I hope you are all well and coping in your bubbles as we now move into our 5th week of Level 4.
To the families and whanau with Covid cases, I hope your recovery is swift and I thank you for getting tested when you had concerns and followed the self isolation guidelines. We are all safer as a result of your positive actions.
The Prime Minister outlined that we may move to Alert Level 3 next Wednesday 22 September, 2021. In Alert Level 3 Online Learning From Home continues in its current form, as the College is only open for Year 9 and 10 students of essential workers. They will be in a supervised classroom and will be doing online learning, but under Alert Level 3 protocols at school. More details next Tuesday.
LEARNING As outlined, the opportunity for good learning continues and will be ongoing until the end of term.
On our return to school in Term 4, we will still have our internal school practice exams and we will give you details for those. These practise exams are important for students to prepare for the external exams to be held later in term 1V. They allow teachers to gather evidence on assessments. This evidence may be needed to make decisions later.
The External Exams start on 22 November, 2021 which gives everyone two more weeks of preparation and learning for all assessments.
The Learning Recognition Credits (LRC) are now in place. This is where the credits needed to achieve NCEA Level 1, 2, 3 and UE have been adjusted to reward and acknowledge student
Added to the total credit count to help students gain the qualification
Endorsements
Certificate: now 46 at M or E (reduced from 50)
Course: now 12 at M or E (reduced from 14)
LRC do NOT count towards endorsements
UE: 12 - rather than 14 - credits in 3 University Entrance Approved Subjects.
Weekly Report Cards will still be issued on Saturdays.
Another Learning-From-Home Information for Parents will be sent out early next week by email, that will give you a summary of the class work coming up for approximately the last two weeks of term. Remember that each teacher provides the learning for the week every Monday to your tamariki and mokopuna’s Google Classroom. Support your son or daughter by discussing the work they are receiving.
Make sure you engage in your Google Classroom work to your best level as teachers are using every opportunity to gather evidence for assessment as aspects of Senior Assessment. If you engage and take control of even small aspects of your learning it has positive outcomes.
Congratulations to students in the Class(es) of the Week: 10 Dance, 9M Science,301 Biology, and Nu’u Toa Mentoring. Well done and the profiles are on the websiteHERE.
We have now given over 300 extra computers/chromebooks to our family and whanau in these last few weeks. About 90 more will be delivered this week. If you know of a classmate that has not got a device for online learning please email your tutor teacher. They will follow it up.
CARING & HAUORA
We have recently asked Waitakere Students what works for them, what motivates them and some tips that may help. We have ‘Tips from Waitak students for Waitak students’ now on our website HERE. Check it out. Also check out our instagram page HERE for all the activities that are going on.
Once again I refer you to Our College Counsellors who are available via email [email protected] and I include the Youthline number 0800 376 633 for your reference, or text 1737 for any guidance needs that may occur.
Flexibility is the key to how you and we all operate at this time. So please use your Online Learning Planner to manage your workload as you go through each week and manage breaks for physical walks and activities away from learning. Take regular breaks.
Year 10 - Choosing Subjects for Year 11 2022 While focussing mostly on the present situation we would like Year 10 students to complete choosing 2022 subjects this week. A reminder that this is done online via the school portal. An email has been sent to parents explaining how choices can be made. The same information was also shared with students via Google Classroom.
Our Celebration Events such as Sports Awards, Arts n Culture Awards, Mana Maori Awards, Pasifika Awards and Senior Prizegiving will still be held in some form and will be confirmed as we go through Alert Levels. The Senior Dinner has been shifted to 18 November, 2021.
FOODBANK ACCESS With so many of our community in self isolation it is important to know some of our local agencies who can provide support for contactless drive in food pick up at this time. Some that we use as a College are:
Waitākere College
42 Rathgar Rd
Enrol Now for 2022