Vocational Pathways- Earn as You Learn Careers Day

Recently, a group of St Kevin’s College Year 11 students visited several of the district’s infrastructure services – Network Waitaki, SouthRoads and the Waitaki District Council’s water treatment plant and reservoir – to find out about career pathways in the different sectors, and help establish relationships between schools and employers.

This was one of the school’s “earn as you learn” careers days, funded by the Ministry of Education, encouraging young people to look for local training opportunities.

Thank you to our Vocational Pathways team Mrs Sue McErlane and Mrs Paula Eatherley for supporting these wonderful opportunities.

You can read more about the experience here:
https://www.oamarumail.co.nz/community/exploring-career-opportunities/

Principal's Comment

Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

Today Jacob is the star of my post! In the photo below he is pictured with two of our TA team who decided that since it was Friday they would raid the staff room for chocolate chippie muffins for him as a treat because he has worked so well this week.

Jacob, along with other groups of students, has been part of a study by the University of Auckland this year where members of our staff are learning how to do high quality "narrative assessment". Narrative assessment is a different approach to assessment which focuses on documenting the learning journey of students and classes where we minute the achievements of learners as they occur rather than building up to large end of unit tests or examinations. It is a very naturalistic type of assessment and works well when we want to document milestones of achievement. With the addition of smart phones and other technology we are also able to film and photograph moments of mastery - its like Facebook for learning!

This approach is not new. If we think of the typical kiwi childhood, we all had our milestone learning documented in our Plunket books. We acknowledged readily that different children walk, eat, crawl and roll over at different times. This is what makes each learning journey unique, and makes each person unique. I would like to acknowledge the incredible work put into this project by Mrs Dooley our SENCO, Mr Ryan Gower our Head of Math, Sue Booth, Esther Dupu, Tanya McLaren and Tina Souness our TAs, AE coordinator and Student mentors.

Have a great weekend.

May God bless you.

Ngā mihi Nui
Paul Olsen

Covid-19 Update

Kia ora koutou

We wanted to give you an update on some changes taking place next week and what they mean for your children and whānau.

You are probably aware the Prime Minister has announced that face coverings will be required on public transport from next Monday, at Alert Level 2 and above. This does not apply to any child who is under 12 years of age and does not apply to school transport (we have good systems in place to manage safety on school transport).

Public Health officials have advised that children under the age of 6 should not wear face coverings.
Children and young people do not need to wear face coverings at school. Other public health control measures are in place including children and staff staying home if they are sick, contact tracing, and hygiene requirements.

If your child doesn’t need to wear a face covering but they want to, that’s fine. Face coverings are another way we can help keep ourselves and others safe, along with good hand hygiene, cough and sneeze etiquette, appropriate physical distancing when out and about and staying home if we are sick.

We’re continuing contact tracing by having QR code posters at our entrances, so please check in every time you come onsite.

If you haven’t already downloaded the NZ COVID Tracer app the Ministry of Health’s website has information to help you do that. We’ll also keep a visitor register for anyone who doesn’t have the app and also for anyone who comes onsite for a period of time. This will help us with contact tracing in the unlikely case it is needed.

If you have any questions about face coverings or anything else, please get in touch.

Ngā mihi and God bless
Senior Management SKC

Class Act 2020

A big congratulations to our head students Annie Metcalfe and Alex Houston who have been named as our Class Act recipients for 2020.

Class Act recognises success of our region’s senior secondary school students across academic, cultural and sporting pursuits.

All Class Act recipients will be offered a University of Otago Leaders of Tomorrow Scholarship in recognition of their success.

https://www.odt.co.nz/news/school-news/class-act-st-kevins-college

2021 Enrolments

Spaces are filling fast!

If you wish to apply for admission to St Kevin's College for your child in 2021 please fill in an Application form and return it to the school office as soon as possible.

You can find information about the enrolment process here: 

https://www.stkevins.school.nz/enrolment/enrolment

If you have any questions about enrolling, please contact Leanne from our school office at lwolfe@stkevins.school.nz, or phone (03) 437 1665.

High Performance Programme

Did you know we have a High Performance Sports Programme at St Kevin's College?

It aims to develop our top sports people and equip them with the physical, mental and emotional skills to improve their performance. Accountability, commitment, excellence and integrity are the key focus areas to develop this group of young people as not only athletes, but as people and students.

There is a Junior and Senior Programme and students are able to develop their physical fitness and sport specific skills during class time. As well as this, they cover important topics such as nutrition, injuries, recovery, tactical awareness, sports psychology, goal setting, interpersonal skills and leadership. Sport specific coaches are used to develop each students’ skills, and guest speakers also get to address the students when the opportunity arises.

