Dear Parents and Whanau
I certainly trust our students have successfully transitioned into a new year at Northcross and enjoying the challenges offered both within and outside the classroom setting.
To our new parents (and a reminder to our existing) the Intermediate ethos is very different to that of a primary or secondary structure. We continue to focus on personal excellence through literacy, the arts, the sciences, maths, technology and health and wellbeing. However the way we achieve that excellence is directly related to understandings about the developmental stages of our students. During this Intermediate phase our young people are going through rapid and extensive growth, emotionally and physically. They require a learning environment and curriculum that is uniquely geared to meeting their needs. This term our curriculum learning Concepts are as follows;
Year 7: NZ History, Understanding how the past has shaped our future; understanding how we are all responsible for navigating our own path in society; understanding the Northcross Learning Dispositions and how to use them to navigate their way beyond year 7.
Year 8: Waikato Unit; All living and non-living things connect to make up interdependent systems; What we have today is the result from the past, what is available in the future will come from actions in the present. Please discuss these concepts with your children.
To ensure students learning needs are met, our Northcross staff are empathetic to their physical, emotional, social and academic needs. They are skilled negotiators, responsive to student voice while setting firm fair boundaries, they are committed to working with this age group. I would very much like to acknowledge our staff for the practical and innovative ways they have ensured student learning and engagement has continued this term.
Thank you to Sylvia Watson ( HOD of Music) and Lynne Potts (Principals PA) who oversee our musical instrument tuition programme. This year we have 530 students learning a range of instruments both during and after school. Alternative spaces were sourced so students could avoid covid restrictions to continue with their learning and composing of music.
Thank you to Amanda Gummer (Art Teacher) who currently has two major Art initiatives underway at our school. Firstly, a group of students are painting a mini whale tail as part of the Schools participation in the Auckland-wide ‘Whale Tales’ event. This will be displayed in Browns Bay Library before coming back to school as a permanent structure. The second big initiative is our Mosaic Art which is being applied to the outdoor concrete cylinders in the Northcross Biotechnology, Kete Kai gardens. This is part of the Ministry of Education’s, ‘Creatives in School’ Project.
Thank you also to Shannon Hale (Director of Sport) for her organisation of sport both within and outside school. Events such as swimming sports, basketball, softball and our comprehensive lunch time sports programme have continued this term. Your efforts are very much appreciated.
‘Individual Growth Through Challenge and Learning’, is our school motto, it is certainly pleasing to see how students are accepting these challenges and making the most of the relational learning experiences.
Nga mihi nui
Jonathon Tredray
Principal
