News

PNCC Maori/Pasifika Literacy Programme

The Palmerston North City Council Māori and Pasifika NCEA English Literacy Programme is starting up again. The programme is open to Māori and Pasifika students completing NCEA standards who want that extra push to help them reach their NCEA goals.

The NCEA English programme is catered to students who are completing NCEA Levels 2 and 3, and in some cases Level 1 (in the past students in NCEA Level 1 join in by completing homework or other school work, as well as taking part in the other levels where they are able). The NCEA Te Reo Māori programme is catered to students who are completing NCEA Levels 1, 2 and 3. All students taking Te Reo are welcome to this programme.

Students will receive extra study assistance by qualified NCEA English tutors. It is a FREE safe, holistic, informative and in a family friendly environment – we encourage our schools, teachers, mātua, parents to sit in on the programmes and meet other parents/guardians there as well as the tutors. The programme is fully resourced by the PNCC and caters to all our Māori and Pasifika students.

Where: Events Central (Central Library)

Time: 6.00pm – 8.00pm

When:
Term 2: Monday 7 May to Monday 25 June
Term 3: Monday 30 July to Monday 24 September
Term 4: Monday 29 October and Monday 5 November

If you would like further information, please contact Nuwyne Te Awe Awe Mohi (Maori literacy programme) by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Rhia Taonui (English literacy programme) by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Contact can also be made with Mr Hatch by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Rep Team Achievement

Congratulations to the following students who have been selected in Manawatu Representative Teams:

Kyann Williams - Manawatu U15 Netball Development Team
Courtney Infield and Jasmine Waters - Manawatu U18 Basketball Team
Josh Stretch - Manawatu U15 Badminton Seconds Team

Deputy Principal Appointment

Hatch Hector 2018

We congratulate Mr Hatch on his appointment to the role of Deputy Principal – a position that was vacated by Mr Scott at the end of last term. Mr Hatch is well known to many of the Awatapu College whanau as he taught at the College between 1995 and 2011, several years of which were spent as a member of the Senior Management Team. Mr Hatch returns to the College with a great deal of expertise as in the intervening years he has held several Deputy Principal and Principal positions in NZ and in his home country of Fiji. Mr Hatch will formally take up this role at the start of Term Three. In the interim, Mr Hatch will join the staff as Acting Assistant Principal.

Puhoro Trip To Houston

In the recent school holidays two of our students, Shelby Nicholson and Ruairi Daniela, travelled to Houston, Texas as part of the Pūhoro Māori Science Academy. They were away for a total of nine very intensive days, where they got to visit both scientific and cultural attractions. The following is a detailed account of the trip written by Shelby:

“Ruairi and I were selected to be a part of an amazingly lucky 15 from across schools in the Manawatu. We travelled across the globe to Texas, USA where we were able to experience so many unbelievable programmes, meet so many life-changing people and really understand the significance of our culture back home in New Zealand.

We all visited NASA and were taken on tours around the campus, being shown Rocket Parks, Lunar rovers, robotics labs and mission control rooms to really understand the variety of roles involved in such amazing missions into space. We visited Ad Astra which is an upcoming company founded by renowned astronaut Franklin Chang-Diaz who has been on 7 space missions. His company has been developing the revolutionary plasma engines rather than chemically run engines in spacecrafts.

We also visited the FIRST Robotics Championship and spoke to Chris Reilly, an ambassador for Tesla and good friend of Elon Musk. He spoke about the new developments for Tesla and in eco-friendly sustainable energy that will hopefully reach all over America and toward Australia within the next 10 years.

Later we visited an annual Native American ceremony, Pow Wow, which celebrated unity of the tribes and remembered the losses. We were welcomed with a traditional song and dance and a Texas barbeque. It was amazing to be included in such an intimate cultural experience and it was eye opening to see the similarities between their culture and ours as Māori people.

We were lucky to be included in the Native American culture and to really form a connection with life back home and a bond with the people we met on the trip. It was seriously an unforgettable journey for not only Māori students in STEM but for also finding a community and an identity in our own culture.”

Manawatu Inter Secondary School Swimming

Well done to those who competed in the Manawatu Secondary School Swimming Championships on Saturday 7 April. We had some impressive results from the day and all of the swimmers should be extremely proud of their efforts. A special mention to the following students who placed first in their respective age groups: Tia Davis (200m Freestyle) Amy Smith (200m Butterfly), and Sam Brown (100m Breaststroke).