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Hobsonville Point Secondary School Communication25 July 2025 PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGEKia ora e ngā whānau, This week, we have been welcoming our new families for 2026. We had a successful Open Evening with more than 500 people attending and over 150 people visiting for our Open Day tours. It has been great to share all the fantastic opportunities on offer and show the community the great learning happening each day. This term, our junior students have started new classes. We must allow students time to settle into their new classes, and we encourage students to make new friends. This is a perfect opportunity for students to build resilience. There have been some outstanding achievements in our extracurricular activities, including our Girls' football team winning against Green Bay High School 3 - 0 and Junior Boys Football beating Rosmini 4 - 2. We are very proud of all our students, and I encourage all students to get involved in at least one extracurricular activity this week. Ngā mihi Kirsty Dowding Tumuaki Principal
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INFORMATION - IEMs COMING UP AND NUMERACY AND LITERACY CO-REQUISITE RESULTS RELEASEDIndividual Education Meetings (IEMs) for all students will be held in Week 5, Term 3 – Tuesday 12 and Wednesday 13 August. These student-led meetings are a key part of how we partner with whānau to support learning. School will only be open for IEM appointments on these days, with learning from home available. Further details can be found here. Bookings for IEMs are now open via the SchoolBridge app or login.bridge.school.nz. The results from the Term 2 Numeracy and Literacy Co-Requisite Examinations have also now been published by NZQA and are viewable on our SchoolBridge Parent Portal. To view these, go to https://www.hpss.school.nz/ and select ‘Parent Portal’ or login in via the Schoolbridge App. Results are viewable by selecting ‘All Results’ or ‘NCEA Summary’.
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LIGHT IT UP ORANGE FOR SHINE NZThis year the Peer Mediators group organised an awareness event at HPSS to promote the message of healthy relationships and the important work that SHINE NZ does. Shine NZ supports families and individuals through domestic violence and abuse. The event aimed to raise funds for Shine through gold coin donations. Alongside the fundraising the students came dressed in orange alongside the teachers to show their support for Shine but also to promote the message that abuse is never ok and its important to be kind and reach out if you need support. Shine has a 24/7 call line for those in need: 0508 744 633. Advanced Peer Mediator Training On the 23rd July, the Peace Foundation returned to train 28 of our Peer Mediators in the advanced course. This course is a wonderful opportunity for our Peer Mediators to hone their skills and learn from experts. Four volunteer experts came alongside Christina and Aly from the Peace Foundation to work alongside our students. These students learnt life long skills which they can use to resolve conflict and support their peers, plus it looks great on their CVs as a leadership skill.
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INFORMATION - COURSE INFORMATION EVENING AND NCEA INFORMATIONAt HPSS we want to ensure all our students and their whānau feel empowered to make decisions about their subject choices and career pathways. Next Tuesday, 29 July, HPSS is hosting an NCEA and Course Information Evening. From 5.30pm-7.00pm HPSS will also host a Q2-Q3 Course Information Evening during which staff and Learning Area Leads from the different learning areas will be available for drop in sessions to provide information and answer questions about the many courses we offer our Year 12 and 13 students. The evening is aimed at current Year 11 and 12 students, but Year 10 students are welcome to attend. The Learning Area Leads will be stationed in the Hangar and Hudson spaces (near the Library). During the evening, members of our Pathways team will also be on hand to answer questions about career pathways and Tertiary entry requirements. Please enter the school via the front office.
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COLLABORATION - OPEN EVENINGOn 21 July, HPSS was proud to host our annual Open Evening for Year 8 students and their whānau. Over 500 Year 8 students and their whānau visited the school and had an opportunity to see the many opportunities which our school has to offer. The school was bustling with excited and engaged young people, eager to start their secondary journey with HPSS. We want to acknowledge the important role that the 120 HPSS student guides played in making the evening such a success. It was frequently commented upon by the visiting parents that our students are one of HPSS’s greatest selling points due to the maturity and confidence with which they speak, and the genuine enthusiasm they express for their learning. Thank you to all our student helpers for making the evening such a success!
