Dear Parents and Caregivers
Westland High School will be closed on Friday 17th May for a teacher only day.
The main theme for the day will be to improve our professional practices through co-construction and critical feedback.
We apologise for any inconvenience.
Ferg Harding
PRINCIPAL
Thank you to the parents, staff and students who supported our recent swimming sports. It was pleasing to see our serious swimmers competing with determination and skill and it was obvious that there was considerable enthusiasm for the fun events later in the day. A special thank you to Ms Paul and her team for organizing the event.
Our PTA will hold their first meeting for the year at 7pm on Tuesday April 9 in the school library. This is an informal group who have the interests of our school at heart and they would welcome new members. Meetings are an opportunity to support the school, to meet like-minded parents and to find out more detail about what is happening around the school. The contribution the group makes to the school is very important especially in providing some help where an extra few hands might be needed. It is not a fundraising group but has in the past contributed significant funds to the school from projects undertaken.
I would like to thank the parents/caregivers who took the opportunity to meet with Whanau Teachers on Tuesday to discuss the progress of their year 7 to 10 students attending Westland High School. The exchange of information and ideas that these events allow is of considerable value to our school and it is gratifying to know that both our school and our students’ whanau are working towards the same common end to ensure the young adults leaving our school are as equipped as we can make them to take an active and constructive part in our communities.
For the first time in many years the Easter holiday break falls in term time and not as a part of the first term holidays. School will be closed on Good Friday, Easter Monday and Tuesday April 2nd. I would like to take this opportunity to wish all our school community a relaxing break. The first term ends on Friday April 19.
Hei konā mai,
Ferg Harding
Principal
Nominations
Nominations will be asked for from the 6th of May for the parent representatives on the board of trustees at Westland High School. Any parent or guardian of a student currently at Westland High School can nominate himself / herself or someone else (this could be another parent or guardian but doesn’t have to be). Nomination forms can be collected from the school office on or after the 6th of May with nominations closing at 12 noon on the 16th of May.
Elections
The elections, if needed, for this three year position will take place in the week prior to the 30th of May 2013. The voting papers must be at the school office by 12 noon on the 30th of May. Only parents or guardians of students currently at Westland High School can vote for the parent representative on the board of trustees.
Results
The results will be published in the Westland High School newsletter.
Voting roll and candidates
The voting roll will be open for inspection from the 6th of May at the school office. There will also be a list of candidates’ names, as they come to hand, for inspection at the school office.
Returning Officer
The returning officer is Steve Garside. He can be contacted at Westland High School on 755 6169 ext 872.
We are now well into the implementation of our planning for 2013. Four members of staff have just returned from attending a conference run by our He Kakano coordinators. They have returned full of ideas and with a greater understanding of the steps we need to continue to take in order not only to get 85% of our 18 year olds achieving at Level 2 or its equivalent by 2017 but more importantly 85% of our Maori students achieving at that level. We were inspired by presentations from young Maori who have achieved and the message that was very clear was the process for success is a partnership between whanau, school and the community and that is surely true for all our students.
On Wednesday of next week our PB4L team will undertake the first of four training days that are spread over this year. This is the next step in what will be a three or four year journey, using data to establish needs and to measure the effectiveness of what is put in place. It is a journey because there is no magic answer and each school has to develop it’s own processes and targets within a framework that has been shown to work in many schools but which takes time.
We are continuing to work with the Ministry of Education Student Achievement Function coordinator to refine our targets and to develop procedures to aid our ongoing strategic planning especially at the level of annual planning so that we progress towards the strategic goals set by the Board. On Tuesday and Wednesday of this last week our external professional learning and development advisor has been working with staff around our third target area for 2013 of using teaching as inquiry to help identify those learners at most risk and to investigate causes for them being at risk so that suitable strategies to help them improve their achievement can be undertaken.
It has been a busy start to the year.
Hei konā mai,
Ferg Harding
Principal
Dear Parents and Caregivers
We would like to invite you to an informal and friendly BBQ at Westland High School. Come along and meet our staff and give us the opportunity to get to know you better.
You are welcome to come down for a chat any time between 5:30 and 7pm on Thursday March 14.
We look forward to sharing this time with you.
Regards,
Ferg Harding
Principal
