South Otago High School Newsletter, 17th February 2017 Nga mihi mahana ki a koutou katoa Warm greetings to you all

If you are uncertain as to the requirements please do not hesitate to contact the school. Finally Next week we have the ‘Meet the Mentor’ event. A letter has gone home on Friday and we are looking for a response to indicate how many parents will be attending. This is an opportunity to learn about the mentoring programme and also have an introduction to NCEA. We encourage all parents to attend with their child to hear about this exciting development which we expect will improve student achievement. The skills that students learn will also assist them as they progress into employment or training. I look forward to seeing you at this event. Kia Ora Tatou Mike Wright Principal

Dear Parents/Caregivers

This week saw our Year 9 students out at Greenpark accompanied by the Year 13 Link students. I visited on one of the days and it was wonderful to see all the students actively participating. The Year 9’s were fully involved in the activities and being well supported by the Link students and staff. This week has also been the time for school photographs. With the vertical tutor groups we added an additional series of photos to capture our Year 9 and 10 classes as a record of their early days at South Otago High School. Once again, student uniform is continuing to be an issue for a small minority. We appreciate the help and support from families to maintain the standard that is required.

These are our SOHS Scholarship Winners for 2017 From Left to Right: Chrystal Wrigley, Renee Macpherson, Alice Murray, Monique Hewitt, Calisa McLeary and Mike Jessop Absent: Briar Mills

Erratum from 10th February Newsletter Apologies to Gassan Otari.. Gassan achieved an Excellence Endorsement at Level 2

Term One Upcoming Events

Wednesday 22nd February ......................................................... Athletics Day

Thursday 23rd February ............................................................. Meet the Mentor, 6.00pm to 7.00pm in the School hall

Monday 6th - Friday 10th March ............................................... Tautuku Year 10 Camp

Monday 20th March .................................................................... Otago Anniversary Day (School is closed for instruction)

Tuesday 21st March .................................................................... Gore Summer Interchange

Thursday 13th April .................................................................... Last Day of Term One

Year 11 Career Taster Day Thursday 2nd March 2017 All Y11 students have the opportunity to explore some of the tertiary courses available at the Southern Institute of Technology in Invercargill. An Agricultural Experience Day held in Dunedin will be available for a small group of interested students. Buses to Invercargill will leave SOHS bus bay at 8.30am, returning to by 4.30 – 5.00pm. A mini-van to Dunedin will leave SOHS bus bay at 7.45am, returning to SOHS by 4.00pm STAR funding covers the course fees however students are required to pay $15.00 towards travel costs. All students are:

to wear tidy mufti clothes to bring pen and paper SIT students to bring lunch or money to purchase it.

The SIT Cafe will be open. Students received the Permission form on Thursday. Unfor-tunately, since then SIT have informed us the Beauty Ther-apy course has been cancelled due to staff shortage. Efforts are being made to get a replacement course and the students will be informed when confirmation is received. The lower half of the Permission form is to be returned (with $15.00) to the school office by Wednesday 22nd Feb-ruary to secure a place in the chosen course. Payment can also be made to the school bank account. # 02 0918 0160198 00 please annotate “Y11 Career Taster” and student name. Pam Cullen STAR / Career Co-ordinator

Below: Photos of the photo taking!

Below: Students from SOHS helping in the Community Garden

Defensive Driving Course The Defensive Driving Course to be held this term is filling up. Only 6 places remain available as at 16/02/17. Pay-ment must be made to the school office promptly to secure one of the remaining places.

Pam Cullen STAR Co-ordinator

Defensive Driving 6.00 -8.00pm Tuesday 28th Feb, 7th, 14th & 21st March 2017 In-car session to be confirmed ( ¾ hour) tbc Cost: $170.00 (South Otago HS students $120.00)

