Kia ora, Talofa, Bula vinaka, Malo e lelei, Fakatālofa atu kia te koulua, Kia orana, Hallo, Hola, Ni Hao, Namaste and Greetings - parents, caregivers and families of Whitby Collegiate,
A very happy new year to all our Whitby Collegiate community. It is with great anticipation that we begin our 2024 journey this week. We welcome a significant number of new families to our school and continue to be supported by those who have been with us for some time.
Planning and preparation has been ongoing over the past few weeks with the senior leadership team ensuring that we have the best possible start to the year. We congratulate Mr Atkinson who now takes on the role of Assistant Principal and our staff have also been busy planning for the upcoming year so that all students will have exciting and challenging academic programmes ahead of them.
Thanks to Ms Sauvao, who has been sharing her expertise in leadership development with our senior prefects as they have already been planning an array of events for the student body, promising an eventful and memorable year ahead. We are looking forward to spending more quality time with our student leaders over the next couple of days at the annual Year 13 Retreat at Talima Lodge.
Academic Triumphs
We are thrilled with the provisional academic results for 2023 and Whitby Collegiate is poised to once again be recognised as one of the top academic schools in the country. These outcomes reaffirm Whitby Collegiate's commitment to excellence and stand as a testament to the resilience of our school community, especially considering the national trend of declining academic results.
While the results are provisional, Whitby Collegiate has achieved the following pass rates at each level:
Year 11 (Level 1): 96% (with a forecasted final rate of 100%)
Year 12 (Level 2): 100%
Year 13 (Level 3): 97% (with a forecasted final rate of 100%)
Further outstanding results include 70% of Year 11 and Year 12 students gaining merit and excellence endorsed qualifications.
Additionally, the Year 10 literacy and numeracy results reveal a commendable performance by the students heading into NCEA Level 1 this year. An impressive 94% proficiency was achieved in reading, an even higher 97% in writing, and 77% in numeracy. Notably, the 2023 national results indicated a lower success rate for students across the country, underscoring the success rate at Whitby Collegiate and emphasising the school’s performance in comparison to the national average.
Staffing
As the school continues to grow and offer additional curriculum subjects we are very pleased to announce that we are fully staffed for the upcoming year. We welcome some outstanding and experienced new staff joining the Whitby Collegiate team and look forward to introducing them individually over the next few weeks as everyone settles in.
Mr Brad Hudson - Head of Faculty, History, Social Sciences
Mr Dan Shaw - Head of Faculty, Mathematics, Calculus
Ms Nic Aukett - Mathematics, Science, Digital Technology, Social Sciences
Mr Daniel Loorparg - Digital Technology, Design & Visual Communications
Mr Michael Leota - Performing Arts, Music, Religious Education
Mr Peter Free - Physics, Science
Ms Anneliese Brown - Biology, Science
Ms Shakira Baker - Mathematics, Physical Education, Health
Miss Shannon Longstaff - English, Technology
Ms Rachel Martelli - Sports Coordinator
One staff change due to personal circumstances is that our wonderful Sports Director Sally Rose will be having a reduced role over the coming year. Sally will continue to have oversight of our school sports programme but the in-school support for our sports programme will be taken up by Rachel Martelli as the Sports Coordinator. Rachel has an extensive background in sport management and will be an excellent addition to our sports department.
School Day Hours - 8:45am - 3:15pm
School Office Hours - 8:30am - 4:30pm
School Engagement Opportunities
We offer various opportunities for parents to actively engage and contribute to the school community. Parents can participate through the Parents’ Association, the Parents’ Advisory Board, and the Whitby Collegiate Foundation. If you're interested in getting involved, we encourage you to express your interest through the following forms:
Parents’ Association: PA Expression of Interest
Whitby Collegiate Foundation: Foundation Expression of Interest
We are also looking forward to inviting our parent community into the school on as many occasions as possible over the year through a range of activities to enhance our school community, starting with our annual Parents Meet & Greet BBQ.
It is with great pleasure that we warmly welcome ALL parents/caregivers and students to Whitby Collegiate on Thursday 15 February from 4:00PM - 7:00PM for our annual Whitby Collegiate Parents Meet & Greet BBQ. This is the first major engagement that the school has with the parent/caregiver community and is an opportunity to come together to meet the teachers, key staff and other parents/caregivers at the school. Please join us initially in the gym as a group, followed by individual meetings with tutor teachers and then an opportunity to mix and mingle with other parents at a BBQ kindly put on by the Parents’ Association. To ensure we can cater accordingly, RSVP here before Friday 9 February.
Once again welcome to 2024 and we look forward to meeting you all in the coming weeks.
Ngā mihi nui,
Shelley Addison
Executive Principal
