This week saw almost 500 students from Years 10 to 13 engaged with their corequisite exams, working through the numeracy and literacy assessments for credits which are required to gain an NCEA qualification. Students were diligently working through a range of questions that tested their functional reading and writing skills and application of numeracy in a real-world context. Thank you to staff and students who put in the mahi in preparation for this big event this term. Corequisite exam results will be released on Monday, 14 August. Students will then be able to access their results via their NZQA login (the same used for logging in to their exams this week). The next round of corequisite exams will happen in September for any of our students who are yet to pass.
Many of you will have seen our teams start the winter season in the new school kit. This is something that we have been working on for some time and I wanted to take the chance to share the background behind the design. The challenge we faced was that our kit was too varied across codes and it made it very difficult to identify our Cambridge teams and have a sense of being a part of the same family. We wanted to create a unified look that would help our students feel part of something bigger when representing CHS in sports and arts competitions throughout the year. We have given it a lot of thought and appreciate the feedback along the way – the end result is a great visual expression of our identity as a school (the images I refer to here at captured at the bottom of this letter).
In each uniform you will see a design faded into the fabric with the following features:
House mascots – You’ll see imagery that connects to our house stories, reinforcing the link between students and their houses. These stories are unique to Cambridge and have been generously shared with us by Ngaati Korokii Kahukura, tracing back 26 generations in Te Oko Horoi.
Symbols of learning and growth – The uniform incorporates elements that speak to the journey of learning and the opportunities our school provides to realise potential. The koru, a symbol of new life and development and the quill, from our school crest representing learning.
We’re proud to reference artwork by Eugene Kara, who created the Poutama imagery sandblasted into the exterior of S Block and the rimu designs the school admin block. The poutama pattern in the reception area (symbolising the pursuit of knowledge and personal growth) and the work of Ngaa kete tuku iho which represents the puuraakau of Taane and the three baskets of knowledge and two sacred stones (story told here by the National Library of New Zealand).
We also simplified the colour scheme to be guided by the following use of colours. The uniforms are predominantly navy for the home strip and white for our away colours. Gold is only seen in our premier teams, and we have introduced a burst of a royal blue to lift the overall impact of the uniforms.
Finally, you’ll notice a new CHS icon on the back of all uniforms, while the traditional crest remains on the front. We wanted something that our community readily identified with and knew well. Although CHS may not be well known outside of Cambridge, for us it means a lot. In the logo you can see we have referenced the river the middle of the lettering drawing on the connection of Cambridge to the Waikato River.
On a different note, I wanted to share a podcast interview I listened to recently and thought was very relevant to us parents as we engage with the impact of AI. You may be aware of author Simon Sinek, who is known for his book Start With Why. He talks with Cal Fussman who has been a writer for Inside Sports, Sports Illustrated and Esquire. The conversation is interesting and wide-ranging based on a central theme of what it means to be human and authentic in a time of emerging AI.
Ngaa mihi nui,
Greg Thornton
Principal