Vocational pathways are additional qualifications to NCEA that focus on a particular pathway after school in either employment or further training. Congratulations to the following students who were recognised for their achievements in today’s Assembly. 2016 Y 12 Vocational Pathway Awards Laura Adlam Creative Industries Hannah Botting Services Industries Megan Brice Services Industries Nickada Bunting Services Industries Holly Burgess Services Industries Jasmine Burrow Creative Industries Lorna Button Services Industries Tara Cockburn Services Industries Erica Craig Creative Industries Jessica Cunningham Creative Industries Kayla Dent Services Industries Sophie Dix Creative Industries Tessa Dix Creative Industries and Services Industries Riley Eggers Services Industries Timothy Faamoe Construction & Infrastructure and Creative Industries Regan Gillespie Creative Industries Joshua Hansen Creative Industries Chance Heremaia Creative Industries and Services Industries Jacob Hutton Services Industries Shannon Jelley Creative Industries and Services Industries Sarah Kenworthy Creative Industries Cassandra Lott Creative Industries Nadia Lyders Services Industries Natasha McNaught Creative Industries Levi Mitchell Services Industries Rebecca Murdoch Creative Industries Reeve Murdoch Services Industries Klaude Ngamoki Primary Industries McKayla Odering Services Industries Nicole Ogorida Creative Industries Caty Penn Creative Industries and Services Industries DeReece Pickering Creative Industries Ella Pryde Creative Industries Tyler Ritchie Construction & Infrastructure Peter Roger Creative Industries Bradley Ross Construction Infrastructure and Manufacturing & Technology George Rutter Service Industries Grace Schuurman Creative Industries Caitlin Shanks Services Industries Luke Sinclair Service Industries Kemp Skipper Service Industries Laura Stirling Service Industries Symphony Thakkar Primary Industries Catherine Tunnah Services Industries Lyndon Watt Construct & Infra, Creative Industries, Manuf & Tech & Primary Indust Reuben Watt Service Industries Logan Wilson Service Industries

Important Today all students received a student mentoring booklet and a letter of invitation to

parents/caregivers ‘Meet the Mentor’ evening being held on Thursday, 23rd February

Meet the Mentor Thursday 23rd of February 6pm - 7.00pm (approx.) in the School Hall. We are establishing a mentoring programme for your child at South Otago High School. This will involve your child having a teacher acting as their academic mentor who they will meet with on a regular basis. The aim is to increase their academic engagement through a process of goal setting. As this is a new initiative we invite you to “Meet the Mentor” and find out more. There will be a presentation in the hall followed by a session with the mentor, refreshments afterwards. Nigel Scarth Deputy Prncipal

Making Payments Painless

Direct Debit/Automatic Payments of $10—$15 per week per student are an ideal way for

families to pay for course costs and trips.

School trips must be paid before the trip takes place. If you are paying weekly then there must be enough credit on your student account to cover the trip costs.

Payments can be made to the SOHS Bank Account – 02 0918 0160198 00

If you are paying by internet banking, please make sure you put the student’s name and what you would like the money to pay for.

PTA Annual General Meeting The SOHS PTA will be meeting in the school staffroom on Wednesday the 22 February at 7.30pm for their An-nual General Meeting. Please bring a small supper plate. Very informal, only a couple of meetings a year. The role of the PTA is the uniform sale and organising the meal for the school formal and a couple of small cater-ing jobs within the school. It would be great to see some new faces. All welcome!! Apologies to Karen Mills 0275159555 otherwise see you there!!!

Tautuku Year 10 Camp The Year 10 students are starting to prepare for the annual Year 10 camp to Tautuku. This long standing SOHS tradition is a great opportunity to develop lasting memories with classmates in an amazing location. Year 10 students are reminded to return the permission slip no later than next Wednesday. Students will also return from camp with enough time to catch their normal bus. Oh and don't forget your ugly jersey... May the best, or worst jersey win. Dave Thomas TIC Tautuku Camp

Greenpark 2017 Year 13 Leaders The following students were Year 13 Leaders on our Greenpark days with Year 9. We thank them for their support of our younger students and their energy and enthusiasm on the two days his week.: Isla Pringle Dylan Crawford Daniel Cook Lesleen Makoni Finn Smith Bingham Harri Deacon Paige Win Ella Pryde Lorna Button Reeve Murdoch Abbey Edwards Kayla Dent Caitlin Ward

