5 F 2018

NEWSLETTER Issue 01/18

Mya Fraser Deputy Head Girl

Student Council

Studying for Level 3: History, English, Media Studies, Classical Stud-ies and Physical Edu-cation.

Achieved NCEA Level 2 endorsed with Merit

Kia ora, Kia orana, Talofa Lava, Fakalofa lahi atu, Malo e lelei, Namaste, Ni Hao, Greetings

It is a pleasure and privilege to welcome all of our students and their whanau, those families whose daughters are new to our school and those girls who are returning.

I look forward to meeting many of you this year and to work-ing with our staff and your daughters to ensure that your daughters achieve to their highest potential.

At Auckland Girls’ Grammar School we endeavour to:

Cater for the academic, sporting, cultural and social needs of all students so that each individual experi-ences success.

Promote a life long love of learning Create independent learners

To achieve these goals we:

Have high expectation of all students Maintain a hardworking, committed and valued staff Promote high quality teaching and reflective practices Recognise the Treaty of Waitangi Provide a physically and emotionally safe environment

for all students Have effective relationships with families, community,

tertiary institutions and work places.

Our School Values are:

Pride Respect Diligence and Empathy

Our school Vision is Educated at Auckland Girls’ Grammar School, Equipped

for the World.

We have a number of tools which you can use to follow your daughter’s progress and school events. Our parent portal provides you with access via your computer to information such as your daughter’s timetable, attendance, NCEA re-sults for senior students and school reports. Our website www.aggs.school.nz and Facebook page are kept up to date and are also useful sources of information.

I am looking forward to a great year.

Ngaire Ashmore Principal

Lauryn Patea Head Girl

Student Council

Studying for NCEA Lev-el 3 in Chemistry, Biolo-gy, History, Maths with Statistics,and English advanced.

Achieved NCEA Level 2 with Excellence.

Student Rep on the Board of Trustees

INTRODUCING OUR 2018 STUDENT LEADERS

Selu Kian-Faletoese Deputy Head Girl

Student Council

Studying for Level 3: Health, Dance, English Advanced, History and Media Studies

Achieved NCEA Level 2 endorsed with Excel-lence First Foundation Schol-arship winner

P 2 NEWSLETTER

Fa’amanu Starsky Akeripa Samoan and Social Studies

Ardi Ashrafzadeh Science Technician

Richard Bell Social Sciences

Natasha Chorley Science

Shan-I Lee Mathematics

Isla Norman English

Sarah Williams English

Penny Swann English

WELCOME TO NEW STAFF

And Welcome Back from Leave

Marija Ven Mathematics Maria Hughes English & Art History

Ashika Prasad Science

PREFECT COMMITTEE

Carolyn Matthew English

Cynthia Irabor Science

Casey Leupolu Maths

Bronwyn Usumanu Health/ PE

Sruthi Venkatram Social Science

Josie Rogers Social Science

Sharon Collins Kahurangi

Ravin Te Wano Kahurangi

Kaitlyn Yakas-Dance Sport

Eseta Tupouniua Events

Manu-e-vaha Latu Events

Alisi Kaufusi Service

Ofa Soakimi Careers/Pathway/Gateway

Naitua Patea Careers/Pathway/Gateway

Aaliyah Bhikoo Publications

Minwen Xu Languages

Sabrita-Grace Kolone Technology

Tyla Tuala Arts

Julienne Vivero Arts

Divya Divya Stars

Li’ikina Likiafu Stars

Valerie Tomai Stars

PREFECTS AND CHAIRS OF COMMITTEES

You can keep up to date with school events on our school website http://www.aggs.school.nz/ and in a more informal way on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/AucklandGirlsGrammarSchool/

PREFECTS CAMP Our prefects prepared for their leadership role this year at a Pre-fects Camp held at AUT University Marae on Tuesday 23 and Wednesday 24 January 2018

We started with a Whakatau and the AUT staff were very im-pressed with our School Waiata which the students sang beauti-fully.

The 1st session was Goal setting followed by a public speaking workshop where every student had to speak .The 3rd session was an Event Planning session. Students worked in groups and decided on a Year 13 Event and worked together on a plan.

After lunch, Nadeen Papalii, an ex-AGGS student who left in 2009, gave a very memorable talk on educational opportunities with many examples of her own journey which our students relat-ed to.

Before dinner the girls had fun at a Boot Camp held in the city gym and the last session of the day was Whakapapa/Sharing our stories. It was a great team building exercise and students felt afterwards that they had got to know each other better.

