Principals News

It has been great to have some normality back as Term 2 draws to a close. Seeing our sporting, cultural and enrichment programmes taking place has been amazing as these are such an integral part of experiencing life at Intermediate School. 

With the holidays coming up in a few days, please take time to rest after a hectic term. 

I would also like to acknowledge our teachers who have gone to great lengths to ensure that we have enough staff available due to sickness and the scarce availability of relief teachers. Many of our staff have done extra duties and taken additional classes to keep the school functioning. I know the teachers are definitely looking forward to having a break. 

This week we have been able to visit some of our local schools with our Roadshow. The students have done a tremendous job performing haka, siva, singing, dancing and drama.

The performance was very well received by the students. The Roadshow will continue in Term 3 where we will visit Pt Chevalier School, Grey Lynn and Westmere School. 
Jonathan Hughes
Principal

THRILLZONE

With funding provided by the Auckland Activation Programme, ThrillZone was able to come to Pasadena to offer its Outdoor Escape Adventure Game as a free technology experience for our students.

Outdoor Escape Adventures is a fun game format that is part escape room, part scavenger hunt, built around Augmented Reality. Our students had to work effectively together in teams to find clues and solve the puzzles whilst communicating clearly to gain the most points and win. The students had a great time!

Te Parakuihi Matariki

I te 23 o Hune i noho tahi ai te kapa haka me ō rātou whānau ki te kura i te takiwā o te 6:30 karaka, kia tukua e Matua Te Mete ngā karakia ki a Matariki. Ko te kaupapa matua o te parakuihi Matariki ko te tū a te kapa haka i mua i te marea, ka mutu, ko tō matou whanau whanui. Whai muri i tā matou tū ka tīmata a Matua Ruia ki te kōrero i ētahi pūrākau e pa ana ki te kāhui Matariki me ā ratou mahi hei hāpai i tō tātou ao. I kai tahi mātou katoa. Ko Matua Thomas tēmā e ārahi i te karakia kai. I reira ngā kaiako e āwhina ana,  e tautoko ana i tā tatou kaupapa, arā, ko te whāngai hoki i nga kai rerekē ki nga whānau kua tae mai. Inā te pai o te ata kia noho tahi me ngā whānau.  E mihi ana ki te 200 tāngata i haere mai ki te tautoko i te kaupapa.
Kaiaia Rm 10

On the 23rd of June, our kapa haka and the wider whānau came together at school at 6:30am where Matua Te Mete recited our karakia to Matariki. The Matariki breakfast was the main reason for the gathering. Our kapa haka performed in front of the whānau and afterwards, Matua Ruia spoke of our narratives around the Matariki cluster and their place in our world. Shortly after, we had a feast with Matua Thomas reciting the karakia over the different foods. The teachers were also there helping to feed the masses. What an amazing morning of sharing with the whānau! We’d like to thank the 200 people who attended and made our breakfast so special.

Positive Behaviour for Learning & Wellbeing Survey

Our PB4L and Wellbeing Survey was completed in Week Eight of Term 2 this year. 

Areas identified for improvement will be integrated throughout the school as part of PB4L lessons and expectations throughout the year. The following is a breakdown of the findings from a few of the questions.

• 98.3% of students said that they were taught that it is okay to be different. This is up from 91.2% in Term 2 last year. This was a focus for our Bully-Free Week and Pink Shirt Day lessons in Week 3 this term. We also later celebrated Rainbow/Diversity Week in school during Week 7 which also addressed this topic.
• 98.2% of students said that they have received at least 2 tokens previously this year. This means that staff are invested in our token system and PB4L Programme, focussing on rewarding positive behaviour across the school.

Our wellbeing survey collects data across 5 areas of wellbeing: 

1. How fit and healthy are you feeling
2. How well are you coping with stress
3. How connected do you feel with others
4. How do you feel you are progressing with your learning
5. What zone are you feeling (using the Zones of Regulation) 

Students record their answers on a continuum from one to ten. The initial baseline data was collected over the last week.  Students could also write additional information if they wished.

From our baseline data we can see that many of our students are showing positive wellbeing indicators in feeling connected to others, fit and healthy and making progress with their learning. 

Across the school 67.6% of students were feeling in the optimal state of alertness for learning. A quarter were feeling ‘blue’, a low state of alertness, such as tired, sick, sad or bored. It will be interesting to compare this to the next check in to see whether this relates to being near the end of term. It is interesting to see that nearly a quarter of students are also operating at a more heightened level, being stressed, nervous or excited. This is consistent with the ‘coping with stress’ results which shows a significant number of students do not feel like they are coping with their stress levels.  

Life Education

Over the past two weeks, Pasadena has had the Life Education Caravan visiting to deliver health education sessions. This year the sessions involved the physical, emotional and social changes through puberty as well as vaping that linked into our Unit of Inquiry theme ‘Who We Are’. The students learnt about concepts such as:

• Hauora (total well-being) and keeping ourselves in ‘balance’ during puberty. 
• How changes during puberty can be internal, external, physical and emotional.
• The differences and similarities between the changes for males and females.
• What’s in the vapour and the known and unknown effects it has on our bodies. 
• Making wise decisions with regards to vaping – taking into account influences (such as peer pressure, targeted advertising, and ready availability of the products)
• Consequences of using vapes, both in the short and long term.

Fundraising Fiesta Update

Thank you to everyone who supported our students with gaining donations for our Fundraising Fiesta - The Great Pasadena Quiz. Donations come from all over the world, and it was great to see our students be creative in order to earn money such as doing bake sales, working in the garden, washing the family car or walking dogs,

After prizes were purchased, we raised $30,000 that will be used to purchase flexible furniture for our new Library that is currently being built as well as additional staffing for enrichment programmes in order to support the learning needs of every student in our school. Prizes will be sent home this week on Friday 8th July.

Quiz Night

Sports News

Central Zone Table Tennis
On Thursday 30th June a group of keen table tennis players participated in the Central Zone table tennis competition held at Auckland Table Tennis stadium. Throughout the day all students displayed high levels of sportsmanship when cheering on their peers and versing other schools. Although we didn’t make it through to the finals, all students won at least 2 games against their opponents with Ryan and Noah making it through to round two. It was a great day all around.

Students involved: Noah Rm 3, Ryan Rm 2, George Rm 13, Jake Rm 3, Joseph Rm 11, Vincent Rm 3, Tyson Rm 2 and Ahkin Rm 13.

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