Library News This week in the library the books are flowing in and I'm covering them and getting them on the shelves. It’s great to see so many students taking books out and there has been a lot of interest from some of our year nine boys and I am finding we have some good new chess players coming in as well. Books that are about positive role models are always good and we have one this week called Nujeen which was written by one of Britain's well known foreign correspondents, Christina Lamb, who has won numerous awards for her reporting on foreign conflicts. Nujeen is a young lady with Cerebral Palsy and in a wheelchair, who after being trapped inside while a war raged around them in Syria, managed to teach herself English. She ends up on a journey to Europe as a refugee and this is her story told through the eyes of a child and what its like to have to endure a life like that. A very inspirational read. Katrina Pudney Librarian

Sports Corner Netball If you wish to play netball this season you can now signup on the board outside the library. The netball AGM is Wednesday 22nd February at 7.00pm in the library all parents and whanau are welcome to attend. Touch Congratulations to the following students who have made our SOHS Touch Team. Luc Thomson Harri Decon Kemp Skipper Logan Wilson Jordan McPhee Kobe Thomson Sam Stratford Keaun Owen Jack Dent William Casey Isla Pringle Page Winn Chrystal Wrigley Paris Skipper Kayla Dent Tia Valli Bree Winn Last weekend 5 SOHS Students represented Otago in Auckland at the National Touch Championships Luc Thomson Under 18 Boys 5th place Isla Pringle Under 18 Girls Silver Tia Valli Under 16 Girls Silver Kobe Tomson Under 16 Boys 7th place. Dylan Crawford refereed at the tournament.

Water Skiing Sunday 25th February is the Otago Secondary Schools Water Skiing Championship on Pinders Pond at Ettrick. We have two students attending this Jack Pringle and Ryan Dodds. Good luck boys. Hockey Monday night hockey kicked off this week at the Rec Centre. We have 4 mixed teams entered into this fast pace competition Thanks to Mr Deverson and Simon Cullen for their efforts with this. Winter Hockey signup sheets will be put up next week can all those interested in playing this please put their name on the form. Trials will be either late next week or early the following week. Pam Hannah Sports Coordinator

Boys' Cricket The 1st XI travelled to Lawrence on Wednesday for the 1st round of the 1st XI Cup. Our opening game pitted us against an inexperienced Lawrence Area School (LAS) team and, batting first, we were able to amass a total of 197/1 from 20 overs. Luc Thomson top scored with an unbeaten 96, whilst William Casey batted the whole 20 overs for 35. LAS struggled their way to 26 all out with most bowlers claiming at least a wicket and Jack Dent featuring with 3/2. A comfortable win. The afternoon match saw us play against a stronger Kavanagh College (KC) side. Fielding first, the team leaked runs early on and dropped a number of catches, but were able to peg it back over the final 10 overs. All told, KC managed 165 from their 20. After a slow start and the loss of some cheap top order wickets, the runs started to flow from the bat of Thomson. When he de-parted for 30, things looked a little grim, yet a strong partnership from Tyler Ritchie (40) and Kobe Thomson (30*) began to turn the match and the unlikely became possible. Ultimately, we fell 22 runs short, but a valiant effort. The team has its first Saturday match tomorrow at Taieri College, 1pm start.

2017 Gillette Cup Cricket Team

Netball The netball season starts on April 1st.. This means net-ball trials will need start very soon. Anyone keen to be in a team needs to sign up on the student notice board outside the library. Come and see Mrs Jory if you are unsure. The AGM will be held on Wednesday 22nd February at 7:00 pm in the Library at SOHS. All welcome. Most important of all, we need coaches. Please contact Jo Jory or leave a message at the school office if you are able to help in this area. There are many teams of all levels. Jo Jory TIC Netball

The Girls’ Cricket team will be playing against Milton today after

school in Milton.

Greenpark 2017 Our new Year 9 students have just finished getting to know their classmates, teachers and members of Year 13 peer support this week at Greenpark. Everyone involved had a fantastic time and it was great to see the Year 9 students give their best in a variety of team building activities. A big thank you to the staff and Year 13 peer support students who made this so successful. We have a positive and enthusiastic cohort in Year 9. It was great to meet everyone and have a great start at SOHS. Dave Thomas Year 9 Dean