Tēnā koutou e te whānau, nau mai, haere mai ki tēnei pānui o tō tātou kura.
Welcome to the end-of-February newsletter. I’ve published a couple of extra updates this month, so I’ll keep this one brief.
Thank you for your support in reinforcing key messages around cellphone use and avoiding classroom referrals. Here’s how things are tracking so far this month. With 1120 students, we are seeing:
- Phone confiscations – an average of 1.69 per day in February, down from 2.53 last year. That’s 99.8% of our students doing the right thing and keeping their phones away each day.
- Classroom referrals – 1.95 per day, down from 3.60 last year. Again, this means 99.8% of our students are avoiding referrals on any given day.
While it’s still early days in our referral pilot, this represents a 46% reduction in classroom referrals — a very encouraging start.
In assemblies this past week, we’ve also reinforced that we are a gum-free school. We would appreciate your support with this message if your child is bringing gum to school. Our aim is simply to avoid the unpleasant mess that can end up on carpets and under desks.
We also held a special assembly for our Year 12 and 13 students focused on road safety. We don’t enjoy applying consequences that affect everyone when only a few make poor decisions — however, road safety is critical, as poor choices can have life-changing consequences. As a result, students are aware that the privilege of off-site study breaks is dependent on safe behaviour in and around vehicles.
On a more positive note, a huge thank you to our staff and student leaders who have been supporting Year 9 students through the peer support programme over the past few weeks. It is a significant commitment, and the support provided makes a real difference at what can be a challenging time of transition.
Finally, a few key dates. Please keep Monday 10 March free for our Polyfest Fia Fia Night here at Kaiapoi High School, followed by the Polyfest Festival at Hagley Park on 13–14 March. These are wonderful celebrations and not to be missed.
We are also hosting Rob Cope’s Keeping Our Kids Safe Online at 6:30pm on Wednesday 18 March in the school auditorium. This session is open to the wider community, not just KHS parents. Rob delivers a highly practical and engaging evening, sharing clear strategies to help keep young people safe in an increasingly complex online world. Attendance is limited to 400, so please arrive early to secure your place.
As always, keep an eye on the SchoolBridge app for updates on sports, music, clubs, groups, events, tutorials, leadership roles and more. There are a huge number of opportunities available, and we encourage whānau to stay connected so students can make the most of them.
Have a great week, and I look forward to updating you again in March.
Ngā mihi mahana
Jason Reid
