Dear Parents and Guardians

Welcome back to Takapuna Grammar School, 2012. A newsletter to parents and guardians is under construction as I write which provides details of the focus areas for the year, including International Baccalaureate implementation, the new developments with our computer technology along with more mundane expectations surrounding uniform and attendance.

When I consider the wider issues of education, I am constantly appreciative of the quality of students we have a Takapuna Grammar School. I have had the luxury of receiving so many emails and contacts from parents and pupils of Takapuna Grammar School during the holiday break acknowledging the positive impact the programmes of Takapuna Grammar School have had on them. This is a real endorsement, I think, of our emphasis on ensuring our systems are nimble and malleable in addressing the individual needs of our students. A critical aspect of this is the communication between the school, its students and its parents. It is a critical, triangular dependency in terms of delivering effective programmes to our students. I encourage parents to contact the school often and would like to think that our parents appreciate this and take the opportunity at every occasion.

Connected to this thought, you will notice an invitation in the coming newsletter from me to parents offering the time to discuss the qualifications of NCEA and International Baccalaureate. Naturally, we will continue to present the Year 9 Information Evening and Qualification Evenings but I would like to add this an additional opportunity for parents to meet with me to discuss these matters more personally and directly. Essentially I have set aside some morning tea times in four locations being Takapuna, Devonport, the City and Takapuna Grammar School. I am trying to make it easy for parents to slip out of work and attend these discussions, which should last between 30 minutes to an hour. I know that these decisions are important ones for parents and the more the school can unravel and simplify the understandings of assessment the better the decisions for students will ultimately be. If you have any thoughts or further suggestions to make about this topic, please email me directly at s.lamb@takapuna.school.nz.  More specific details of the morning teas are contained in the coming newsletter, due for circulation in the week beginning the 13th of February.

Regards,
SIMON LAMB
Principal
Takapuna Grammar School
principal@takapuna.school.nz.

Please click the link below to download the complete newsletter:

Congratulations to Joshua Dawes, Takapuna Grammar School Dux and top scholar for 2011.

Joshua has had exceptional academic success in this, his final year at Takapuna Grammar School. He was ranked in his subjects as follows;
Mathematics with Statistics 1st, Mathematics with Calculus 1st, History 1st, Chemistry 3rd, Physics 7th.

In Joshua’s reports his teachers have described him
as follows:
“He is a pleasant and conscientious student who strives to give his best. He attempts all given tasks to a high standard and has an obvious aptitude for this subject.”
“He is an intelligent, positive student and a capable mathematician. He is developing into a fine scholar”.
“He is an extremely capable student who thinks deeply about what he is doing. Already he displays quite profound insights into statistical matters, which require a different perspective to other branches of Mathematics.”

Joshua has also had a considerable involvement in the co-curricular area of the school. He is a keen member of the Takapuna Grammar School Rock Climbing team and was last year in the Senior A Basketball team. He is a School Librarian and has supported other students through tutoring. He has taken on a mentoring role for an autistic girl outside school. He has a keen sense of service and social justice.