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EXCELLENCE IN PERFORMING ARTSOn the 20th of July, HPSS students Hanna Reed, Yan Chen and Jack Bitossi represented West City Youth Concert Band at the NZCBA National Festival in Wellington. The NZCBA (New Zealand Concert Band Association) national festival is a highlight for concert bands all over the country. Annually, bands and performers from all over New Zealand congregate for a weekend full of music, participating in various performances and workshops. Whilst being a festival, and a celebration of music, awards were announced on the Sunday afternoon. West City Youth Concert Band received a gold award for their performance. This is an extraordinary achievement as only two youth bands across New Zealand received this honour. WCYCB is looking forward to returning to festival hosted at St Peter’s College in Cambridge next year. Hanna Reed, Year 11
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EXCELLENCE IN PERFORMING ARTSCongratulations to Haozhen Zhan (Y10) who can now officially say he is a member of the top dance crew in the world. Haozhen’s talented crew, Yung ID, has been named the world's top dance team at the 2025 World of Dance Summit in Los Angeles. Yung ID dominated the international competition, progressing through three challenging rounds to reach the final showdown where they ultimately claimed victory. Their impressive performance also earned them a substantial cash prize. The crew's journey to the global stage began in April when they secured first place at the World of Dance New Zealand chapter, punching their ticket to the prestigious Los Angeles event. You can watch Haozhen’s performance here and read further about the accomplishment in this NZ Herald Article.
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PERSONAL EXCELLENCE IN PATHWAYSCongratulations to the following students for being recognised by UNITEC Pathways College for their active engagement and success in their respective courses: This was a reflection of the hard work and professionalism which they have demonstrated in their respective courses.
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INFORMATION - FINANCIAL EDUCATION AT HPSSDear Parents & Guardians, We are Naked Finance, a financial advisory based right here in Hobsonville Point. We offer several financial services which you can learn about via our website – www.nakedfinance.nz. One of our core pillars, which is central to all our advice, is financial education. We work with many clients who rely on us to guide them through their finances because they never received a formal (or informal) financial education. We want to change that. We want to help your children empower their futures by teaching them the core financial management skills - now. Working in conjunction with Hobsonville Point Secondary School we are looking to host a series of practical financial education classes for the students. These classes would focus on key areas of financial literacy that have been identified as key contributors to financial freedom. This will be delivered by our very own licensed financial advisers, who currently run similar programmes for government organisations. Classes would cover topics such as: Our goal? To help students feel more confident in their financial literacy and to help them gain knowledge that will benefit them well beyond school. We’d love to get a sense of interest from both the students and you, their parents & guardians, before moving forward with this initiative. Please complete the short 3 question survey via the link below to show your expression of interest. - Take the survey We look forward to hearing from you. Jamie
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INQUIRY & COLLABORATION - SCIENCE OUTREACH PROJECTOn Monday, 9 June 2025, the students in our module hosted over forty primary school students from Hobsonville Primary School for a science outreach project. We hosted them for most of the day and taught them a lot about our star topic: plankton! To prepare for the day we created many posters, presentations, and interactive activities for them to complete with supervision. Some of these included a plankton race, plankton catching, and a blackout room filled with hanging glow sticks simulating plankton bioluminescence. This was a fun and effective way for us to display and present our learning over the term. Our experience was really positive with the younger students, and sometimes we all found out things together. They were all very interested and involved with all the workshops, talked with each other and us, put their creativity to work and made us all enjoy the activities. Overall it was very fun and encouraging and helped with developing our interpersonal skills by helping the younger students. Kahlo May (Yr 9), Charlotte Williams (Yr 10) and Cyrus Woods (Yr 9)
