School Calendar

June 2017 Newsletter

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Principal’s Report June 2017

Greetings,
Tēnā koutou katoa.

At the time of writing, students are in the second week of their second semester modules and are settling into their programmes of study for the rest of the year. The approach of Mountainview developing flexible pathways saw 59% of students in Year 11-13 change at least one of their subject pathways in the semester change. This
is a testament to the hard work of the Heads of Whanau and Mentor teachers, in addition to the growing ability of senior Mountainview students to take ownership of their learning.
It continually bodes well for the changes we have made in pursuit of effective and individualised learning.
It is timely with the second semester underway to remind students and caregivers about attendance. As the days grow short and the weather gets cold it is important to maintain the commitment to study. Students being responsible and ready to learn is at the core of what we do here at Mountainview.
Being present and on time for classes are key components of this. Research indicates that higher grades correlate closely to high attendance. It is important that if students are away they are away for a valid reason and that the reason is communicated to the school office in a timely manner. We have recently introduced a text notification system to help us with this. To ensure this system is as effective as it can be, it is important that the office has a valid cell phone number for each family. If you are unsure that we have your number
please contact the office and we can check.
At the end of this term and beginning of next, we will be surveying all students about wellbeing and inclusiveness. 2017 has been very much a year of change. A year that has focused on improving learning opportunities and pathways. However in making the changes it is important that we do not loose the
essence of what makes Mountainview special. Consequently we will be asking all students about this important strand of the Mountainview experience. The results should be available early in Term 3.
Following on from our recent Open Day I have been fortunate to have been able to visit a number of primary schools. The purpose twofold: firstly it allowed me to answer any questions that the students might have about moving to secondary school and secondly it allowed the primary students the opportunity to hear directly from Mountainview year 9 students about their experience in moving schools. I was impressed by the insight of the junior students and the openness and pride of the Mountainview students about their school. Moving from primary to secondary is a big move for students and it is important that they have all the support that can be mustered to help them with this process. If you are a parent of a year 8 student and are still unsure about school choice, don’t hesitate to get back in touch with the the secondary schools and arrange to have another look around.
Mark Jones
Principal