Communication Is Key

The Pew Research Center is an American organisation that conducts research into many facets of life affecting the average American home. One of the many interesting studies it performs is on the effect of social media use among teenagers. Headlining the report is that “fully 95% of teens have access to a smartphone, and 45% says they are online almost constantly”.

Netsafe, our local Internet advisory agency, shares similar findings in its report entitled “New Zealand teens’ digital profile : a factsheet”. In 2017, “a third of NZ teens spend 4 or more hours online in an average day” and that “teens regard themselves as confident technology users”. Most of the report corelates with our experiences here in the Mission Heights Schools, with students in both schools rating their usage of technology highly in both personal and school aspects of their lives.

What is of interest here is the personal aspect, and which is not often discussed openly enough. Our teachers play an important and active role in helping and advising students in their digital lives and how to stay safe online, especially during learning advisor time. Here, there is a clear focus on digital citizenship and how to behave online in a manner that is consistent with caring for others. There is also this desire for the students to bring these practices back home.

As a result, parents also play an important role in creating this atmosphere at home. The ICT team often receives requests from parents on how to help their children at home, and the most important advice we can give anyone is that communication is a key element in building trust and rapport between parent and child. Establishment of that brings along greater cooperation among all parties alike.

For example, putting a time limit on social media use is very often a cause for strife between parent and child. In fact, the average person spends nearly 2 hours a day using various forms of social media, with teenagers using far more than that. If both parties are made aware of the consequences of spending too much time on social media, and a common goal is formed where social media use is lessened to an agreed duration, the results may be more acceptable than simply removing the device from said child.

Theere is a growing body of knowledge amongst goverment agencies and academia about the way young New Zealanders interact with digital technologies. It is our hope that we learn to embrace the opportunities and be upfront with the challenges and potential risks that these technologies afford.

Welcome back to a new term.

I felt privileged to enjoy the beautiful Central Otago during the holidays as my wife and a few friends completed five days of the Alps to Ocean bike trail. I confess we decided to use e-bikes to make the journey less strenuous than it might have been and to maximise our collective enjoyment! We were reminded of the natural beauty of this country and the many opportunities we can and should take to experience the outdoors. In our increasingly technical and digital world more and more research is showing how important it is to take a break, detox and make time for face to face conversation, take part in healthy physical activity, indulge in a hobby or simply read a book. We promote all these activities at MHJC through our DEEP programme and extensive extra-curricular activities. I trust parents and students continue to enjoy and appreciate these opportunities as well as the trips and competitions that are so much part of our students’ learning.

We have already kicked off a busy term with a wonderful celebration of our cultural diversity culminating with our annual Cultural Dress Competition; started the next leg in our pursuit of a third Education Perfect World Title with the English challenge; encouraged students to show compassion/awhinatanga by signing up for the World Vision 40 Hour Famine and had a social for our Year 9 and 10 students – this shows what an active and busy community we are!

I look forward to seeing many parents at the many Academic, Sporting and Cultural events we host. It is a great way for me to connect with our community and I have always been so proud of the way our students and supporters have behaved at such events. Let us continue to build the excellent reputation we hold of being gracious winners and fierce competitors who always give 100% but respect officials and opposition even when we may feel a 50/50 call may have gone against us – this builds resilience and equips our students for the future.

Growing greatness – Kia mana ake!

ANZAC Day

MHJC students Saniya Lal (8W1) and Andrew Ma 10W2 were both selected to read their poems at the Auckland War Memorial Museum as part of the ANZAC Day commemorative poetry competition. Both read their poems, based on the brief: The idea of peace reflecting on the theme: War is over…if you want it.Earlier that morning Saniya also read her winning essay to the crowd gathered for the Civil Service at Stockade Hill in Howick. 
Here is the news article that appeared in the local paper on ANZAC day:
https://www.times.co.nz/news/scars-that-will-never-heal/

Parent Representatives (5) for MHJC BoT Elections

Nominations are invited for the election of 5 Parent representatives to the Board of Trustees.

A nomination form and a notice calling for nominations will be posted to all eligible voters.
You can nominate another person to stand as a candidate, or you can nominate yourself. Both parts of the form must be signed. Additional nomination forms can be obtained from the school office.

Nominations close at noon on Friday 24 May, 2019 and may be accompanied by a signed candidate statement and photograph. The voting roll is open for inspection at the school and can be viewed during normal school hours. There will also be a list of candidates’ names, as they come to hand, for inspection at the school. Voting closes at noon on Friday 7 June, 2019.

Signed: A Young, Returning Officer

10th Birthday Celebrations – Community Day postponement


It is with regret that I have decided to postpone the Saturday morning community event scheduled for 6 April. This decision was made after consultation with organisers and Board of Trustees. Several factors have caused this action, the most important being the timing of an event we wish to enjoy but which would have proceeded against a backdrop of national turmoil and grief following the tragic loss of life in Christchurch last Friday.

