PO Box 14001, Longburn 4866, New Zealand

Ph: +64 6 354 1059 • Fax: +64 6 355 1350

Email: info@lac.school.nz

www.lac.school.nz

COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER 14 AUGUST 2013

Real Success

Marian Edelman penned this poem for parents and educators. It succinctly captures what truly successful education achieves and what our ASPIRE programme sets out to accomplish. In a world where ‘I’ predominates, if we can all help raise children who care we will achieve a massive amount for the children of the 21st century. A Prayer for Twenty-First Century Children God, help us not raise a new generation of children

with high intellectual quotients and low caring and compassion quotients; with sharp competitive edges but dull cooperative instincts;

with highly developed computer skills but poorly developed consciences; with gigantic commitment to the big ‘I’ but little sense of responsibility to the bigger ‘we’; with mounds of disconnected and unsynthesised information without a moral context to determine its worth; with more and more knowledge and less and less imagination and appreciation for the magic of life that cannot be quantified or computerised; with more and more worldliness and less and less wonder and awe for the sacred and everyday life. God, help us raise children who care.

Bruce Sharp, Principal

IMPORTANT DATES26-30 August Week of Worship

9-13 September Trial NCEA exams Y11-13

Thursday 12 September Board of Trustees’ meeting 5:30pm, LAC Library

Sunday 22 September Leavers’ Banquet Y12-13

Thursday 26 September Last day of Term 3 (Friday 27 September is a Teacher Only day)

Monday 14 October First day of Term 4

Wednesday 30 October Last day at school for Y13

Thursday 31 October Board of Trustees’ meeting 5:30pm, LAC Library 1-2 November Y13 Graduation Weekend

Tuesday 5 November Y11-12 Prizegiving and last day at school

Monday 11 November NCEA exams commence

Wednesday 18 December Y7-10 Prizegiving and last day of school year

TRIAL EXAMINATIONS (WEEK 7, TERM 3) These exams are particularly important for Y11-13 students, for the following reasons:

They help students improve their exam-taking skills and help them identify areas that need further study.

They contribute to the local award (Attend/Achieve/Merit/Excellence) which each student receives at prizegiving. The dux of

each year level is the student with the most excellence credits from internal Achievement Standards and from the trial exams.

If a student misses a NCEA external exam (for medical, bereavement, etc. reasons) the school can use the trial exam result for a

student to produce a Derived Grade for NZQA.

The Trial Examination timetable will be included at the end of this newsletter.

PO Box 14001, Longburn 4866, New Zealand

Ph: +64 6 354 1059 • Fax: +64 6 355 1350

Email: info@lac.school.nz

www.lac.school.nz

YEAR 13 GRADUATION Year 13 Graduation will be held on the 1st and 2nd of November. Students will be notified at the start of Week 1, Term 4, whether they have met the requirements for them to take part. To graduate, students need to meet the following requirements from Internal L3 credits and trial exam results: Projected UE or NCEA achievement, and at least 10 credits in Y13 Bible. Students who are not on the Graduation class list can apply in writing to Mr Walsh (during Week 1 of Term 4), giving academic reasons as to why they should be reconsidered as deserving to be in the graduation class.

LEAVERS’ BANQUET The Board sanctioned this annual event a few years ago on the understanding that it would be a Year 13 event; therefore, the whole evening will be focused on the Year 13 group. (However, Year 12s will also have the opportunity to attend – see note below.) This will be held on 22 September and is an occasion for our Year 13 students to celebrate the time they have spent at LAC, at a stage in their lives when they are planning their future careers and their destinations for 2014. Note: Space will be limited to around 130 people, and preference will be given to Year 13 students and their partners, then to Year 12s who are leaving LAC at the end of 2013, and then to other Year 12 students who may wish to attend. Students should sign up on the lists provided (in the corridor outside the office) as soon as possible.

2014 PREFECTS, HEAD GIRL/BOY, HOUSE CAPTAINS LAC has just started the process of selecting prefects and Head Girl/Boy for 2014. The process used is detailed below.

Year 12 students are asked whether they want to be considered for a leadership role.

Year 10 to 13 students, along with teachers, are asked to vote on the students who wish to be considered.

Students select five students of their choice, and from that five circle their preferred Head Girl and Head Boy.

Teachers are required to say Yes/No or “I do not know them” for each student who wants to be considered. Teachers also have

room to write comments on any student.

The data is collated (this year by Mr Gredig) and presented to the selection panel. The panel is made up of the Principal, Year

13 Dean, Year 12 Dean and the Deputy Principal. This year Mr Gredig will replace Mr van Oostveen in his role.

The panel compares the results of the student vote and the teacher vote.

