A NOTE FROM THE PRINCIPAL
Kiwis are, by their very nature, generous individuals who are there to help others in times of need. Over many years, we’ve seen incredible acts of generosity and heroism during floods, fires and national and international emergencies. Kiwis are also generous in their everyday lives, with volunteerism infused in our ethos. The value of volunteering to our societal cohesion cannot be underestimated.
In our very own community, we also do not have to search far to find opportunities for selfless acts of service nor opportunities to contribute. We have many examples of people who have gone above and beyond yet tried to keep it quiet. From what we see in our community with Lions, the OpShop, the fundraising and community efforts for facilities such as our pool and the new sports facility, volunteering is ingrained in what we do. Our parents volunteer for sports trips, camps, fundraising, Board of Trustees and the list goes on.
For our students, we purposefully introduce them to the concept and benefits of volunteering through our many and varied community service and service leadership opportunities. SVA is a great initiative that acknowledges students’ volunteer hours and shows volunteer work – an hour gardening for the neighbour, and cooking a meal all come under the criteria. Volunteering is not only a good thing to do for our community, but it also has proven physical and mental health benefits, such as self-esteem, self-confidence and social connection. My purpose in drawing all of this to your attention is twofold. First of all, we are now finishing a particularly hectic term, and it is a great opportunity to thank those who have served the School through giving of their time. The staff, parents and students who have done so are too numerous to mention, and it would be unwise of me to attempt to compile a list. On behalf of the community which you have served, I thank you for putting up your hand and your hours of voluntary service. We simply would be all the poorer without you and we are richer for your time.
My other purpose is to ask you to promote this to your children – not just a single one-off act or something that they “have to do,” but as a lifelong habit with lifelong benefits. Many of us are at stages in our lives where there is simply no capacity to provide volunteer hours to structured organizations such as service clubs or sporting groups. Yet we can all volunteer to serve others, and it is important for our children to see us model this wherever we can. It might be helping someone with a heavy basket in the supermarket; it could be waiting patiently as an older person takes some time to exit their car in a car park; it might be helping someone who is clearly lost and needs assistance; it could simply be offering to help fill the water bottles at your child’s sporting match. These small things take minutes or moments, yet are random acts of volunteering kindness. What is critical though is for our children to see that we have thought of others and their needs and put them above our own. Volunteering is not the only way, but it is a valuable way, in which we can assist our children to find their place in the world for which we are preparing them. At the same time, it can help them feel good about themselves.
I hope everyone manages to enjoy some downtime over this winter break – and be back for the second half of the year ready to go!
Good luck to our Junior SISS (South Island Secondary Schools) Netball team who are off to compete in the first week of the holidays at tournament – it’ll be a great week!
WHAT’S COMING UP?
Week 9 | Date(s) |
Matariki (School Closed) | Friday 28 June |
Week 10 | |
Senior PE Camp | Monday 1 – Wednesday 3 July |
Year 9/10 Rock Climbing | Tuesday 2 July |
Assembly (changed day) | Thursday 4 July |
Matariki Night Market | Thursday 4 July |
End of Term (1.15pm Finish) | Friday 5 July |
Holidays | |
Junior SISS Netball | Sunday 7 – Thursday 11 July |
Term 3 Starts | Monday 22 July |
Week 1 | |
Cross Country | Tuesday 23 July |
Week 2 | |
Assembly | Wednesday 31 July |
Top of the South Hockey | Wednesday 31 July – Thursday 1 August |
Darfield Rugby Exchange | Thursday 1 August |
FRIENDLY REMINDERS
- If your child is going to be late or absent, please call the school office on 03 319 5138 or email office@kaikourahigh.school. nz any time after 8 am to let us know. We send texts out around 10.55 am for absent students.
- Ear pods are NOT part of school uniform and invariably are connected to some device. Staff will ask for them to be handed in as they are a technology violation. Parents would be able to pick them up from the office.
- End-of-term fee bills should be hitting your inboxes soon. Please ensure these are settled or Automatic Payments set up as arrears may impact extracurricular activities!
- Just a note regarding those who have the good fortune to be off on overseas holidays – please do not ask staff to provide work for your child while you are away. Their job is to teach the class in front of them, and although many will provide things that can be done while you are away, there should not be an expectation of it – you are taking them out in school time, and you are in essence being their teacher. There is so much your child can learn even from a repeat visit to a country around culture, boosting their writing skills by keeping a travel diary or blog and even reading when needing to translate things!
WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING?
Mānawatia a Matariki!
This week we celebrate Matariki – the Māori New Year – and our students have been up to some fun activities, with some learning along the way!
Monday kicked off with a Form Class, Matariki-themed Kahoot! competition. Congratulations to 7Wd for winning the competition and earning themselves a well-deserved prize of hot chips!
Tuesday was busy for us too. Kapa Haka has been working very hard, practising waiata for the community evening markets next week. We really encourage you to pop along and see the stalls, displays and performances that many of our students are involved with.
During lunch, Mr Wood led a native planting session below the newly renovated deck on the whare, which was informative. Kurapa Hawke led a karakia about giving back to the whenua, and Mr Wood explained some of the amazing properties some of the plants have in terms of their ecosystem and medicinal purposes!
A huge thank you to Te Rūnanga o Kaikōura for their wonderful koha of these plants. We hope our students look back on this area in years to come and feel pride in knowing they are supporting the local habitat and making our school look beautiful.
“Waiata Wednesday” saw the staff learning the “Matariki Macarena” and then taking it to their form classes to share. Waiata is an awesome way to speak te reo, support pronunciation and remember kupu – in this case, the whetū (stars) of Matariki.
Thursday was our last day before the Matariki public holiday, and Matua Ben and his classes put on kai and a “wishing wall”, for students to write their aspirations for the year, in exchange for a Matariki cookie – lovingly baked by Miss Smith’s star student chefs. It has been awesome to see the amount of students involved in this kaupapa and celebrate Matariki.









