Principal's Message

Tena Koutou

It’s been another busy term with a lot happening in the last few weeks. The school Cross Country was held last week, congratulations to all who took part. This was the first time in three years that we have been able to run this as a full school event. Well done to the individual champions and to Ohau House who won the House competition.

I also congratulate the students who have so ably represented the school on the sports field.

In particular I’d like to mention our Girls Soccer team, over the last few weeks their excellent attitude towards the teams they have played have caused the opposing team’s officials to contact us to praise the way the team have conducted themselves. It’s always a pleasure to hear this type of message and I encourage all of you to make sure you do things the Waiopehu way when representing the College. Our recent sporting exchange with Te Paepae o Aotea was another example where the school’s mana was upheld by the teams involved. Upcoming exchanges include Inglewood and Naenae Colleges, not to mention the Annuals against Horowhenua which are scheduled for later in Term 3.

Our recent Cultural day once again saw the College celebrate the diversity of cultures within the school. After the flag parade we were treated to a fantastic concert displaying the talents of some of our students. Lunch was also a highlight of the day, where the members of the Student Executive assisted the Waiopehu Kai Crew to create a choice of four meals, Hangi, Sapasui, Fettuccine and Butter Chicken.

Congratulations to Mr Shirrifs and the school Choir and Barbershop groups who recently competed in regional competitions. Both have made it through to National finals. Mr Shirriffs deserves special mention for being awarded the best conductor at the Big Sing in Palmerston North.

My thanks to Mrs Davies for her work organising funding from Creatives New Zealand, this allowed the Ballet Collective Aotearoa to work with our dance students over the last two terms. Their performance of the dance choreographed based on local stories was a treat for all who attended.

As we are now in the depths of Winter it’s timely to remind all students of our uniform requirements. Plain black waterproof jackets are allowed, but this does not mean you can wear any plain black hoodie. If you are unsure please contact us to seek further clarification. Again I remind you that School Jackets are available from the school office, and that the various Sports Hoodies and sweatshirts available are, like all sports uniforms, only to be worn to sporting events.

Wishing you all a happy holiday. The academic year for our Senior students is now over half way through. Take a well earned break in the holidays, but bear in mind that term three will see more emphasis on academic achievement. I urge the Seniors to look at upcoming assessments and be aware of the School Derived Grade Exams that are scheduled for week 9 of next term.

I look forward to seeing you all on the 17th of July for the start of term 3.

Ngā mihi

Guy Reichenbach.

Capital E Social Studies Trip

Our senior social studies students enjoyed two days at Capital E in Wellington this term. The purpose of their trip was to film and edit videos to fulfil the requirements of a level 2 social studies NCEA assessment. While they were in Wellington they took the opportunity to visit Parliament and were treated to interacting with several MP's, Leader of the Opposition and our local MP, Terisa Ngobi. They even had the opportunity to access an early release of the year's Government Budget.

Junior Executives 2023

In May our Junior Executives spent the day together with Ms Spencer, Whaea Caroline and Mr Brown to welcome the new members who successfully went through the interview process to join the team at the end of term 1.

The whole day was nerve racking and exciting at the same time. We completed lots of challenges to learn more about each other and to develop trust within the team. These ranged from sharing ideas on our new team projects and just having a laugh or getting really competitive and wanting to win. We completed blind painting and navigating a trail of mouse traps with blindfolds and crossing a river of ice bergs!. All of us felt as though we had learnt something new about each other. After all spending the whole day together means you have to get out of your comfort zone and experience more and learn more about the people around you. We are looking forward to learning more about what it takes to make a great leader and completing some of the projects we have planned throughout the rest of the year. First up is Pink Shirt Day on Friday 19th May.

Phoenix Academy Awaits Ānahera Easton

A massive congratulations to our Year 9 footballer, Ānahera Easton who has been invited to train with the Wellington Phoenix Academy U-15s Girls Team on a trial basis.

This is an amazing opportunity for Ānahera and is one she has been working towards for some time now. Anyone who has watched her play knows of the skill and ability she possesses, she is a stand out player on the field despite being one of the youngest. For context, Ānahera has already scored 4 hat tricks this season for our college team as well as a double hat trick!!!

The Phoenix Academy are looking for players with specialized skills, particularly left footed players, making Ānahera a desirable player to potentially add to their squad. With the Wellington Phoenix being the only professional football club in New Zealand, they are committed to developing the youth pathway that will eventually feed into their professional teams. The Academy focuses on providing high quality coaching, sport science, medical, education, and wellbeing support to their younger players. If Ānahera is successful with these trial training sessions, she could be offered a spot in the academy which will be very influential in her future career in football. We are all looking forward to following Ānahera 's journey and wish her all the best

Year 13 Food and Nutrition Class

Our Year 13 Food and Nutrition class produced a range of healthy breakfast ideas that they shared with the Year 13 students in their Haurora class. They were doing this as part of their Action Plan to encourage young people to eat something healthy for Breakfast. As part of their assessment, they needed to get feedback from their peers. Thanks to everyone who gave some constructive feedback and thanks to the Food and Nutrition class for some tasty breakfast ideas.