After a series of meetings the panel will come to a decision. It is normal for the panel to discreetly seek additional information

on students.

Prefects are announced at school assembly late in Term 4, and Head Boy/Girl are announced at Graduation.

This process has been employed for six years, and it is always quite surprising how the staff and the students are generally in agreement. As you would expect, the panel does not discuss the details of voting with anyone as this would be a breach of confidentiality.

IT DEVELOPMENT AT LAC Last week saw the government announcement that the Ministry of Education’s new Ultra-Fast Broadband provider, ‘Network for Learning’ (N4L) would be available to some schools at the end of this year and that this would ensure uncapped UFB (Ultra-Fast Broadband) for all NZ schools by the end of 2016. The government is to be applauded on this move, as cost and a data cap have been two things that have held schools back from fully utilising UFB up until now. LAC will be putting in its application for connection and we are hopeful we will be connected to N4L (Network for Learning) early in 2014.

PO Box 14001, Longburn 4866, New Zealand

Ph: +64 6 354 1059 • Fax: +64 6 355 1350

Email: info@lac.school.nz

www.lac.school.nz

The LAC IT Committee recently considered how best to move forward to make the best use of UFB to enhance teaching and learning at LAC. Already quite a number of students bring their own laptops to school and use these in class. This will continue to be optional in 2014, but the teachers at Year 9 in 2014 will working on delivering lessons to their students making far more use of UFB, using electronic whiteboards. By moving cautiously and making this optional we hope to glean the best of what is happening in other schools, help keep costs under control and still progressing towards the way UFB is influencing teaching and learning. If you are considering allowing your student to bring a laptop or tablet to college in 2014 we will keep you posted on some good deals later this year. We are working with OfficeMax to ensure some good options are available, and prices are coming down rapidly with a range of the other suppliers. We will also make available our ‘Digital Citizenship’ policy that will replace our current Cybersafety agreement as soon as it is finalised.

COLLEGE WEBSITE A new college website is almost ready to go ‘live’. Thank you to everyone who has persevered with our old website. The software used to create and run the old website is dated and difficult to use, while the new website uses far more up-to-date software and is much more user-friendly. It is also designed to be useable by computers, tablets and smart phones. Our special thanks to ‘Colman Designs’ who have designed the new website and to Miss Tamar Paul who has worked with Colman Designs to get the new site up and running. We will notify all parents by email when the new site is online.

EDUCATION REVIEW OFFICE VISIT Education Review Officers will be visiting LAC during the week beginning 19 August. This is part of their regular review process. Once they have conducted and written up their review of the college it will available for all of the community to read on the ERO website and on the college website.

SOCIAL MEDIA Most of our children engage with social media, and most do so responsibly. However, every now and then someone will post an unwanted or cruel comment, and dealing with this can be damaging. Our college has a policy of no access to the social media using the college network, to protect students from some of the negative things that can occur. When the college is aware that Facebook or other social media have been accessed while students are at school the college will act on this information as this falls within the college’s jurisdiction. Where students access social media outside of school hours then this is a matter for parents and caregivers. Where students act responsibly then there will be no issues for parents to deal with. Where a son or daughter is not acting responsibly outside of school hours, or your child receives unwanted or cruel messages, then parents have three options: · Limit and control access to the internet and social media · Report misuse to the site involved – Facebook has this facility to do this if you access their ‘privacy’ link. · Report the misuse to the police. Texting can also be a problem where unwanted, nasty or cruel messages are sent. Year 7–12 students are not to have their cell phones with them at college. (The phones can be handed in at the front office for safekeeping during school hours.) This avoids the distraction of messages in class. Again, if your son or daughter receives an unwanted, nasty or cruel text outside of school time we urge you to report it to the police.

SECOND-HAND UNIFORM SHOP – IMPORTANT NOTE Due to the new uniform becoming compulsory in 2014, the Second-Hand Uniform Shop is NO longer accepting old style uniforms for sale. Only uniform items in the new style will be accepted for sale. All old-style uniform still in stock has now been reduced to clear and is available at $1 per item. Please contact Allison at the school office if you wish to purchase any of these items. If you have uniform being sold on your behalf currently in the shop, you will shortly receive your proceeds from sales along with a list of any items we still

PO Box 14001, Longburn 4866, New Zealand

Ph: +64 6 354 1059 • Fax: +64 6 355 1350

Email: info@lac.school.nz

www.lac.school.nz

have left to sell for you. If these items are old style uniform, we will dispose of these at the end of the year unless we hear from you. Any new style items of uniform will continue to be sold for you. If you have any questions regarding this, please contact Allison at the school office.