The next day at 7am we had a Mindfulness Session before breakfast. Then a conflict resolution workshop and a letter to self (which will be read later this year to assess whether goals have been met.) This was followed by a session on resilience-and a discussion of what resilience is along with consideration of how we can maintain positive energy through the challenging year ahead.

Ms Ashmore, our Principal joined us for the reflection and evalua-tion session.

We thank the team at AUT University for hosting and facilitating the Camp. It was a very memorable and useful two day experi-ence and gave more confidence and clarity to the role of a Pre-fect.

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BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Parent Representatives on the Current Board are: Dudley Adams, Precilla Betham Taua’a; Margaret Cotter, Adele Hamilton, Tania Tarawa, Sao Timaloa and Sarah Welch Other members of the Board are: Ngaire Asmore, Principal; and Lauryn Patea, Student Trustee.

The Board is responsible for the governance of the school. Its function involves strategic planning, policy making, the appointment of senior staff and overseeing the financial management of the school. Elections for a Staff Trustee are currently underway.

Board of Trustee Meetings are held at 5.30 p.m. in the Jubilee Library, upstairs of A Block

The first two Board meetings of this year will be on

Tuesday 27 February and

Monday 26 March

Board of Trustee meetings are open to the public and you are warmly invited to attend.

SENIOR STAFF 2018

The Senior Leadership Team comprises

Ngaire Ashmore Principal Maree Flannery Deputy Principal Fiona Lamberton Deputy Principal Gavin Morgan Deputy Principal Maree Irwin Business Manager and Maggie Hames Student Services Director Our 2018 Deans are: Year 9 Vaimoana Fakaosi Year 10 Lucy Wikaire Year 11 Annette Lee-Cooper Year 12 Eimear Harridge Year 13 Yvonne New Kaitiaki Kahurangi Joey Rogers International Students Jennifer Sturme

Our Senior Course Adviser is Alka Rhode

Our Pasifika Achievement Co-ordinator is Lafi Peters.

Our Guidance Counsellor is: Robyn Yee Our Student Achievement Manager is Rachel Allen

Our Heads of Faculty are:

Megan Moller Arts Jodie Stone English Louise Malins Languages Rhonda Tibble Matauranga Maori Sue Kerr Mathematics Leisen Jobe PE & Health Michal Denny Science Jenna Rhodes Social Sciences Anthony Hawkins Technology

TERM DATES 2018 Term 1 30 January to Thursday 13 April

Easter break Friday 30 March to Tuesday 3 April inclusive

Term 2 Monday 1 May to Friday 7 July

Term 3 Monday 23 July to Friday 28 September

Term 4 Mon 15 October to Thursday 13 December

NCEA RESULTS 2017 (Participation based—provisional)

NCEA LEVEL ACHIEVED

AGGS % NATIONAL %

NCEA Level 1 89.6% 84.2%

NCEA Level 2 93.7% 88.7%

NCEA Level 3 80.3% 82.4%

University Entrance 49.8% 59.9%

Certificates en-dorsed with Excel-lence and Merit

AGGS % National %

NCEA Level 1 50.3% 55.7%

NCEA Level 2 35.5% 43.1%

NCEA Level 3 32.1% 43.7%

NCEA Literacy

AGGS %

Literacy

National %

Numeracy

AGGS %

Numeracy

National %

Level 1 97 % 91.1 % 97.4% 89.7%

Level 2 100% 95.7% 99.2% 94.9%

Level 3 99.3% 96.3% 99.3% 95.8%

Literacy and Numeracy Results %

We are pleased with our 2017 provisional NCEA results, which are better than last years, compare favourably with the National averages and are above those of similar schools.

We will continue to work very hard to ensure that our students achieve even better results this year. Teachers are busy ana-lyzing the results to identify areas where improvements need to be made and we will be setting goals and putting measures in place to implement these.

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SCHOOL DONATION FOR 2018

Our school donation is $220 per student. If you have more than one daughter at school the donation for your second daughter is $160.

The annual contribution of $220 per student is used to subsidise the money we receive from the Government. It enables us to pay for additional resources, which enhance your daughters’ education.

Over the last few years we have used the money contributed by our families to pay for or subsidise a wide range of school activities including:

Software and copyright licences

Computer consumables for student use

Annual School Magazine

Participation in cultural events

Transport to sports practices and games

Uniforms for sports teams

Sports trips to regional and national competitions

The donation may also be paid in instalments and is tax deductible. Naturally, we would prefer it if you were able to pay early in the year. Payment can be paid to the school shop or by post. EFTPOS is available.

