Fortnightly Update 

TERM THREE WEEKS FIVE AND SIX 2023

General Notices 

Kia ora Koutou, 

It’s hard to believe we are at week 6 of the term already. Over the last few weeks we have been organising our external exam entries. If there are any changes needed to exam subjects/SAC please let us know by Monday next week, as the data files are due next week to the NZQA. This is to ensure all akonga are catered for next term. 

This week our Level 1 akonga also received their NCEA Numeracy pilot results. I would like to congratulate them all! If your akonga have not seen these yet, these can be accessed through their NZQA logins. Any questions about this please ask your akonga’s advisor. 

This week our Tāwari reflection akonga group also went go karting to further support their team building skills. This event was funded by their hard mahi last week making delicious hot chips! 

Have a restful weekend and I hope you and your akonga enjoy the extra day off on monday for  mid-term break. 

Ngā mihi nui

Katy Cottrell   

Careers – Zena Kavas

Many tertiary institutions are holding their open days in the next few weeks. I have encouraged all ākonga to attend the Victoria and Massey Open Days this Friday. We have a number of our Year 11 and 12 ākonga applying for the Hands-On Otago experience in January 2024. Auckland University is hosting the MacDiarmid Institute annual DiscoveryCamp and NanoCamp in January 2024, and applications close August 27. If you are interested please email me

Level One Subjects

Art – Craig Bluett

The level 1 students are continuing to work well on their work for the Final folios.  We are also going on a gallery crawl in Wellington City next Tuesday the 29th in order for the students to gain inspiration and ideas for their Folios 

 

BCATS – Kieron Harding

Most have finished their chairs with mixed results, but still looking good. Some have started a jig saw bread board.  

Big History – Rose Langridge, Stuart Mason and Zena Kavas

The Big Historians are engaging with the second-to-last section of the Big History course, which is Threshold 9, ‘Acceleration’. This is a discussion of transitions, thresholds and turning points in human history, especially those in the past 250 years which have led to the emergence of the modern world. Students have been introduced to the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals and their relationship with the UN Charter on Human Rights, and upcoming lessons will cover some of the details of these. They are also learning chemistry, specifically how metals are used for various applications, based on their physical and chemical properties.

Digi Tech – Michael Draper 

The level 1 digi-technologists are working hard on their development projects.  This involves learning technical skills and sound development processes, and applying these to create a working software or electronics solution.  This is a major block of work (total of 12 credits) spanning term 3 for assessment early in term 4.

 

Drama – Lottie Butcher

The students are now blocking their piece of theatre for the 1.2 devising internal, and integrating several different drama conventions to create an effective piece of theatre.  Their piece is centred around mental health and will be performed to a small audience at the start of Term 4, this will be recorded and submitted as evidence.  

Mandarin – Lisa Chin

The students are working on part 1 of the AS90870 conversation assessment. Students have either chosen to have a conversation with a waiter or a conversation with a sales assistant. Part 1 is due by the end of the term. Students will be spending the rest of the term working on this assessment.

 

Te Reo Maori – Louane Ngataki

The students are working on their part 2 for ‘Kōrero kia whakamahi i te reo o tōna ao.  ’Akonga have either chosen to have a phone conversation or a conversation with a flatmate. They’ve also visited their old primary classrooms Kauri and Rata with a view to visiting Tawhai and Totara as well.  A final mark will be given once both parts are submitted as they cannot be graded individually. 

Maths – David Starshaw

The level 1 maths students are continuing the learning for 1.3 Tables, Equations, and Graphs which is assessed as an exam at the end of the year. We will spend all term learning this content. They are currently learning about quadratic relationships.

Music – Michael Stebbings

Level 1 Music students are continuing with their second compositions, and have been making good progress. They’ve also been practicing together for their ensemble performance (Music 1.2), and should be continuing with ongoing practice for their solo performance standard (Music 1.1). All three aspects will be due at the end of the term.

 

Physical Education – Lockie Bennett

Level 1 PE students are completing their first drafts of AS90967. This Achievement Standard involves studying strategies to improve the performance of a physical activity of the student’s choice. 

Level Two Subjects

Art – Craig Bluett

The level 2 students are continuing to work well on their work for the Final folios.  We are also going on a gallery crawl in Wellington City next Tuesday the 29th in order for the students to gain inspiration and ideas for their Folios.

 

BCATS – Kieron Harding

The class have finished their chair projects and they are looking really good. We have now started working on their guitar projects. 

 

Biology – Zena Kavas 

The L2 Biologists are now writing up their lab reports for their final internal assessment. We will now be returning to the learning for Gene Expression which will be assessed in the external assessment at the end of the year. I encourage all ākonga to begin revising. They can do this by reading over their notes, revising their vocabulary, and working on Education Perfect. 

 

Chemistry – Stuart Mason 

The Level 2 chemists have completed the section on reduction-oxidation chemistry and are continuing with their study of the chemical and physical properties of four types of solids, with a particular focus on molecular substances. The final section of new learning for the year will be about enthalpy changes in chemical processes.

 

Digi Tech – Michael Draper 

Our level 2 Digitech student, William, continues to work on his cybersecurity, systems and networking skills. William has built and installed a standalone server with its own separate network. He is now doing the systems operations work to update all its BIOS, operating system and network software. Once this is complete, he will use this server as a standalone cybersecurity environment for his cybersecurity training.

 

Humanities – Rose Langridge 

The class is working on the world of V for Vendetta and unpacking the film. They have looked at costumes, camera angles, camera shots, score, sound, dialogue, mis en scene and setting. They have now chosen a scene each and are analysing these in detail and how these techniques are used and work together in the film. Links to the wider world are also made and the American election being on the 5th of November has not escaped their notice. 