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INTERNSHIP STORIES - ANYTIME FITNESSCurrently, there are three HPSS students taking part in internships at Anytime Fitness. I’m a Year 12 student at HPSS who is passionate about fitness and wellbeing. My internship at Anytime Fitness New Market has been an awesome opportunity and learning experience for me to get hands-on experience in a real gym setting and see what it's like working behind the scenes and in the fitness industry. A typical day often involves cleaning and sorting out all equipment, helping with desk work such as processing defaults, and making sure that everything is clean and organised at the gym. The team at Anytime Fitness has been really welcoming and supportive towards me, and I’m hoping to learn more about how staff support clients with their goals. This internship has shown me how enjoyable it is to work in such a driven environment, and has helped me build useful skills that I’ll carry into the future. Lily Campbell, Yr 12 I enjoy learning about what it's like working in a gym environment because it can help me in the future if I do decide to pursue a job in areas of sports science. I hope to learn anything that's possible, as I would like to get the most out of this internship that I can. Everyone's really friendly and welcoming, supportive; and they help me whenever I have questions. The key things I have learned during my internship is communication within a team; being a team player; insight into training; use of equipment and admin tasks. Sai Govender, Yr 12 During my internship at Anytime Fitness Mt Albert I have gained hands on experience in the work environment of a professional fitness facility. I have helped with admin, member services, helped maintain a clean, safe and motivating workout environment. I have also contributed to social media content, creating TikToks to advertise the gym and its deals. Overall my internship so far has been very useful and fun, I have met so many new people while learning so much about the work environment and gaining many skills. Emma Lynch, Yr 12
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INNOVATION - Y13 BUSINESS STUDIESHello! We are The Culinary Atlas, a multicultural cookbook that brings together a range of recipes from around the world. Our cookbook is designed to introduce people to different cultures through food, while giving them new meal ideas. The focus is on simple, easy-to-make dishes that don't require a lot of time or effort, making cooking less stressful. Whether someone is new to the kitchen or just looking for something different to try, this cookbook makes international cooking more approachable and enjoyable. Along with that, our recipes from our cookbook were sourced from the students and staff from our own multicultural school, which only adds to the personal touch of our cookbook. Are you or someone you know interested in simple, easy dishes that don't require a lot of time or effort? Then look no further. The Culinary Atlas is here! Order a copy of your own for only $29.99 by contacting us either through email at (theculinaryatlas@gmail.com) or at (@theculinaryatlas) on Instagram or Facebook!
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YEAR 11 OUTDOOR EDUCATION - UPPER NIHOTUPU WALKAs part of our Year 11 Outdoor Education class, on 21 July, we completed the 6.4km Upper Nihotupu Dam walk, which was both enjoyable and memorable. The day was cold but beautifully sunny, making the natural surroundings even more stunning. On the hike I remember feeling slightly cold throughout the duration of the hike mainly on my hands and face, my hands got so cold that I could barely move them to eat my food. I also remember hearing the sound of fast flowing water from the waterfall and the sound of birds calling. The terrain was very levelled and there were not many hard bits in the hike, even when there were uphills and downhills none of those were challenging and did not cause problems. The environment was very calming. Despite the cold temperatures the surrounding environment was very nice, lush green bush, birds, fast flowing water, and just the overall day was amazing to walk in. There was a super cool waterfall near the start of the walk and a bridge that was looking out on another waterfall that went down and then over rocks, then turned back into a river on the other side of the bridge. Overall, it was a rewarding outdoor experience for the whole class. Oasis Zhou and Starr Harrison (Yr 11)
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KEY DATES 2025Term 3 - Monday 14 July - Friday 19 September 29 July - NCEA Information (5.00pm - 5.30pm) and Q2-3 Course Information Evening (5.30pm-7.00pm). 12-13 August - Individual Education Meetings - Further details can be found here. Bookings are now open via the SchoolBridge app or login.bridge.school.nz. 25 August - Staff Only Day
Term 4 - Monday 6 October - Friday 12 December 24 October - Staff Only Day Public Holidays: Labour Day – Monday 27 October 12 December - Staff Only Day
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