I realise that there has been a lot of work done by staff and students to prepare for the morning but this will not be lost as we will set a date later in the year when things are back to normal and we can focus on the celebrations free of other considerations.

My sincere apologies to anyone inconvenienced by this decision.

Race Relations Day 2019: Our people, our cultures, our language

Race Relations Day is observed around the world, annually on March 21 in conjunction with the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The day was initially recognised to commemorate the 69 people – including 10 children – who were killed while peacefully protesting Apartheid laws in Sharpeville in 1960. 

This year’s theme for Race Relations Day is: Our people, our cultures, our languages – O tātou iwi, ō tātou ahurea, ō tātou reo. We are celebrating Race Relations Day at MHJC by taking the opportunity to acknowledge and experience many of New Zealand’s more than 200 ethnic communities in our classrooms if possible. Have a good day, everyone!

Christchurch, 15 March 2019

The events that occurred on this date will become etched into our collective psyche for all time. Following the deadly shootings of peaceful Muslims at prayer it is perhaps too soon to comment on an incident so horrendous and which has had such a damaging impact on our Muslim community. It is important however to pause and reflect on how our nation and the international community has spoken in one voice to condemn the actions of the gunman and how so many people here and across the world have shown their support for the Muslim community in speeches, marches, prayer vigils and a “Give a Little” page which at the time of writing amounts to over $4 million.

This sense of unity and outpouring of love and compassion reminds us of what makes us human and gives us hope for the future. To strive for a world where we accept, respect and celebrate who we are, free of fear or judgment. MHJC is also a community and it is one where these values are enshrined in our charter and we remain even more committed to them than ever.

Let us all send our thoughts and prayers to our Muslim families affected directly or indirectly by the shootings, the victims still being treated in hospital and all those first responders and members of hospital and emergency services who have worked so hard to restore safety and assurance for the Christchurch community.

Kia kaha

Connections/whanaungatanga


We strive, at MHJC, to make and grow quality connections between all stakeholders so that students can enjoy and benefit from the endless opportunities we provide.

It was fantastic to see the positive dialogue taking place last week as we set aside a day for Student Led Conversations. I wish to express my thanks to every parent or caregiver who gave their time to strengthen their connection to the school and hear the goals and plans of their children in partnership with our Learning Advisors who are committed to supporting the students in their care to be the best they can be.

During the conference our plans for delivering the new “holistic” reports would have been discussed with you. As has been stated before this is an attempt, following consultation, to provide whānau with information about a student’s achievement and progress in all subjects (not only Maths and English), engagement which is measured by attendance, involvement in our Four Cornerstones and homework completion and importantly an innovative way of showing students’ commitment to our core values of integrity/pono, compassion/awhinatanga and lifelong learning/ako. We believe this will provide us with a much better “all-round” perspective of our students and reinforces our vision which states that every child has a grain of greatness and it is our mission to provide the opportunities for this greatness to grow.

Later this term we will host what has become an annual Girls’ Changemakers Breakfast and boys can enjoy a similarly inspiring event in term 2. We hope as many parents can attend these events with their children as possible and share in the learning they bring.

Our Year 7’s enjoyed their own social last week which provided great opportunities to bond with their classmates and senior student leaders. Camps in the next two weeks will do the same as every whānau provides team-building exercises in the beautiful New Zealand outdoors.

These are but a few of the highlights we regularly provide for students, parents and teachers to connect and enrich the school experience. Term 1 will culminate with another opportunity for the school to connect with alumni and former staff and parents with a Saturday Community Birthday Celebration on April 6. Food, exhibitions of learning and sporting and cultural events will provide our community with a chance to relive their past and see the progress of MHJC over the years. We look forward to seeing you there.

Growing greatness/Kia mana ake!

Waitangi Day


During his address at the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi/Te tiriti o Waitangi Crown representative Lieutenant Governor William Hobson said the famous line “He iwi tahi tatou – we are one people”.

This is especially significant as we welcome our new students (over 250), staff and parents to the school. They have come from different schools close by or from foreign lands but all now share a special bond as members of our wonderful MHJC learning community.

This morning our Year 7 students and staff members were welcomed at a powhiri held in their honour. We look forward to sharing their learning journey and growing the greatness that lies within everyone and learning how we can honour the spirit of the treaty.

So let us enjoy the public holiday tomorrow, and reflect on the work so many people are doing and have done to bring people together to create this wonderful country. As we do so, let us consider what we can do to continue the nation building example of those who have gone before us. For pakeha this could mean learning more Te Reo Māori or becoming more familiar with the cultural traditions and practices or Ti kanga Māori and for our Māori community to support others on what can be a challenging journey. There was no better example of this than when our students taught their classmates and teachers the school haka last year!

At a school level consider how we can share our knowledge with our new recruits – support and guide them so everyone feels safe, valued and welcomed in this new environment.

Our Charter contains an important strategic goal of honouring the treaty and I urge our community to challenge ourselves in some way this year to support the inspirational words of William Hobson.

Growing greatness/Kia mana ake!

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