FROM THE PRINCIPAL

12th August, 2026

Dear HNHS families

It was a pleasure to accompany our year 9 and 10 students to Palmerston North yesterday for our annual Central Six Sports Tournament.  This year we had students competing in rugby, basketball, hockey, football and netball.  Alongside them were a handful of senior students who acted as referees, coaches and mentors throughout the day.  The tournament is a great opportunity for our emerging young sportspeople to compete against teams outside our region and is an introduction to what our top teams experience when they head away to Tournament Week in a couple of weeks time.

The feedback from all of the staff on the trip was that our students presented and conducted themselves admirably throughout the day.  That was certainly the case at the hockey turf where I was stationed. 

All of the teams were met with some fierce competition and a particular mention goes to our girls' hockey team who finished in first place and the boys' hockey, girls' football and girls' basketball teams who all placed 2nd.

INTER-HOUSE KAPA HAKA​​​​​​​ - LIVE STREAM

Regrettably, we have a very limited number of seats available to whānau for our inter-house Kapa Haka competition tomorrow night (Thursday).  On a positive note, this is because so many students are involved and we just don't have the capacity in our auditorium. 

We will be live streaming the event but our technical team have experienced a few issues setting up the stream today.  We anticipate sending out the link to families tomorrow afternoon at around 2.30pm. 

I hope that everyone will tune in to the performances to get a feel for what our students have put together in a very short timeframe. 

REGISTERING TO VOTE

As we head toward the November election, it is timely to remind families that there has been a change to the legislation regarding voting.  In the past, people have been able to enrol and vote right up to election day.  The new legislation means people must now be enrolled to vote well in advance (Sunday October 26th). The change is predicted to result in large numbers of voters being unable to vote on the day or beforehand. Those most likely to be affected will be people who have changed their address in the past 3 years, people who have changed their name and people who have turned 18 since the last election.

The QR code below will take you straight to Vote NZ and allow you to either check whether your enrolment is current, or to enrol. I hope this helps to ensure that all eligible voters are able to cast their vote come election day.

PTA SAUSAGE SIZZLE 

​​​​​​​Finally, my thanks to the members of our wonderful Parent Teacher Association for manning the BBQ outside the Te Mata Road 4 Square this coming Saturday morning (15th August).  The proceeds of the sausage sizzle will be put towards the construction of a new outdoor volleyball court which the PTA have been working towards for some time.  On behalf of the PTA can I encourage everyone driving past to help out our school community on Saturday morning by stopping in for a quick snack.  

Have a wonderful end to the week,


Joel Wilton

Principal

KEY DATES​​​​​​​

  • Thursday, 13th August - Inter-house Kapa Haka Competition
  • Thursday, 20th August - Year 9 and 10 Parent Consultation Evening (online)
  • Sunday 23rd - Tuesday, 25th August - Junior Ski Trip
  • Monday 24th - Friday 28th August - Benchmark Examination Week (senior students granted exam leave)
  • Monday 31st August - Teacher Only Day 
  • Monday, 31st August - Friday 4th September - Winter Tournament Week
  • Tuesday, 15th and Wednesday, 16th September - 2026 Music Festival 
  • Tuesday, 15th September - Y12 Subject Selection (2027)
  • Wednesday, 16th September - Y11 Subject Selection (2027)
  • Thursday, 17th September - Y10 Subject Selection (2027)
  • Thursday, 17th September - Tukituki Whānau Festival (HNI)
  • Monday 21st - Friday 25th September - Voix de Femmes/Concert Band Trip
  • Friday, 25th September - Last day of term three