FROM THE PRINCIPAL

17th May, 2026

Dear HNHS families,

It was fantastic to finish the week with a celebration of peace, love and happiness at our annual Havestock festival.  Despite the weather being a touch colder than it was in New York during the summer of 1969, the range of hippie outfits and quality of music gave the original Woodstock a run for its money. 

This is the 18th year the event has featured on the school calendar, offering our young musicians a chance to perform in front of their peers on the outdoor stage.  It has also been encouraging to watch the festival expand to include second-hand clothing sales (Environmental Committee), photo booths (Hauora Committee), face painting , food stalls and even a place to buy jewellery ready for the next non-unform day! 

My thanks to the Cultural Committee and the music department for all of the time they invest in making Havestock such a successful event each year.

NCEA & CURRICULUM CHANGES

Many of you will have caught the Minister’s announcement yesterday regarding the replacement of NCEA with a Year 11 Foundational Award, NZCE and NZACE.  What may not be immediately apparent are some of the parallels between the newly proposed system and NCEA including the recognition of both internal and external assessment, opportunity for students to achieve certificate endorsement and requirement to achieve across three subjects which is the case currently for University Entrance at Level 3.   Other aspects are different and with the change affecting our current year 9 cohort, I thought it would be helpful to include a summary of what has been confirmed below. 

It is worth mentioning that the change to NCEA is coinciding with significant curriculum change across all subject areas.  These have been staggered with Year 9 and 10 Mathematics and English introduced this year and all other subjects from the start of 2027.  Concurrently, new curricula for Year 11 – 13 subjects are being released in draft form and their implementation aligns to the new qualification system.

The term ‘knowledge-rich’ has been used to describe the new curriculum documents.  There is no doubt that in every subject area, the level of prescription and amount of content that has been included is greater than before.   As we work to implement the new curricula across the school, two key points remain at the forefront of our planning.  Firstly, avoiding saturating our students with content at the expense of providing the time needed to engage in higher order, critical thinking.   Secondly, maintaining the choice and variety of subjects and learning experiences that is offered at present and plays such an important role in developing well-rounded young people.   

SUMMARY OF CHANGES

  • 2028 – Foundational Award at Year 11
  • 2029 – New Zealand Certificate of Education (NZCE) at Year 12
  • 2030 – New Zealand Advanced Certificate of Education (NZACE) at Year 13
  • Students in Years 12 and 13 will study at least five subjects each year, with a pass in a minimum of three subjects required to achieve each qualification.
  • NZCE and NZACE will require a student to have foundational literacy and numeracy skills gained through the Foundational Award, which is benchmarked at Year 11, and typically sat in Year 11, although it can be sat at any time.
  • The Foundational Award can also be awarded if a student passes English or Mathematics in year 12 or 13 instead of the year 11 assessment.
  • Transitional arrangements will be in place for two years, so that students can use the current literacy and numeracy corequisite to be awarded the Foundational Award.  It will be clearly stated on a student’s record of achievement if they used the corequisite to gain the award.
  • Records of Achievement will show how many subjects a student has passed, eg. NZCE 4, NZCE 5, NZCE 6 
  • A six-point grading scale (A+, A, B, C, D and E) will apply across every subject. 
  • Students who achieve high grades across five subjects will be eligible for two endorsement awards
  • Every subject will include internal assessments and an external examination, with the weighting of the examination varying depending on the curriculum area and the nature of the subject.
  • From 2028, Science | Pūtaiao will be a compulsory subject in Year 11.  This is already the case at Havelock North High School.

NUMERACY & LITERACY COREQUISITE EXAMINATIONS

This week we convert our auditorium into an examination centre ready for the first round of literacy and numeracy corequisite examinations which start on Tuesday morning.  Most of our year 10 students and those senior students who do not yet have the corequisites will be taking part in the testing.  I encourage these students to ensure they are well prepared for the assessments by completing the revision material, including the Year 10 workbooks that contain sample questions.   

The schedule below outlines the students who are taking part and the specific times when testing will be taking place at HNHS. 

LITERACY

Students sitting the Literacy assessments (Writing & Reading) are from:

  • 1001, 1002, 1003, 1004, 1006, 1007, 1008, 1009
  • Year 11 and 12 students who do not already have the literacy corequisites

NUMERACY

Students sitting the Numeracy assessment are from:

  • 904
  • 1001, 1002, 1003*, 1004*, 1006, 1007, 1008, 1009, 1009 (*unless they passed in 2023)
  • Year 11 and 12 students who do not already have the numeracy corequisites

EXAMINATION SCHEDULE

Allocated examination sessions for Literacy & Numeracy

  • Tues 19/5 Period 1 & 2: Reading – 1001, 1003E, 1004E, 1009, Y12
  • Tues 19/5 Period 3 & 4: Reading – 1002, 1006, 1007, 1008, Y11
  • Wed 20/5 Period 1 & 2: Writing – 1001, 1006, 1007, 1008, Y11
  • Wed 20/5 Period 3 & 4: Writing – 1002, 1003E, 1004E, 1009, Y12
  • Thurs 21/5 Period 1 & 2: Numeracy – 904, 1001*, 1003M* (25), 1004M* (6), 1007, 1008*, Y11 MatE / Mati, Y12 MatE / Mati
  • Thurs 21/5 Period 3 & 4: Numeracy – 1002*, 1006, 1009, 11MatN, 12MatF

CATCH-UP SESSIONS

Catch-up sessions are available for students with genuine absences from the scheduled day of their assessment. If a student is absent, parents should notify the school with an explanation via the normal absence process on the day of the assessment.

Mr Nugteren will determine students eligible for a catch-up assessment and then communicate details of the catch-ups to the parents and student concerned.


Finally, good luck to all of our musicians who are competing in the Smokefree Rockquest Regional Heat and the HB Festival of Bands today and to our adventure racers who are currently competing in the Hillary Challenge in Rotorua.

Have a wonderful weekend,


Joel Wilton

Principal

KEY DATES

  • ​​​​​​​Saturday, 16th & Sunday, 17th May - Hillary Challenge Adventure Race
  • Sunday, 17th May - Smokefree Rockquest Heats (HNHS Auditorium) starting at 1.30pm
  • Tuesday, 19th May - Thursday, 21st May - Literacy and Numeracy Corequisite Examinations (Year 10 and some 11, 12 and 13 students)
  • Wednesday, 27th May - Year 9 & 10 Interim Reports emailed home
  • Monday, 1st June - King's Birthday (students do not attend school)
  • Tuesday, 2nd June - Teacher Only Day
  • Wednesday, 3rd & Thursday, 4th June - Year 13 History Trip 
  • Friday, 5th June - Year 11 - 13 Progress Reports emailed home
  • Friday, 5th June - Non-uniform day (Jammies for June fundraiser)
  • Tuesday, 9th June - Parent Teacher Association (PTA) Meeting - 7pm in staffroom
  • Tuesday, 16th June - Year 11 - 13 Parent Consultation Evening (online - school finishes at 1.00pm, consultations from 2.30 - 6pm)
  • Wednesday, 17th June - Big Sing Regionals
  • Monday, 29th June - Thursday, 2nd July - Talent Quest Heats (lunchtimes)
  • Thursday, 2nd July - Talent Quest Final (7.00pm in auditorium)
  • Friday, 3rd July - Last day of term two