NAENAE COLLEGE

“Board Talk” Newsletter June 2023

New Principal Appointment Announcement

Kia ora e te Whānau, Talofa Lava, Welcome!

The Naenae College Board of Trustees is very pleased to advise our community that we have completed a comprehensive Principal/Tumuaki appointment process.

After a thorough and well-subscribed process, we are delighted to announce that our Deputy Principal Mr. Chris Taylor has been appointed Principal/Tumuaki of Naenae College. Chris will take up the role on 9 October 2023—the beginning of Term 4 2023. This delay will allow for us to advertise Chris’s Deputy Principal role and to find an exceptional replacement to complement our Senior Leadership team led by Chris. It will also afford Chris the opportunity to receive a comprehensive induction into his new role.

In Term 3, retired Principal John Russell will be Acting Principal to support, manaaki and awhi the induction and further recruitment process. John is well known to the Naenae community and we are delighted that he has agreed to step into this role to support Chris and the team for a term.

Chris was appointed to Naenae College as Assistant Principal of the Senior School in 2019. He brought senior leadership experience from previous schools and in 2023 became the Deputy Principal responsible for the day-to-day running of Naenae College.

Chris has a Master’s degree in Sports and Leisure Studies from Waikato University, training in restorative practice, and a deep commitment to the values of Te Whānau Tahi. Chris is married with two young daughters and lives in Wellington.

Contacting the Board

If you wish to discuss any aspect of school life, please approach the school management first.  To contact the Board of Trustees please ring the school office and ask for a contact number for the Chair, Derek Saumolia.

Board Meetings

Our meetings are usually held on the third Thursday of the month in the Wharekai at 6.30 pm.  Board meetings are open to the families and community of Naenae College and you are welcome to attend.

The dates for Board meetings are published on our website:

Board of Trustees

Ngā mihi nui,

Derek Saumolia, Presiding Member, Naenae College Board of Trustees

Kia ora e te whanau

Naenae College has decided to participate in a trial of the new NCEA Literacy and Numeracy standards in 2023. We appreciate our community’s willingness to take part in this trial and know that this practice is vital for ensuring that our students are familiar and ready for this type of testing in the future.

Literacy and Numeracy / Te Reo Matatini me te Pāngarau are important foundational skills that ensure success in further learning across the curriculum, life, and work. One of the changes to NCEA, is to create new standards that will directly assess Literacy and Numeracy / Te Reo Matatini me te Pāngarau as a co-requisite for students to receive their NCEA qualification. These standards will replace the existing ways in which students gain the NCEA literacy and numeracy requirements.

The standards are set to become mandatory from 2025. This means that from 2025, all learners must achieve the Level 1 co-requisite standards (10 literacy and 10 numeracy credits) via this testing method in order to be formally awarded their NCEA qualification at any level.

Which students will be part of the Pilot this year?
● The majority of Year 10 students except for some students identified as needing further preparation and support
● Those students in LIT 100 and NUM 100 who are considered by their teachers to be ready for testing
● Those students in Year 12 and 13 who are yet to gain Level 1 Literacy and/or Numeracy

The way that this testing will be done is through a Common Assessment Activity delivered here at school by NZQA. The tests are all conducted at school using a Chromebook or a Laptop to connect to the test and are supervised by Naenae College staff.

This testing this year will take place on Tuesday 13 June with 2 sessions; 8.45am – 9.45am (Reading) and 11.15am to 1.15pm (Writing) and Wednesday 14 June during LAR and Period 2. (Numeracy). Students who are absent on either of these days will not have the opportunity for a catch-up test and will have to wait for the second opportunity later in the year.

Students who require the text-to-speech application will need to bring headphones that plug into their device.

A Scientific calculator is also required but can be borrowed from the school should a student not have one of their own.

We acknowledge that this is a trial and designed to identify any issues we might experience in delivering the testing and it is also an opportunity to sample how students experience the testing process. There will be a 2nd opportunity for students to be assessed in Term Four (30 October to 3rd November) of this year, so this is a practice run and we appreciate our students’ participation. Students can gain the Literacy and/or Numeracy co-requisite during this testing trial which will count towards their NCEA Level 1 certificate and they will not have to complete further testing this year or next – if in Year 10.

If you have any further questions, – please contact Mrs Jessica Kim Head of Mathematics on km@naenae-college.school.nz in relation to Numeracy and Mr Martin Laing on lg@naenae-college.school.nz. in relation to Literacy or Deputy Principal Mrs Jane Hambidge on jhe@naenae-college.school.nz

Helpful links:

literacy-and-numeracy-assessment-information

Get-Started-in-2023

NZQA Literacy and Numeracy

Nic Richards
Tumuaki

Kia ora ē te whānau

As previously advised, KAMAR is planning to release an update to the Web Portal during Term Two. They are aiming to release this on Wednesday of Week One. Here’s a reminder of the changes that you can expect in it.

Force Password Change
Caregiver Passwords
This update will force caregivers to update their passwords. If caregiver passwords are visible in KAMAR, the caregiver will be forced to update their password when they first log onto the Web Portal after the update. On first login, they will be taken to the “Change Password” screen and be forced to change the password to one of their own choosing (in accordance with the new password complexity rules).

Student Passwords
This update will allow students to change their password when previously you may have disabled this option, however, they will not be required to do so. In a future update, we plan to add some features that will make the management of security for student passwords easier. We appreciate that some students will not be able to adequately manage their own passwords. So rather than forcing all students to change their passwords, the College will be able to control which year levels will have this requirement. Additionally, the College will be able to override this requirement for specific students.

This means that students will benefit from these security improvements, without (for example) expecting young children or students with particular needs to manage complex passwords.