Tena koutou katoa,

As winter takes hold, we are experiencing many staff and students being struck down by illness. It can be unsettling for students who have multiple teachers away, but it is critical that they continue to maintain the focus and attention to their studies. We are at a crucial time in the year, with the end of term 2 signaling that we are almost 2/3s of the way through the academic year for our seniors.

Over the upcoming term holidays, I encourage all students to sit down and consider where they are at for the year and what they need to do to ensure they meet their goals before the end of the year. Part of this plan needs to focus on a study routine leading into the school exams (Derived Grade Exams), and then the NCEA exams. The more planning, preparation and time given to developing a term plan will only enhance one's opportunity for success at the end of the year. Success is not given, it is earned.

Our Literacy and Numeracy Exams went smoothly in week 5 of this term. The digital nature of the exams is becoming more reliable and the increased focus within our classrooms is allowing our students to be more confident and familiar with digital assessment. Digital assessment is commonplace now and we will continue to support our students to enable them to be ready and prepared to excel. The second round of Literacy and Numeracy Exams are in September and students will be notified if they are involved closer to the time.

As you are aware, we have been through a process of change within our junior curriculum over the past two years. Society and the world of work has changed dramatically over the last decades and our traditional approach to the curriculum did not meet the needs of many of our learners. Technology continues to evolve and jobs that were once available to school leavers, no longer exist. Just as the workforce has changed, so must our school curriculum to best prepare our students. We cannot predict what opportunities will be available in the 21st century and therefore it is important to equip students with a range of skills to be able to lead successful lives.

As 2025 nears, so too does the second phase of our curriculum change. This will have an impact on all year levels. A team of staff have spent the past 18 months planning, ready for the introduction of what we affectionately are calling the Puawai Programme. Puawai can be translated as ‘to blossom’ and the Puawai Programme aims to help our students do precisely this. Sessions throughout the week will consist of the following:

Hauora, a taught wellbeing lesson focusing on student personal development with topics such as wellbeing, relationships, service and self-management/understanding self;
Poutama, which will provide academic mentoring with a focus on goal setting, life skills, engaging in school, gratitude and reflection;
An assembly / house activity session;
Two electives where students can try new activities and develop new passions. These could include sporting, cultural, academic or self-improvement courses, which will allow students to connect with other students from different year levels and with members of staff outside the formal classroom setting.

The Puawai Programme is unique to our school in this region, and we truly believe that it will help our students to develop into well-rounded young people, ready to excel in the world. Not only will students learn to manage themselves, for example by learning how to study, a skill which is essential at NCEA, but they will also develop soft skills, such as teamwork and communication, which are vital to be successful in the world of work. We look forward to being able to share the progress with you in 2025.

Lastly, we have our Open Evening on Thursday 4th of July. This is a significant event on our calendar and one we look forward to sharing with our community.

Stay safe

Heoi anō tāku mō nāianei

Cameron Stone

Principal

As part of keeping our school safe we need to be able to respond safely and quickly to a range of emergency situations.

We work alongside an independent company, Harrison Tew®, who specialises in emergency management planning for schools, whose procedures have been successfully implemented in hundreds of schools throughout New Zealand.

As part of maintaining our emergency procedures in our school, specialised training is being conducted with our senior leadership and staff by Harrison Tew®.

The students will also receive information on how to respond in an emergency directed at their respective age groups from either their teacher or Harrison Tew®.

We will then be conducting a lockdown exercise under the guidance and support of Harrison Tew®.

During the exercise you will receive a notification from the school, so it is important that your emergency contact details are up to date and correct. The notification will emphasise that this is an exercise/practice and will give key information that parents need to know throughout the lock down.

In a genuine incident, should you become aware of a lockdown or evacuation at the school, can we please ask that you do not attend the school or phone, as we will not be able to respond. Your presence or contact may make it more difficult for us or the emergency services to manage a situation.

We thank you for your support.

Now that winter is on its way and warmer days are far behind us, it’s important that our students are coming to school warm and dry. Please check that your child is coming to school in the correct uniform for term 2 and 3. A reminder of our uniform expectations is below:

All students, both junior and senior, are able to wear plain black business style long trousers. This does not include tracksuit pants, tights, or jeans, even if they are black. Girls who choose to wear the school skirt can wear black opaque tights.