If you would like to pay by instalments please contact Alison Porter on 307 4180 extension 805.

If you would like to pay by direct bank transfer, our bank account: details are:

Bank Account Name: Auckland Girls’ Grammar School, Board of Trustees

Bank Account Number: 12-3209-0059410-00

Bank Details: ASB Bank, Business Banking

Please make sure the deposit details include:

your daughter’s name

form class

a brief explanation re: payment (for example School Donation)

As space can be limited on the bank statement, it is advisable, where possible, that an email is also sent to aporter@aggs.school.nz giving the details of the payment, so that the money is receipted correctly.

If your daughter has not yet paid the $6 for her school ID card, she will need to bring this to school urgently as the ID card is compulsory for all levels.

Subject Fees We also require students to pay a Subject Fee for subjects with a ‘take home’ component e.g. Art, Pho-tography, Technology. Once the students’ options have been finalised, parents will receive an account for the fees owed and we would appreciate it if these fees could be paid as soon as possible.

Subject fees should be paid ahead of activity fees such as sports and cultural fees.

All sports and cultural fees must be paid before your daughter takes part in the sport or cultural event. De-tails of these fees are available from the Sports De-partment or the Teacher in Charge of the Cultural event e.g. a Polyfest cultural group.

Please phone Alison Porter, in the Accounts Office, on 307 4180 ext 805 if you have any queries about your daughter’s fees or if, for any reason, you are un-able to pay.

It is possible to make regular payments to your daughter’s school account to cover costs which may be incurred during the year e.g. school trips.

SCHOOL EVENTS CALENDAR

An up-to-date calendar is available for viewing through our school portal and on our website www.aggs.school.nz

YEAR 9 PARENTS EVENING WEDNESDAY 21 FEBRUARY

5 P.M. TO 6.30 P.M. Parents of Year 9 students are invited to a ‘Get Together’ with their daughters’ teachers.

This is not a formal Parent Teacher event but is an opportunity for you to meet your daugh-ter’s Year 9 Tutor Teachers and her subject teachers and other parents whose daughters are in her form class in an informal relaxed way.

Refreshments will be served.

Please put this date in your diaries now. A reminder will be e-mailed to you closer to the date.

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HEALTH CENTRE 2

Nurse Tamah Clapham, tclapham@aggs.school.nz Nurse Phoebe O’Neill, poneill@aggs.school.nz and Nurse Erin Hunt, ehunt@aggs.school.nz are the registered nurses who work out of our Health

Centre. Doctor Fionna Bell is the school doctor working out of the Health Centre on Mondays with the school nurses to provide comprehensive health care.

Location and Access:

The Health Centre is situated in A217 on the Ground Floor of A Block and is open to students from 8.00 am to 4.00 p.m. Students can walk in to see a Nurse anytime during their breaks or before or after school. During class time they need to ask the teacher for a pass to see the Nurse.

We ask that you please do not send your daughter to school if she is unwell, and that she is off school for a further twenty four hours after any episodes of vomiting or diarrhoea.

If the nurse considers that your daughter is not well enough to be at School, she will telephone you to ar-range that she be collected from school or make suitable arrangements for her to go home. Please ensure that you keep phone numbers and emergency contact infor-mation up to date with the school office.

Sore Throat Clinic:

To prevent rheumatic fever the nurses run a sore throat clinic, and will swab students they see with a sore throat and commence antibiotics as indicated and with your permission as well as communicate with your family doc-tor.

Routine Year 9 Health Assessments: The Nurses also see all Year 9 students for a health as-sessment. This includes screening for vison, ears, hear-ing, blood pressure, height and weight measures and a comprehensive strengths based health interview. We will communicate any relevant finding as appropriate with you through sending a letter home with your daughter.

Prescribed Medication at School:

Any student who has to take prescribed medications dur-ing the school day should speak with one of the nurses. Reserve medication can also be kept by the nurse as required.

Please don’t hesitate to contact the school nurses on 3074181 ext 849, cell 021882647. Email tclapham@aggs.school.nz

Sanitary products for students are available at the School shop Please ensure your daughter has access to these resources.

KICK START BREAKFAST

Students can get a free breakfast of Weetbix and milk and fruit pottles from the room next door to the Health Centre, A214, every morning from 8.10 a.m. till period one starts. Thank you to Sanitari-um which supplies the Weetbix and Fonterra which supplies the milk. With the commute to school some days students are running late in the morning and have not had time to have breakfast before leaving home. Please encourage your daughter to start her day with this free and healthy breakfast.