EX-LAC STUDENTS GRADUATE

We are delighted to announce and congratulate the following ex-LAC students who have graduated with a tertiary degree:

FROM MASSEY UNIVERSITY:

Laura Crawford – Bachelor of Arts

Sandeep David – Postgrad Cert in Business

Soumya David – PGDip Hlth Serv Mgmt

Holly Gray – Bachelor of Communication

Deborah Hann – Bachelor of Arts

Lani Keane – Bachelor of Business Studies

Shalom Silva – Bachelor of Arts

Timothy Tankersley – Bachelor of Arts

Alexandra Wright – Bachelor of Arts

FROM VICTORIA UNIVERSITY OF WELLINGTON:

James Barrett – BCA

Jodi-Emma Devine – BAHons

Stephen Gillam – BA

Leroy Judge – BA

Samuel O’Dea – BCA

Jonathon Reid – BA

Melissa Welsh – GDSCi and MSc

MATHEX Selected Year 7–10 students entered the Mathex competition on 9 August. Students worked in teams of four to answer mathematics questions, competing against other schools from across the region. All our teams did well, with the best of our ‘finishers’ being the Year 7 team who came 7th.

Above: Students needed to build these pieces into particular shapes, and the photo on the right shows our Year 10 team hard at work.

PO Box 14001, Longburn 4866, New Zealand

Ph: +64 6 354 1059 • Fax: +64 6 355 1350

Email: info@lac.school.nz

www.lac.school.nz

Above: Our Year 7 and Year 8 Mathex teams shown with Mr Williams, who is doing a great job extending these students.

SUCCESS FOR NCEA STUDENTS – studyit.org.nz All NCEA students need to put a circle around this site. It contains a mass of information about NCEA Achievement Standards.

go to www.studyit.org.nz

The forums on Studyit, New Zealand’s most popular education website for NCEA students, are open. Studyit is the free, safe and

successful online resource supporting NCEA maths, sciences and English students since 2004. Achievement standards have been

repackaged with student input and there are forums where students can ask questions and discuss issues. Studyit employs expert

teachers who respond to student questions on the forums in the weekends, at night and in the holidays.

PO Box 14001, Longburn 4866, New Zealand

Ph: +64 6 354 1059 • Fax: +64 6 355 1350

Email: info@lac.school.nz

www.lac.school.nz

NORTHFUELS – ‘FUEL FOR SCHOOLS’

You can help us raise funds by joining up with this scheme run by Northfuels, if

you use them to deliver bulk fuel to your business/farm. For more information

call 0800 484 3543, or go to http://www.northfuels.co.nz/fuel-for-schools/. Also

from Northfuels you can get a FREE BOOKLET to find out how farmers can

receive up to 55 cents per litre in excise duty refunds on bulk petrol. For this, call

0800 999 986.

Longburn Adventist College Years 11–13 Trial Exam Timetable 2013

Monday 9th September –Friday 13th September 2013

GENERAL NOTES All exams are in rooms 4, 5, 6 except Art, Photography and Physical Education. Exams will run from 9.10am – 12.10pm daily. Be outside exam room no later than 9am.

YEAR 11 EXAMINATION TIMETABLE

Time Mon 9

th Sept

Day 4

Tues 10th

Sept

Day 5

Wed 11th Sept

Day 6

Thurs 12th Sept

Day 1

Fri 13th Sept

Day 2

9.10am Science

Mathematics

History

Art

Economics

Physical Education

English

YEAR 12 EXAMINATION TIMETABLE

Time Mon 9

th Sept

Day 4

Tues 10th

Sept

Day 5

Wed 11th Sept

Day 6

Thurs 12th Sept

Day 1

Fri 13st Sept

Day 2

9.10am English

Chemistry

Photography

Mathematics

History

Physics

Art

Biology

YEAR 13 EXAMINATION TIMETABLE

Time Mon 9

th Sept

Day 4

Tues 10th

Sept

Day 5

Wed 11th Sept

Day 6

Thurs 12th Sept

Day 1

Fri 13st Sept

Day 2

9.10am English

Classics

Physics

Photography

Calculus

Statistics

Biology

History

Art

Chemistry

Economics

PO Box 14001, Longburn 4866, New Zealand

Ph: +64 6 354 1059 • Fax: +64 6 355 1350

Email: info@lac.school.nz

www.lac.school.nz