Year 13 Bio Camp
Last week our Year 13 Biologists went on their annual camp to complete an investigation standard for NCEA. Cawthron Institue kindly hosted the students for 2 days alongside NMIT, Otago University and various aquaculture providers. This allows students to work in a real research laboratory utilising some state-of-the-art equipment and to get a taste of what life as a research scientist would be like. It’s an extremely busy 2 days in order to gain enough data to make the assessment relevant and is totally individual and self-driven work. We had a great couple of days and looking to see some interesting results about greenshell mussel habits and behaviour!







Year 8 Museum Trip
Two weeks ago the Year 8 class went to the museum to see the NASA space display and try the hands-on activities. Although it was a small display it was super interesting with meteorites, interactive s about space junk, building cubes for space use and looking at some of the innovations NZ companies have made for the space industry.






Art Department
Year 11 students have completed their Internal Assessment for Visual Arts. Following research on NZ artist Penny Howard, they were tasked with creating a piece inspired by Howard’s painting conventions, resulting in the use of silhouettes. I am very impressed with the outcome.


Year 9 Readers Cup
The Kaikōura High School team members that travelled down to Tūranga Library Christchurch were – Annalise Ross, Hanako Kobayashi, Jade Preece, Mason Dunfoy and Toby Schroder. The competition covered six books :
The Crossover – Kwame Alexander Scythe – Neal Shusterman Pōrangi Boy – Shilo Kino
Thieves’ Gambit – Kayvion Lewis Diamonds – Armin Greder
Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus – Dusti Bowling
On the night there were 6 rounds to the quiz – 1 round per book with 8-10 questions on each book.
Kaikōura High School managed a superb result of 7th place out of 14.
The winning team Cashmere High – qualifies for the Nationals in Auckland later on next term.
It was great to see so many keen readers in the room and how awesome to have a competition that celebrates reading.



Lost Property
We have an unusual amount of lost Kidscan jackets, fleeces and Back Road jerseys in the school office. Please come and claim before next Friday, or they’ll be sold on!
Remember to label your uniform clearly – that is a lot of money sitting in the cupboard right now!!
Price Drop on School Fleeces
$35.50!
COMMUNITY NOTICES