Physio Action Physiotherapy provide our students with an on site Physiotherapy Service.

This year there will be Physiotherapy services from 8am till 4pm on-site at AGGS in Room C54.

There is NO CHARGE for Physio at school (with ACC approval). Appointments can be made di-rectly with the physio. If necessary the Nurse or School Doctor may refer students.

SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST We have a new school psychologist, Sheryl Me-theney, who will be at school on Mondays for the full day. The Guidance Counsellor or School Nurs-es will refer students to the Psychologist when necessary.

AGGS TRAINEE DOCTORS

Six ex-AGGS students have been accepted to study Medicine at Auckland University in 2018. They are Tamiel Tagaloa (Head Girl in 2016), Vic-toria Murphy, Sophie Yu, Vivian Chhan, Bisma Maryam, and Yestina Godinet. Entrance into Medicine is a very competitive pro-cess requiring very good grades in first year health or biomedical science, a good result in the Undergraduate Medical and Health Sciences Ad-mission Test (UMAT) followed by an interview. AGGS regularly has ex-students accepted into Medicine, but six students in one year is a record for us. We are super proud and wish them all the best for their future studies and careers.

BELL TIMES AND TIMETABLE 2018 School begins at 8.50 a.m. and finishes at 3.10 p.m each day, except for Wednesdays when school will begin at 9.30 a.m.

We have shortened the lunch break to 45 minutes and stu-dents will also have a 25 minute recess each day.

Our teachers meet for professional learning for one hour from 8.30 to 9.30 a.m. every Wednesday. n Wednesday morningsThe school buses will continue to leave at the same time as on other school days .

In addition to our Coachways School Bus service there is also a dedicated bus which leaves from Britomart at 8.30 a.m. every morning and comes directly to AGGS.

It is very important that students are at school on time every day. Students need to leave home early enough to allow for possible traffic hold ups. They should be at school no later than 8.45 a.m. This year we will be running a six day timetable. This will mean that your daughters will see her subject teachers more regularly over the six day rotation and will also have tutor time with her Tutor Teacher on four days of the week.

ABSENCES If your daughter is ill and unable to attend school please will you send an e-mail to absences@aggs.school.nz or call and leave a message on our absence line (09) 307 4187. If your daughter is not in class and if we have not received a message to let us know that your daughter is not coming to school we will send you a text message by mid-morning to let you know that she is not in class.

CONTACT DETAILS Please keep us up to date with any changes to your phone num-bers, address and emergency contact details. A quick e-mail to office@aggs.school.nz to let us know of any changes is all it takes.

MESSAGES FOR STUDENTS We are unable to deliver messages to students during the day except in cases of real emergency. Most students have mobile phones which they can check for text messages at recess or lunchtimes. The school cannot accept responsibility for any lost or stolen mobile phones, jewellery or other electronic equipment.

PARENT PORTAL Computer Access from Home

The Parent Portal provides you with access via your computer to information such as your daughter’s timetable, attendance, NCEA results for senior students and school reports. An e-mail with instructions for logging on to the parent portal has been sent to all parents. If you have any problems with logging on please e-mail our Data Manager, glawrence@aggs.school.nz To access the portal log onto the aggs website click on parent portal top right hand side and add the login and password that has been sent to you. A lot of the information on our school intranet, is also able to be accessed by parents e.g. the Daily Student Notices. The link is at the very top of our web page; http://www.aggs.school.nz/

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL

We know that many of our girls are involved in activities outside of school, such as, sporting, cultural, music, church related etc.

We would be interested to hear about individual students’ achievements outside of school, so that we can acknowledge them. Please e-mail admin@aggs.school.nz if you would like to share your daughter’s achievement/s with us.

BRING YOUR OWN DEVICE (BYOD)

Students are encouraged to bring an electronic device; such as an i-pad, laptop or tablet, to school. If your daugh-ter does not own her own device the school has laptops and notebooks that she will be able to use.

SCHOOL UNIFORM Your daughter is required to wear her full school uniform correctly. If, for a valid reason, she is unable to wear her school uniform please give her a note of explanation to bring to school.

This is the first year that our Year 13 students are wearing the new Year 13 uniform and it is wonderful to see them all looking so smart in their specially designed shirts and ties.

