The Four Cornerstones

The Four Cornerstones of Extra Curricular Achievement

Introduction

The Four Cornerstones of extra curricular achievement refers to opportunities we provide students to participate and excel in academic competitions, cultural activities, leadership through service and sporting events and competitions.

These opportunities are designed to ensure students can find and grow their greatness outside the formal curriculum and promote the development of the whole child.

Students are recognised and acknowledged for showing commitment to an activity and we celebrate outstanding achievement at Celebration Assemblies, Prize Giving and Graduation.

A teacher coordinates each cornerstone with support staff assistance.

Academic Competitions

All students may enter regional, national and international academic competitions which extend their problem solving and intellectual capabilities. These opportunities are particularly valuable for our academically gifted and talented students and the DEEP programme is often used to support and guide groups to excel in a particular competition like Mathex.

The school is proud to have won the Top School in the world in the Education Perfect Challenge for the third time in 2019 which is a competition that complements our core curriculum and illustrates the wonderful commitment of our students.

Cultural activities

MHJC is a diverse community and we enjoy recognising and celebrating as many cultural events as possible and a Cultural Dress Competition is held every year. Various events help to showcase students’ cultural abilities which include a bi-annual musical, annual Performing and Visual Arts showcase evening as well as the popular Talent Quest and Santa Show. 

We also provide our Māori and Pasifika students with an opportunity to perform at a celebration evening and our Kapa Haka group performs at public events like the Koanga Festival.

Leadership through Service

Students are encouraged to be good citizens by providing their time and energy to help others. Councils have been established to provide student voice and opportunities to help drive activities and events e.g. Whānau Council, Sports Council, Cultural Council.

Senior students support our new Year 7s at camp and act as buddies throughout their first year. And the Principal selects two senior students from each whānau to meet he and the Student Representative to the Board of Trustees weekly in an open forum.

Sporting activities

The Sports Programme at MHJC has grown substantially since we opened in 2009 and every year we have added more to the Sports Programme than before.

Our goal is to provide opportunities for all students to be active and healthy as well as provide our top athletes with the highest quality  facilities, coaches and competition. In addition to regular inter-whānau and inter-school competitions, highlights of our programme include an annual sporting exchange with Rototuna Junior High School, competing in the International AIMS Games held in September in Tauranga and the Sports Camp in Totara Springs.

All communication regarding sports sign-ups and trial dates are emailed to the students’ school email address. We encourage students to sign up and trial if they wish to represent the school. Each time a student represents the school in a school sporting activity or in a school sports team they will receive a sporting cornerstone which will be visible on their MHJC Profile Page. We encourage parents to sit down with their child to help them navigate their emails and ensure they do not miss out on any sporting opportunities. 

 

Information regarding trials will also be loaded on the MHJC school website under the ‘events’ section. 

If you have any questions or queries please do not hesitate to contact us at sport@mhjc.school.nz.

 

 

 

 

Principal's Blog, School News

Kindness Week

This week we look forward to a number of activities which will promote our school’s values of integrity and compassion. We believe that by cultivating a better understanding of our differences and celebrating our wonderful cultural diversity we can send a positive message to our community. The week will finish with Pink Shirt Day which has become a rallying cry for us to treat each other with respect and manage ourselves so that we remain calm and respond appropriately if offended. The most important change we wish to see after analysing a recent survey is for students to become more equipped to articulate their feelings and for bystanders who witness hurtful actions or words to make a stand and indicate their disapproval. This has been documented to be one of the most powerful ways to combat bullying.

 

The following web site has more information which may provide us with greater insight: https://www.bullyingfree.nz/bullying-free-new-zealand-week/

 

Our view is that while we respond to any reports of anti-social behaviour we also wish to promote a positive message of seeking ways to be kind and compassionate which help create a culture of acceptance and celebration of our differences. The Student Executive Council has created a slogan “#be kind, be you” which I think sums up our message superbly.

Growing Greatness – Kia Mana Ake!

ICT Blog

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.

Principal's Blog

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!

School News

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/

School News

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

Principal's Blog, School News

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.

School News

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!

Principal's Blog

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

The home of Mission Heights Junior College, Auckland, New Zealand