There should be no students wearing sandals. All students should be wearing black, polishable, lace up shoes. Canvas shoes get wet (and smelly) and are not safe to wear in our workshops or food technology rooms.

On top, Juniors have the SHS monogrammed black polar fleece and seniors have their SHS monogrammed v neck jersey. All students should have a plain black jacket – black KUKRI school jackets can be ordered from the front office. Kathmandu puffer jackets (or other brands) are fine, as long as they are plain black. No students should be wearing hoodies of any kind or colour. Students will not be given uniform passes to wear hoodies and will be asked to put hoodies in their bags.

We ask that parents and caregivers support the school by ensuring their student comes to school wearing the correct uniform and replacing uniform items after wear and tear as soon as possible. We have some spare uniform available for day loan, including shoes, if students need to borrow part of their uniform. Please send your child to school with a note, or contact the front office, if this is the case. If there are financial challenges in providing your child with the correct uniform, please do not hesitate to contact us, we can help.

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We had some amazingly talented students attend the 2024 Taranaki Smokefree Rockquest. This event gives young musicians an opportunity to perform live in a professional setting. Two of our bands performed - TMS (Too Much Soul) and Glaive. Well done to all the band members who performed at this fantastic event.

Bryan Adams and Ephraim Ingram came away with the Smokefree Best Vocals Award.

Some of our sporting students have been excelling in their respective codes. Congratulations to you all on your amazing sports achievements. Keep up the fantastic work!

Chess

2024 SHS Chess Champion - Joseph Williams

Rugby League

Taranaki U14 Sharks - Cadyn Booker and Jahlin Goss

Swimming

Rylee McClung and Payton Kolevski competed at the NZ Division II Swimming Champs

Cross Country

Charlotte Hutchinson competed at NZSS Cross Country Champs and was also selected to represent Taranaki in the NZSS Cross Country Year 9 Relay

Darts

South Taranaki Club Darts Pairs Champions - Georgia Stevens
Shay Jordan and Jacob Robinson has been selected for the Taranaki Region 5 Darts Team to play in the New Zealand Youth darts team later in the year

Netball Umpiring

Tess Coulson and Maddison Walsh have passed their Zone theory

Netball

Taranaki U18 - Zoey Robinson
Taranaki U16 Mixed - Tessa Slater and Leah Smith

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Georgia Stevens

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Shay Jordan & Jacob Robinson

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Joseph Williams

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Charlotte Hutchinson

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Maddison Walsh

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Tess Coulson

There are a variety of ways that you can make payments to cover school costs. The main office receives cash and EFTPOS payments and you can also pay online via direct credit. Parents can also set up an automatic payment to cover schooling costs. When setting up the automatic payment, consider a minimum payment of $15.00 per week, which is sufficient to pay for all school, curriculum and sport costs for a student during the year.

Payments will be automatically applied to “required payments”. Subsequent payments will sit as a credit on the student’s account. If you would like to have payments allocated to the “voluntary payments”, please email ts@stratfordhigh.school.nz with the details.

You can set this up by either using your bank’s online banking services or downloading the Automatic Payment Authority form and taking this to your bank. Please remember to use the students’ name for any payments.

2024 School Policy Reviews

This term the policy for review is Health and Safety Management policies. See below for instructions to provide feedback on this policy.

Visit the website Stratford HS Policies and Procedures (schooldocs.co.nz)
Enter the username (stratfordhigh) and password (swansearoad4332)
Click on the tab for current review and it should show you the latest policies for review.
Read the policy.
Click the Policy Review button at the top right-hand corner of the page.
Select the reviewer type "Parent".
Enter your name (optional).
Submit your ratings and comments.
If you don't have internet access, school office staff can provide you with printed copies of the policy and a review form.

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School Policy Documents

The Stratford High School Policies and Procedures are managed online, through School Docs. To visit our School Docs, click here.

Our school username is: stratfordhigh

Our parent password is: swansearoad4332

You will find policies for review and more information about the review process under the "Current Review" tab. We welcome your feedback via this review process.