Recently we were lucky to have Kane Jury from the Talent Development Manager from the Pulse Energy Highlanders to take a skills session with the rugby group. Thank you Kane for sharing your expertise!

If you would like to learn more about the programme please contact our Head of Sport, Mr Craig Smith at csmith@stkevins.school.nz

Junior Student Led Conferences

Bookings are now open for Caregivers of Year 9 and 10 students for Student Led Conferences. Please find below the link to the interview site.

https://www.schoolinterviews.co.nz/code?z=HgIbFK

The event code: z9kzw

Interviews will be held on the afternoon of Friday 4th September.
Students are currently working on their slide show presentations.

Senior interviews will be held next term after the end of term exams.

Covid-19 Update

Kia ora koutou whānau and friends of St Kevin's College.

Following the announcement from the Prime Minister we will remain at Alert Level 2.
Just a reminder that while everyone is onsite at Alert Level 2, we must adhere to key health measures including:

- Good hand hygiene and cough and sneeze etiquette
- Staying away if sick
- Keeping the appropriate physical distance from others
- Cleaning and disinfecting our high touch surfaces daily

Displaying QR code posters at our entrances and encouraging all of our community to download the NZ COVID Tracer App and use it if they come onsite
Keeping a visitor register for anyone who cannot use the app and for other visitors who come onsite for a period of time.

We know all these things will help to keep our community as safe as possible. Because of these measures, your child does not need to wear a face covering while at school. We will of course support them should they choose to do so.

For those of you who might be finding things more difficult than usual, a reminder that there is a large range of support available for businesses and the community. We encourage you to go to the covid19.govt.nz for more information, or get in touch and we will help you to find the information and support you need.

Ngā mihi
Paul Olsen

Auckland Engineering Competition 2020

Recently we had teams enter the Auckland Engineering Competition. This was held onsite at SKC where students worked in groups of four to work out a mathematical solution to an engineering question. 

This year the question to consider was how many satellites can be launched into orbit before astronomers on earth can no longer observe the night sky without interruption. They looked and talked about different angles of approaching the question and were given 8 hours to put forward a solution.

 
Well done to the following students who took part:

Team 1:
Marcus Herrera
Yi Tao Sun
Carter Andrew
Fergus McMullan

Team 2:
Emily McCoy
Tuaiva Taafaki
Bea Bagongon
Alyssa Colina

Principal's Comment

Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

Today we were able to partially return to school Mass by celebrating with the junior school only. Students were socially distanced and used hand sanitizer as they entered the chapel. While this meant there was a little less volume in the singing, it was great to be back together at Mass which is the heart of our school.

New Zealand is doing very well in controlling this latest outbreak and we are constantly reinforcing to our students the need to keep vigilant with hand washing, cough etiquette and monitoring their health. There are a number of students wearing masks and those who have needed Covid-19 tests have been very responsible about having them done. This week Ms Walshe clarified our stance on the Ball, but given today's announcement we will wait until Monday to confirm the date.

 

We are planning to focus on girls uniforms next week as we have noticed a drift from regulation standards. Please encourage your students to check that they do not have excess jewellery or coloured nail polish and that long hair is tied up . As always your cooperation in this is very much appreciated. Wearing our uniform is about self discipline as much as anything, and an ability to adhere to something this simple is a small step in a student's pathway to citizenship.

Finally a big "good luck" to those playing sport this weekend under Level 2 Covid-19 regulations. Sporting bodies have worked extremely hard to ensure that our young people still have access to sport amid this latest outbreak and I would like to publicly thank all of those in our community who have prioritised finding safe ways for this to happen. Have a great weekend.

May God bless you.

Ngā mihi Nui
Paul Olsen     

Aoraki Maths Competition 2020

Earlier this month we had some Year 9 and 10 teams head to Timaru to participate in the Aoraki Maths Competition. 

Congratulations to Jordan Smith, Oliver Davison, Jonathan Jorgensen and Drewbert Monoy who finished second place in the Year 9 section. This is a great result as there were about 30 teams from all over the Aoraki region!

Well done to all those that took part!

ITO Trades Academy

Our SKC Primary ITO Trades Academy Students have been learning new skills this term, including fencing, animal handling, drainage and water troughs. 

Thank you to Agrilearn Ltd for providing training, Road Metals for supplying materials, and Dave Heffernan for the loan of his sheep