Your AJHS eNewsletter has arrived – Week 6

Newsletter

School of Opportunity

Kia ora koutou,

We have had a very positive week at school, welcoming about half our students each day. With the measures in place around protecting ourselves against covid, teaching and learning is different, but we are very encouraged about the sensible attitudes and behaviour we are experiencing. We are very proud of our students.

We previously communicated that we would have our Ministry Accord Teacher Only Day yesterday, 25 November. We can confirm that this has been rescheduled to the last day of school on Thursday 16 December.

The Ministry of Education has advised Auckland schools to maintain their Alert Level 3, step 2 school formats until the end of the school year, despite the traffic light system being introduced on 3 December. This is to maintain our focus on the health and safety of students and staff.

Due to the short gap between our last week of school and Christmas day, our leadership team has decided to operate a different format for Week 9. This format is to reduce the risk of students or staff being exposed to any covid scenarios in school, which could result in needing to self-isolate over the holiday period. The last week of our school year will be the following:

Term 4, Week 9 *Timetable for Home Remote Learning

Monday 13 December	*Home Remote Learning only. School Supervision (Essential Workers)
Tuesday 14 December	*Home Remote Learning only. School Supervision (Essential Workers)
Wednesday 15 December	Home Remote Learning only. Online Celebrations (details to follow) School Supervision (Essential Workers) Last school day for students 2021*
Thursday 16 December	Ministry Accord Teacher Only Day Staff Only

Due to the long lockdown interruption to our school year, we will not be holding our annual prize-givings. Instead, we will be conducting celebrations online in Homerooms, Core classes and Whanau classes. The details and schedule for these celebrations of recognition will be provided next week.

It is with a heavy heart that we have had to cancel our Year 10 Graduation. Although we will be technically in the traffic light system from 3 December, which indicates more people can gather at an event, our focus is centred on keeping our students and staff safe. We understand that this will bring deep disappointment to our Year 10 students and staff.

Please ask any questions you have, and enjoy your weekend ahead.

Thank you for your support.

Ngā mihi,

Cushla Shepherd, Acting Principal, Albany Junior High School

Honouring the Memory of Phoenix

As many of you are aware, we tragically lost one of our students in a house fire earlier this year. Phoenix Roycroft was a talented and much loved student from our school. Phoenix’s passing left an enormous hole in our class, as well as the wider school community.

We started brainstorming how we could remember him on a more permanent basis. Please read on to learn how we are honouring the memory of Phoenix.

Read more…

Term Four Amended Reporting Information

Along with the majority of our school events and activities this year, we have had to amend our end of year reporting structure for 2021, to correlate with our remote online learning experience.

The report you will receive at the end of the year will give an ‘Overall Teacher Judgement’ (OTJ) for each subject, which will indicate the curriculum level your child is working towards achieving.

Read more…

Health and Safety Measures

It is very important that, for the safety of our students, staff and community, our health and safety measures are followed. A summary of these measures under Alert Level 3, Step 2 are below.

Read more…

Mountain Biking Success

Congratulations to Torben Walmsley who came 1st in the Auckland Schools mountain bike cross country series. Unfortunately only 3 of the 5 races could be held due to lockdown.

Torben won 2 of the 3 races and came 2nd in the other – but it was extremely close, and he was looking forward to battling it out over the last 2 races.

Outstanding Achievement

Well done to Sophie Wood, 7K20 who has recently passed her Grade 4 ABRSM (Associated Board of The Royal Schools of Music) theory exam.

At just 11 years old, Sophie has demonstrated a confident understanding of advanced musical concepts and an exceptional work ethic in order to prepare for this demanding exam. Congratulations, Sophie.

School Supervision for Essential Workers

Students of essential workers are still able to register to attend school supervision. Please do so using this link.

Please ensure your registration is received 24hrs before the day of intended supervision.

HPV Immunisations

Lockdown restrictions have interrupted this year’s school-based Human Papillomavirus (HPV) immunisation programme in the Auckland region.

It is important to keep your children vaccinated so that they are protected against HPV.

Read more…

Timetable and Class Structure 2022

After 2 years of trialling our 5 day timetable format that incorporated 4 periods of 75 minutes each school day, we undertook a review to gain feedback from staff and students to evaluate this structure.

As a result of this review, AJHS will be shifting away from the current 75 minute lesson and reverting back to five, 60 minute lessons per day over a 5 day week.

Read more…

Yearbook

Our School Yearbook is an annual souvenir. Our Yearbook is created by our students with their experiences and achievements from all aspects of school life during their school year.

In order to receive the yearbook, Year 9 and 10 students have had a charge of $25 added to their account.

Read more…

Masks

A reminder to please ensure students are sent to school with at least 2 masks in their bags.

Masks are a compulsory requirement, and we must ensure full mask compliance.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Uniform Sales

Uniform sales will be located in the PAC from Monday 17th January 2022 until Friday 28th January 2022, 9:30am – 3:00pm.

We will be closed Monday 31st January and Tuesday 1st February.

Please note, we prefer online shopping via www.mykindo.co.nz, where a click and collect service is available. For more information please visit our website.

Stationary 2022

From December 1st, AJHS student stationery for 2022 will be listed with Qizzle on www.schoolpacks.co.nz for you to order as a year-level pack. Students in Years 9 and 10, will have the ability to customise the order to suit the option subjects you’ve selected for 2022.

Read more…