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RE:Mobile Phone Recycling Campaign

Rummage around for those unwanted mobile phones to donate!

We have a Mobile Phone Collection Box in our office.

The Mobile Phone Recycling Scheme has raised over $3 million for NZ charities thanks to the support of Businesses, Government Departments, Organisations and many thousands of individuals from all over NZ.

Phones received are graded, data wiped and sim/memory cards removed and destroyed. Phones that can still be used are sold by tender to off-shore businesses that specialise in the resale of second-hand mobile phones. They are refurbished and sold as low-cost handsets to places like Africa and Asia. Phones that have reached their end of life are broken down and recycled in an environmentally friendly way with up-to 95% of their materials being recycled into other products. Regardless of condition, working or non-working, make or model all mobile phones are accepted by the Mobile Phone Recycling Scheme.

Te Whatu Ora - Public Health Nurse

The Public Health Nurse will be at school one day every week for any health needs. Clinic is confidential and free.

Health and hauora (wellbeing checks)
General health concerns
Contraception
Condoms and pregnancy tests
STI checks and the morning after pill

To book an appointment, see the school office reception or contact the Public Health Nurse, Anne Jonas on 027 204 1134 or email anne.jonas@tdhb.org.nz

Please see the office staff if a hearing or vision test is required.

Please find below key contacts for staff at school.

Senior Leadership Team

Principal: Mr Cameron Stone

Deputy Principal Curriculum: Dr Michael Taylor

Deputy Principal Pastoral and School Organisation: Ms Kelly Jennings

Assistant Principal/Academic achievement: Ms Allana George

Principal's PA: Mrs Joe Mack

School Board Secretary: Mrs Amanda Hill

Principal's Nominee

For all enquiries regarding NZQA or Te Kura

Mr Dirk Vermeulen: extension 707 or email

Deans for 2024

Year 9: Ms Kelly Rawcliffe

Year 10: Mr Jeff Walker

Year 11: Mr Bill McGeoch

Year 12: Mrs Lucy Gibbon

Year 13: Miss Heidi Seales

Guidance Counsellor: Ms. Liza Albers

Learning Support Coordinator: Mrs. Lisa Dent

For all other enquires please contact the school office 06 765 6039

Boost Your Learning

Does your child require further support, over and above what can be offered at school?

Would your child benefit from bespoke and nurturing learning sessions from a highly experienced teacher designed to accelerate learning and boost confidence? We would love to help. We are a team of dedicated teachers, specialising in English and Maths support, for primary, intermediate and college students. Visit www.boostyourlearning.co.nz for more information or contact Jenny 021 223 3349 to book a free consultation.

We are pleased to advise that Stratford High School has reached Ferns' Fuel for School programme's threshold for redemption.

The current total is $1043.58.

We are super excited to introduce our newest addition to the program: Vegepod's. At Fern, we believe in the power of connecting kids with nature. Hands-on gardening experiences not only teach crucial life skills but also creates social bonds and boosts well-being.

You can now redeem from a range of sports, technology, literacy, music and of course Vegepod packages which will be hand delivered by your local Rural Sales Manager.

The Fuel for Schools sponsorship programme has helped put over $1.7 million dollars of resources into more than 600 rural schools in the last fifteen years.

Just a reminder of how SHS has received this donation...

SHS has been nominated by a local business/farm that receives bulk fuel deliveries from Fern, meaning that for every 100 litres of bulk fuel they purchase, 50 cents is donated to SHS. We would like to take the time to mention who those members of the community are that have contributed to SHS. They are listed as follows:

Amberhay Limited - Finnerty Road
Cornwall Park Farms Limited - AGO
G & M Collins Family Trust
Makino Deer Limited
Palmerdell Trust 91 Only
Palmerdell Trust AGO only
Palmerdell Trust
Cornwall Park Farms Limited
WE & JJ Craig
GN & RL Smith Trusts Partnership

Rural communities and schools everywhere can enjoy the benefits of the Fuel for Schools programme. For more information about the programme, call 0800 99 99 89 or visit their website fernenergy.co.nz/community/fuel-for-schools