Mandarin – Lisa Chin 

The students are continuing to work on part 1 of the AS91112 writing assessment. Part 1 is due by the end of the term. Students will be spending the rest of the term working on this assessment. 

 

Maths – Michael Draper 

The level 2 Maths (algebra and calculus) ākonga are now working on the learning for Calculus (the mathematics of change). They have learned the basics of calculating and applying rates of change (differentiation), and are now learning the mathematics of cumulative effects (integration, the reverse of differentiation). The rest of the term will be spent completing the learning for Calculus and Algebra, both of which are assessed in the end-of-year exams.

 

Music – Michael Stebbings 

Level 2 Music students are continuing with their second compositions, and have been making good progress. This composition is due in the next few weeks so we can start working on redrafting both their first and second pieces. They’ve also been practicing for their ensemble performance (Music 2.3), and should be continuing with ongoing practice for their solo performance standard (Music 2.1). Both performances are due before the end of term.

 

Physical Education – Lockie Bennett

Level 2 PE students are wrapping up their first drafts of AS91329. This Achievement Standard involves studying the application of biophysical principles in relation to Rock Climbing.

Physics – Michael Draper  

The level 2 physicists are continuing their work on Mechanics and Electricity/Magnetism. They have completed the core learning in these areas and are now working to fill in any gaps they may have, integrate their understanding across this learning, and develop their skills at applying this to real and theoretical problems. These topics are assessed in the end-of-year physics exam.

Psychology – Zena Kavas

The L2 psychologists are now working on their final assessment, researching two different fields of psychology and learning about a theory within each field. We hope to have these reports finished before the end of term 3. This will allow time for marking and moderation, and give ākonga some extra independent work time in term four to focus on preparing for external assessments. There is no external assessment for L2 psychology. 

Statistics – David Starshaw 

The level 2 statistics students are continuing the learning for 2.12 Probability which is assessed as an exam at the end of the year. We will spend all term learning this content. They are currently learning about inverse normal distributions.

Level Three Subjects

Biology – Zena Kavas

The L3 biologists have almost finished their unit on Human Evolution. We have sent off our DNA tests and are eagerly awaiting our results. This will give us a range of information related to our topic, such as the percentage of Neanderthal DNA that we have due to our ancestors’ interbreeding with another species, and the route our ancestors took out of Africa 60 000 to 80 000 years ago. I encourage all ākonga to begin revising. They can do this by reading over their notes, revising their vocabulary, and working on Education Perfect. 

Chemistry – Stuart Mason 

The Level 3 chemists have almost finished applying equilibrium principles to the solubility of ionic compounds and soon will be applying equilibrium principles to solutions of acids and bases. They will deal with the concept of pH in some detail, including the details of how buffer solutions resist changing their pH. Oliver, Finlay and Rukshan succeeded in making some Prince Rupert drops by strongly heating the end of a glass rod: the blob of molten glass that falls into the beaker of water has a tail. The glass drop itself is hard enough to resist attack with a hammer but if the tail is snapped off with pliers then the whole drop shatters into hundreds of pieces. 

 

English – Rose Langridge 

Writing portfolios and connections are on the go at the moment with writing coming in about obesity, gun control, farming in World War Two and other varying things and connections made between the real world and fiction in the forms of Game of Thrones and Wars of the Roses;  enduring love in poetry in the 19th century; angst and loss of love in poetry across time and finally dystopian texts and the real world.

 

History – Rose Langridge 

We have gotten to the end of the line and finished up looking at two events in history that have been painted horribly and one was no way near as bad as we think – the Spanish Inquisition. The other was the witch trials in Scotland and How James the Sixth (or James the First if you are English) was directly involved. The class will now look to choose a topic for their inquiry standard, this will involve them deep diving into one of the topics we have quickly covered this term.

 

Maths – David Starshaw

The level 3 maths students are continuing the learning for 3.7 Integration which is assessed as an exam at the end of the year, along with 3.6 Differentiation. We will spend all term learning this content. They are currently learning about definite integration.

Physical Education – Lockie Bennett

Level 3 students continue with looking at the Women’s World cup and the economic and sporting effect it will have on New Zealand. They are also completing a work booklet based on lifelong well being – this will need to be completed in the next two weeks.

 

Physics – Michael Draper 

The level 3 physicists are continuing their work on Mechanical Systems, Electrical Systems and Waves. These three topics are assessed in the end-of-year physics exam. They have completed the core learning for Mechanics and Electrical Systems and will be completing the learning for Waves in the next few weeks. They are currently working on revision, addressing gaps and weaknesses, and practice exercises. From the end of term 3, they will focus on exam practice in preparation for the end-of-year year-exams.

 

Psychology – Zena Kavas

The L3 psychologists are now writing up their report for the final internal assessment. They are researching a particular field of psychology and learning about two different theories within that field and how they are used in practice. This report will be finished before the end of term three to allow ākonga to prepare for the psychology external assessment or free up some extra independent work time for other revision.

 

Social Studies – Rose Langridge 

Everything is about world leaders this term with people focusing on those who have done amazing things as well as those who have violated rights. On one side we have changing healthcare in America, thank you Barack Obama and on the other Joseph Kony, child soldiers and forced marriage in Uganda – definite violations abound. It is really fascinating listening to them complete their research and talk to each other about what they find and the changing views of people over time. They are focused which is just as well as this is BIG work!

 

Statistics – David Starshaw 

The level 3 statistics students are continuing the learning for 3.12 Statistical Reports which is assessed as an exam at the end of the year. We will spend all term preparing for this exam. They have learned all of the content for this exam and are now practising with past exams and other activities.