schools.
Regular attendance is one of our key goals this year – we know that coming to school every day is one of the biggest predictors of academic success for our learners as can be seen in the national graph below regarding attendance and NCEA Level 1 achievement.
Students that miss one week per term (1 day every fortnight) will have missed one year of school by the time they are 16. This obviously can have a significant impact on their learning and achievement.
Your ongoing support with encouraging and enabling regular attendance is very much appreciated. As a school our average attendance rate is 84% per day. Our target for Term 2 is 90%. As I have shared earlier this term we will be reporting your child’s attendance and punctuality rates on their Graduate Profile at the end of the year. In order to gain a ‘Gold’ award they need at least 90% + attendance.
Please look out for further initiatives in this area over the year ahead! If you have any concerns about your child’s attendance or ways in which we can further support your child to be here at school every day, please get in touch with your child’s Mentor teacher or Dean.
End of Term 1
As we have Good Friday this week school will finish for the term today, Wednesday 5 April for our Junior students (Years 9 and 10), and tomorrow Thursday 6 April for our Senior students (Years 11 to 13).
Start of Term 2
With Anzac Day being celebrated on Tuesday 25 April we will be starting Term 2 for all students on Wednesday 26 of April.
Uniform
As the colder winter terms are approaching, please ensure that your child is prepared with a school branded hooded sweatshirt and / or school jacket. These are required to be worn on the way to and from school as well as throughout the school day. If you need support in providing your child with correct winter uniform, then please get in touch with your child’s Dean as soon as possible.
Teacher only day
Please note that Friday 5th of May is a regional Teacher only day in week 2 of next term. We have two of these planning days this school year in order to continue our preparations for the introduction of new standards for NCEA Level 1 next year, including new Literacy and Numeracy standards.
I wish you all a blessed and safe Easter, Eid al-Fitr and school holiday break over the next two weeks.
Ngā mihi
Louise Addison