Much has been written about the new government’s proposed changes to education including the proposed abolition of National Standards reporting. The school will however report at the year end to our Year 7 and 8 families. Once we have been clarity for 2018 we will inform the community accordingly.
Growing greatness – kia mana ake
For a second year, the MHJC Chinese Day Event was held during the NZ Chinese Language Week, celebrating Chinese language and culture. The event raised students interest in learning Chinese and about the culture – in line with the school’s goal – to foster future global citizens.
As well as the fun activities MHJC won three merit prizes at the 2017 Chinese Short Film Competition, a merit prize at the 2017 Chinese calligraphy competition and to top it off, 12 of our student authors had their stories published in the book ‘Flying Kiwis’!
Here is the full article published in the Eastern Courier: https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/eastern-courier/98024170/describing-kiwi-identity-in-two-languages
Proud published MHJC young authors below. Back row (from left): Ezekiel Ng Shiu, Mrs Gao, Principal Morrison, Willie Lan, John Kenneth Astadan Front Row (from left): Elsa McCormick, Siya Kumar, Ruby Tasmania, Gursimran Kaur Randhawa, Crystal Su (Absent) Megan Strydom, Kabir Sikh, Jordan Wandsworth and Andrew Ma.
From the 10th of December bus timetables will be changing in the East Auckland area. These new routes and timetables will be available on the Auckland Transport Journey Planner from the 16th of November. Please check the link above for full details.
Hosted by popular television and movie personality, Pio Terei, Mission Heights Junior College parents and caregivers are invited to a not-to-be-missed free event in conjunction with Ormiston Junior College.
Pio tells us how resilient, confident children deflect trouble, resist pressure, handle stress and recover from setbacks and trauma. All children can be helped to tackle life’s ups and 
downs so they can grow with a ‘can-do’ attitude. Discover the key ingredients required to help children develop those sought-after qualities.
WHEN: Wednesday 1 November 2017 6.30pm Doors open 7pm – 8.30pm
WHERE: Ormiston Junior College 285 Ormiston Rd, Flat Bush
This is a FREE event, spaces are limited so please book your tickets through www.theparentingplace.com or click on this link to go directly to page: https://tinyurl.com/y7cf7x7v
Mission Heights Junior College held the 2017 Netsafe BYOD evening jointly with Mission Heights Primary School. This event saw a turnout of around 120 parents and students. Alex Jackman from MHJC and Jenny Keber from MHP shared with the audience various aspects of the schools’ digital citizenship and tips on cyber-safety at home. The event culminated in a series of breakout sessions where parents and students experienced first hand what the digital curriculum in the 2 schools entailed, from robotics to Reading Plus to Maths Buddy and Mathletics.
Many thanks to all students, parents/caregivers and staff who responded to the bi-annual survey. Detailed feedback has been discussed with the Board of Trustees and I can share some elements of this with the community.
I was pleased with the general high levels of satisfaction expressed by every group who responded. While there were several areas which we can improve on there is an obviously high level of confidence in what we are doing to achieve the school’s vision which is gratifying to see. We have also closed gaps in some areas which were indicated in the 2015 survey including changes to the DEEP programme which have been positively reported on by students as were the important areas of high quality teaching and staff being approachable. Perhaps as a result of moving to BYOD, the use of digital texts showed the highest improvement from 2015.
While I cannot respond to every comment made in the survey the Senior Leadership team and I will continue to review our practice using your feedback however some quick responses may be pertinent:
I will be investigating ways in which we can enhance our programme for gifted and talented students and am pleased to say that a new appointment to improve communications to the school and wider community has already been made. Some comments about the state of the fields and grounds were already being acted upon and we have negotiated a maintenance contract for the school fields and have appointed a full time caretaker who has started to work on the gardens. As the school reaches its first 10 years of existence next year it will also qualify for 10 Year property funding which may help us to embark on large scale property improvements as well as ensure buildings are safe and promote high quality learning.
Your constructive comments and positive affirmation of our efforts were very much appreciated. I would urge parents and caregivers to maintain the close connection so many enjoy with our teachers and Senior Leaders to ensure that on-going reflection can guide us to continual improvement. Let us pause though for a moment and reflect on the superb progress achieved by a school still relatively young in years. This has been achieved by the strong partnership between home and school – thank you.
Growing greatness – Kia mana ake
Dear parents/caregivers
I have received several requests from parents to take their children out of school to go on holiday during term time. I wanted to state to the community that I am not permitted to approve any leave requests except under exceptional circumstances on compassionate grounds.
I need to be consistent and fair and so another reminder may be timely before end of year holidays are planned.
Your understanding of the Ministry of Education’s policy is appreciated.
Sincerely
Ian Morrison
Principal
As our political leaders decide on the composition of our next government I was listening to commentators on radio who were providing deeper analysis of the election. A psychologist was being interviewed about how people can be supported if their party did not win. The response resonated with me. He said that no matter the government, everyone can still make a positive impact by working within their community about something they feel passionate about.
These words echoed those of the presenter at the recent World Vision Awards Ceremony where MHJC was recognised for the amount we raised during the 40 Hour Famine. He said that every dollar raised makes a difference in someone’s life. He reminded us that the importance of the funds raised by World Vision is that so much is raised by young people. Many are too young to vote. Yet they are making a difference.
Well done to all our students who raised funds for World Vision and to those who are working on outreach projects in DEEP and in other curriculum areas who are making a difference – making an impact.
Growing greatness – Kia mana ake
Students from Year 9 and 10 Mountains Whanau have had a great day at the UNITEC MindLab facilities in Newmarket, participating in workshops relating to Coding, Film-making, Augmented Reality and Animation – some even got the chance to dress up! The Mind Lab supports the development of the next generation of makers, doers, inventors and creators who will shape the future with new ways of working, thinking and living.
The Mind Lab team was really impressed with the MHJC context, the ideas the students shared and their level of understanding. This term students have been examining Mental Health in New Zealand – the attitudes, media messages (past and present) in both English and Global Studies classes. The subject is also being examined from a wellbeing/Hauora viewpoint in Science and PEH classes.
The purpose is to examine issues they may encounter in their teenage years that may affect their Mental Health/Wellbeing and ultimately making positive decisions for themselves.
Next on the agenda will be a challenge project based on what they have learned, requiring them to select an aspect of this knowledge to create a media/digital product with the objective of affecting change for individuals or for our community, from an attitude or wellbeing perspective. Watch this space!
Mission Heights Junior College hosted this years’ APPA Inter-School Hindi Speech Competition Finals with 11 schools from Auckland participating in two categories.
Participants spoke eloquently and even with passion and humour on a mix of topics ranging from Technology to Gender Equality, Pollution, The Mystery of the Bermuda Triangle, Nature and My Culture and My Identity.
In the Year 5/6 competition Demira Manchanda from Mission Heights Primary School placed second and the judges commended her for being absolutely fluent and using amazing vocabulary. In first place was Siddarth from Remuera Primary and third, Manav Kumar from Papatoetoe West School.
In the Year 7/8 finals MHJC student Aadi Golcha’s speech took out first prize! Judges said they enjoyed his speech as it had excellent content with contemporary ideas and wit. Second place went to Iris Arora from Somerville Intermediate and in third place was Shriya Kumar from Sir Douglas Bader Intermediate.
The distinguished judges, Ms Roopa Sachdeva and Ms Vandana Ram were impressed with the quality and content of the speeches and appreciated the efforts of the students and the teachers in promoting Hindi language.