In Term 1, footwear can either be black leather lace up school shoes with white socks or black sandals. (Black sports shoes, Reeboks etc are not allowed).

The School shop is open from 8.30 a.m to 3.00 p.m. each school day. In addition to the school and sports uniforms, the school shop also stocks pens and some stationery items. Stationery lists for all levels for 2018 are available on the home page of our website www.aggs.school.nz

SPORT AT AGGS SUMMER SPORTS

This term we are offering a range of summer sports at all year levels. These include:

Athletics, Cricket Blitz, Kilikiti, Tag, Tennis, Touch, Swimming, Volleyball and Waka Ama. Please see the Sports Department, the AGGS Sport Facebook page or the daily Student Notices for information on trials, permission slips, due dates, season dates etc…

Please note that with the exception of Waka Ama and Kapa Haka, students will not be able to play Term 1 sport as well as taking part in one of our Polyfest cultural groups.

This is because of clashes with practise times and sports fixtures. Lafi Peters, teacher in charge of our Cultural Groups and Christo Peters, our Director of Sport are in agreement that the obligations for Polyfest and Sport mean that students are unable to commit to both at the same time.

WINTER SPORTS

Netball at AGGS has begun! The Year 9 netball academy is underway as are pre-season fitness sessions for all netballers – both take place on the lower courts and field between 7 and 8:30am on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

Trials for our Year 10 Academy will be advertised on AGGS Netball Facebook page and in the student notices. Trials for winter netball teams will not take place until later this term.

Please direct all netball inquires to our netball co-ordinator Ms Barbara Whenuaroa (Netball Co-ordinator) who works in the school office.

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Please see the AGGS Sport or AGGS 2018 Netball Facebook pages for more information.

Trials for all other winter sports will start to happen once summer sports are underway. Students should pay careful attention to the daily notices and the AGGS Sport Facebook Page for trial and sign-up infor-mation.

TRAVEL TO AND FROM SPORTS EVENTS

Auckland Girls’ Grammar School will provide transport to regular after school weekly sports games. Students must organise their way home from these games (e.g. Touch, Softball and Volleyball).

Students taking part in one off sporting events that take place during the normal school day (e.g. Softball National Qualifiers, Lawn Bowls, Swimming, Netball) will have transport provided to and from the event venue.

From time to time the event may finish after the school buses have left school and on these occasions, students will have to make their own way home, either from the venue or from school. For events that take place on weekends (e.g Tennis, Waka Ama and Dragon Boating) students are expected to make their own way to and from the venue.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact the Sports Department:

Christo Peters is the Sports Director and Sushita Chand the Sports Co-ordinator. 307 4180 ext 868 sport@aggs.school.nz

THE ROTARY NATIONAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FORUM Last month I had the opportunity to spend two weeks of my summer holidays at the Rotary National Science and Technology Forum - otherwise known as “nerd camp”. Whilst spending the holidays learning about chemistry, biology, statistics and physics may seem like I signed my-self up for school two weeks too early, it was actually one of the most incredible experiences of my life. Apart from the more familiar subjects, we “nerds” had the opportunity to learn about computer aided design in 3D printing, ro-botics, psychology, biomedical engineering and more. I got to dissect a lamb’s heart and lungs, crystallise impure salicylic acid, design my own computer game, separate samples of GFP (green fluorescent protein, which is what makes jellyfish glow!), and even make my own cottage cheese! I also visited some leading New Zealand companies such as BECA, TVNZ and Air New Zealand, to see what goes on behind the scenes.

It wasn’t all just work, though! When the 173 other students and I weren’t losing ourselves in the awesome mod-ules, we were outside playing volleyball, exploring the city, or socialising in the common rooms. We also had a scorching hot beach day at Wenderholm and an intense disco day, too (note to self: wearing keys on a lanyard whilst jumping up and down is never a good idea). At the end of the forum, we had a formal dinner at the Crowne Plaza, where we were able to meet the Rotarians and Lecturers that had made the Forum possible.

Many of us were brought to tears as we said farewell to our new life-long friends (some living as far as Christ-church!), and I know that all of us left having created unforgettable memories.

If I were to bundle the whole Forum experience into one sentence, I’d have to cheat and quote a 2013 Forum stu-dent, who said: “Forum was exactly what I expected, but at the same time nothing at all like I thought.”

At the Science and Technology Forum—Casey Leupolu who wrote the article is second from left.

AGGS STUDENT LEADERS 2018—HEADGIRLS AND PREFECTS