Teenaa koutou e te whaanau,
Dear Parents / Caregivers,
What a great week we had last week with the winter tournament week. Students representing CHS and our community incredibly well across the country, both on and off the field. I was fortunate to be able to join the girls hockey team, boys 1st XI football (both in Auckland) and the boys hockey team in Wellington. We can be incredibly proud of our students’ achievements and their behaviour across the week. I also want to take this opportunity to thank the staff and parents who took time out from their families and busy schedules to make the week so successful. It is such a formative experience for our students and for many a highlight of their time at school. The following are the results from all of the tournaments we were involved in across the week:
Hockey - The girls team played incredibly well in their tournament in Auckland, narrowly losing in a penalty shootout in the semi-final, before re-grouping and finishing third overall.
Hockey - The boys team won two of their matches to stay in Rankin cup for 2024. This is a significant achievement as it is an incredibly demanding tournament with the top 32 schools in the country competing. You can only qualify for this tournament by winning your regional tournament or finishing in the top 26 schools in the country.
Football The first XI boys travelled up to Auckland and finished second in their tournament, losing to Rototuna High School 3-2 in extra time. This is a remarkable achievement for this team and shows how much the quality of football has improved at CHS over the last 5 years. The previous best result was in the top 8 of this competitive tournament.
Football - Our 1st XI Girls Football team competed in the Maurice Hulme tournament in Rotorua where they grew as a team as the week progressed. They recovered from some early losses showing great character to end with strong wins and finish 17th overall.
Netball - Premier Netball were in Hamilton playing at the Upper North Island Secondary School Champs (UNISS) in the very competitive A Grade where they placed 23rd overall.
Basketball - The Senior Boys Premier Basketball team played some great Basketball at the Zone 2 AA Premierships. They finished 10th after an incredibly close fought tournament with some very close matches across the week.
Basketball - Our Junior Boys Premier Basketball team showed great sportsmanship and character during the Zone 2 Junior Premiership tournament and placed a fantastic 4th out of 18 teams in A grade.
Lacrosse - The Girls and Boys Premier Lacrosse teams competed at the New Zealand Secondary School Champs. The Girls won the bronze medal, and the boys took home the silver medal.
We do not have any assemblies during this term as students are on examination leave. However, each code will hold its individual prizegivings over the coming weeks. We will also have our Ngaa Poutiaki Celebration evening (Tuesday 24th October), Sports prizegiving (Wednesday 25th October 7pm) and Arts prizegiving (Thursday 26th October 7pm).
While on the topic of prizegivings I want to promote the end of year senior prizegiving. It will be in a new format and the new gym (change of venue for this year). We have outgrown the hall and, with the move in venue, we now have the opportunity to re-imagine how we celebrate the fantastic students we have at CHS. The event will be open to all members of the public and we encourage as many students and parents to attend as possible. In the celebration we will showcase our talented students with performances and academic and special awards. It is on Tuesday 31st October from 7pm.
Finally today, there are a few things happening to round out our term. All the best to our students completing their examinations. We are running these assessments as close to the final NCEA experience as possible. This enables us to provide a derived grade if the student cannot sit their exam. It also provides our students with an authentic experience and opportunity for feedback, so that they can continue to improve before their final NCEA examinations.
When the senior students return to school in the last week of term, we will have our Spirit week. This is a fantastic student-led week with games and fundraising activities. All funds raised are donated to the local and national charities of our houses. For more information on the house charities visit the house pages on the school website.
Also, we have our annual elections for the student representative on the CHS Board. This is an important role, and we are really fortunate with the quality of students who volunteer for the position. It is so important for us to have a strong student voice in the governance of the school. I encourage all students to engage in the voting process which happens on the 20th September.
Kind regards
Ngaa mihi nui
Greg Thornton
Principal
Cambridge High School
