Star Board Term Three Week Nine

Principal's Message

Kia Ora Koutou Whanau

With the public holiday on Monday 26 September, schools will not be required to be open or to make up the two half-days. So, what that means is that school year will not be made longer.

Have you always thought you would be a great teacher? Here is your chance my friend. To encourage people to change career and become a teacher, MoE offer two different types of career changer scholarships. Both pay course fees plus $30k per year of study and are open from 15 September to 13 October.

These scholarships are very popular, and it is known career changers go on to enjoy fulfilling teaching careers.

• The number of Te Huawhiti career changer scholarships available for all sectors and subjects is increasing by 100 additional places to 185 places.
• In addition, 115 Te Waka Whakarei career changer scholarships are available for Māori-medium and te reo Māori teachers.

If this sounds like you or someone you know check out the TeachNZ website pages:

Take your place alongside our young people – TeachNZ

Te Waka Whakarei Career Changer Scholarship – TeachNZ

For people out there wanting to return to teaching roles, MoE will continue to fully fund the Teacher Education Refresh programme to be fees-free until June 2023.

Go to TeachNZ website for more information: Teacher education refresh – TeachNZ

Equity Index

A change is being made to the decile system. As you may know, we receive government funding and staffing to operate our school which is mostly based on the number of ākonga/ students we have.

There is also some government funding that is targeted. This includes ‘Equity Funding’. Currently our Equity Funding is based on how many ākonga we have and our school decile, but from 2023 school deciles will be phased out. The Ministry has a new measure called the Equity Index (EQI).

The EQI helps identify schools and kura that need additional funding and resources to support ākonga. The EQI gives each school a three-digit number which is tied to a funding rate. This number is not a measure of quality. It is not reflective of our schools’ teaching, culture, ākonga ability or achievement.

The EQI is a complex tool with strict privacy protections. School Boards, Principals and staff will not be provided with any information about ākonga, families or whānau, that has been used to generate their EQI number.

This number will be updated every year. For 2023 our number is 397. The average [national] Equity Index number is 463. The numbers range from 344 to 569. The higher the number indicates there may be more barriers relative to another school.

The Ministry will also use the EQI when considering other resources, like the School Donations Scheme.

Another funding change happening next year is that the Ministry is making changes to the Isolation Index. This tells the Ministry how isolated our school is compared to others. It was last changed 20 years ago and of course there have been lots of changes to roads and our region in that time. This change will have a small impact on us.

You can read more about these changes including factsheets at the Ministry of Education’s website: The Equity Index – Ministry of Education

ShakeOut 2022

Our Health and Safety Chair has signed us up to take part in the National ShakeOut, our national earthquake drill and tsunami hīkoi

Saying No

Setting boundaries is healthy, and it gives safety and security. Boundary setting can be simply created with the word we probably need to use more, and which is a complete sentence, is ‘No’.

Winning and Losing – both take grace

I have been talking a lot about this lately. Rather than make further comment I thought this poem by Francis Duggan encapsulates it nicely:

Have a great weekend and be safe

Ngā Mihi

Kiri

Around School

House Music 2022

Last Friday St Matthew's held its first fully fledged House Music event in over two years. It was an action-packed evening that featured all of our Houses singing creatively arranged Hymn and Song choices. All Houses showed tremendous camaraderie and House Spirit and their performances were well received by an audience that filled the Wairarapa College Hall to capacity! Along with our House Performances, the St Matthew's community was treated to a musical feast from a variety of our School's musical ensembles with items from the Ngātahi Cultural Group, Cantare Ad Astra Choir, Jazz Band, Viva Camerata Choir and Jabulani Choir. Kia ora koe to all of these groups for their fantastic performances. Also, we can't forget to congratulate every single student for showing such enthusiasm during their House songs. Tino pai! In case you missed out on the Prizegiving, below is the full list of awards:

• The Thomson Family Trophy for Best Student Arrangement : Daisy Carter
• The Scott Cup for Best Conductor : Madeleine Wellbrock
• The Brenda Huang Tray for Best Accompaniment : Sheppard
• The Chapel Cup for Best Hymn : Cooper
• The Tait Jameson Cup for Best Song : Sheppard
• The House Cup for Best Overall House : Sheppard

Overall House Placings

• Sheppard : 1st
• Cooper : 2nd
• Wake : 3rd
• Batten : 4th

Boarding Note from Jo Booth

As we are currently in the process of reviewing our Term 4 Menu, we have decided to turn to one of our talented St Matthew’s Old Girls, Kiri MacDonald for advice. Kiri is well known in the food industry so we are extremely excited to have her onboard.

Last night there was great excitement with the Year 9 & 10 social at St Matthew’s. There are many great photos of the girls, but this is a group of the Year 11 Leaders known as SMOLS who helped at the social. Leadership within school and boarding is a priority going forward as it is so beneficial for our students to experience the importance of helping and guiding others. Below is Olivia, Sophia, Sophie and Emma who were looking fabulous in their 80’s outfits.

Intercollegiate Smallbore Rifle Shooting

The Intercollegiate Smallbore Rifle Shooting was held Wednesday. There were teams from Rathkeale, Kuranui, Wairarapa College, and St Matthew’s.

All teams shot well but the overall winners with 566 points was St Matthew’s. Congratulations to Harriet Klingender, Tegan Abbott, and Kate McKenna.

Senior Skirts & Winter Uniform for 2023

Winter uniform will be ordered on the 20th October this year, a month earlier than in previous years. New Senior Skirts @$165.00 therefore need to be tried on and ordered before then. Please also place orders for any other winter uniform that you might require. Year 12s please order extra white L/S blouses for year 13.

There is no commitment to buy uniform that you have ordered, but it means that the correct sizes will be in stock if you find that there is no good 2nd hand available. Winter uniform should arrive mid-March, payment can be made on collection or beforehand by Internet banking.

Uniform Shop opening hours: Tuesdays & Thursdays 3pm – 4pm during term time, or at other times by appointment. Please contact Juliet with any enquiries and winter orders: smcsuniforms@trinityschools.nz.

Year 11 French

Year 11 students of French from St Matthew’s and Rathkeale met for lunch yesterday, accompanied by their teachers, Mme Couture-Brieu and Mme Hannon. On the menu was raclette, prepared by St Matthew’s students Hannah Percy and Emma Thorneycroft. It’s a meal where cheese is melted on a grill at the table and poured over potatoes, ham, gherkins, small onions and of course, slices of baguette. Visitors Brynn, Bax and Freddie were appreciative of the food.

Afterwards, the students unwrapped and consumed chocolates called papillotes, the wrapping for each chocolate containing a proverb in French which had been prepared by the girls. It was a really enjoyable occasion – the first of many, we hope!

Year 9 & 10 Social