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Hobsonville Point Secondary School Communication11 September 2026 PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGEKia ora e ngā whānau, In this newsletter, I want to take the opportunity to focus on Tournament Week and celebrate the outstanding efforts of our students who represented HPSS across a range of sports and competitions. Every student who took part should be incredibly proud of their efforts, the way they represented our school, and the positive example they set for others. Tournament Week is about much more than results. It is an opportunity for our students to demonstrate resilience, teamwork, sportsmanship and commitment, and once again our students showed these qualities both on and off the field. I was immensely proud to see the way they supported one another, competed with determination and represented HPSS with pride. A special congratulations must go to our Premier Netball Team, who have successfully moved into A Grade for 2027. This is a fantastic achievement and the result of four years of hard work and commitment from our players, coaching team and supportive parents. The team has worked consistently towards this goal, and their progression is a wonderful reflection of that commitment. The team showed tremendous resilience throughout the tournament, including playing through the challenges of winter illnesses, and they never gave up. Their determination, belief in one another and willingness to keep fighting until the final whistle were outstanding. I was immensely proud of their effort and, most importantly, the way they represented our school. For our Year 13 girls, this was their final Tournament Week representing HPSS. We thank you for the passion, commitment and leadership you have shown throughout your time at the school. You have been wonderful role models for our younger students and have helped create a legacy of hard work, determination and success for those who follow. Moving into A Grade is an outstanding achievement, and one that you can all be very proud of. Congratulations to our players, coaches and whānau – what an incredible way to celebrate four years of hard work. To every student who represented HPSS during Tournament Week: thank you. You should be proud of the way you competed, supported each other and represented our school community. You have once again shown the strength of our school culture and the importance of participation, belonging and giving your best. Ngā mihi Kirsty Dowding Tumuaki Principal
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KEY DATES AND INFORMATION FOR TERM 3NCEA Literacy and Numeracy Co-Requisite Exams - 7-18 September. IEMs: Yr 12-13 students - Wednesday 16 September 2pm - 8pm. Y11-13 Derived Grade Exams - Thursday 17 September to Friday 25 September. School Ball: Yr 12-13 - Friday 25 September.
School Board Elections Our School Board elections are coming up, and we encourage members of our school community to take part. Nominations are now open, closing on 24 September 2026. If you are interested in standing as a candidate, or would like to find out more about becoming a Board member, please reach out to the Returning Officer - Urszula Craighead (urszula.craighead@hobsonvillepoint.school.nz). Voting will take place electronically, with an in-person voting option also available. Further information about candidates and how to vote will be provided to eligible voters once nominations have closed. We encourage our school community to take this opportunity to have a voice in the future direction of our school.
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INFORMATION: YEAR 11-13 PRACTICE EXAMSDuring Week 9 and 10 of this term, Year 11-13 students will be undertaking Derived Grade (Practice) Examinations. To support them with preparing: Year 12 and 13 students are on study leave from 16-25 September Year 11 students are on study leave from 23-25 September. For the remainder of the exam period they are to attend school as normal unless they are sitting an exam.
Derived Grade Exams are formal practice examinations. The exams replicate the experience students will have when they sit their external standard NCEA examinations in November-December (end of year NCEA exam timetable is here). These examinations prepare students for their end of year exams and provide an important opportunity for teacher feedback and feedforward. Grades for these examinations are used to calculate senior academic prize-giving awards, including first-in-subject awards. Significantly, the results for these exams are used to apply a ‘derived’ grade in the rare event that a student is unable to sit the end-of-year exams due to severe illness or injury. All students who are entered should attend their examinations and ensure they are prepared. The exam timetable is below:
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CONNECTEDNESS: CULTURAL EVENING 2026On Friday 4 September, the school hosted its annual Cultural Evening which has been a tradition for many years. The event drew an outstanding turnout, with students, parents, teachers and members of the wider community collectively celebrating and supporting our performers. A particular highlight of the evening was the opportunity to see students share their cultures through performance. The quality and confidence on display reflected the significant time and effort invested in preparation, and it was a privilege to witness their achievements celebrated on stage. We were also pleased to welcome several of our local primary schools, providing a valuable opportunity to showcase the talent and cultural diversity within our wider school community. An event of this scale would not be possible without considerable behind-the-scenes effort. We extend our sincere thanks to all students, teachers and members of the Cultural Committee who contributed to the evening's success, with particular thanks to Sam, Tome and Nikita for their dedication and hard work in coordinating another outstanding Cultural Evening.
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INQUIRY: SHADOWTECH EVENTOn August 18, students from our school were selected to attend an event called ShadowTech, which was hosted by One NZ. The main purpose of the event was to encourage more young women to consider careers in technology. We learned so many things, such as how AI is developing and what technology jobs actually look like. The hosts also gave us a tour of the One NZ building and provided us with lunch.
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INNOVATION: FRANKENPLANE EXTRA-CURRICULAR STEMSome of our Year 9 and 11 students are competing in "Frankenplane," a hands-on aircraft construction challenge, and they have been working consistently hard on their build. Here is an update on their progress: "We’ve entered the competition with our sights set on winning. Our goal is to build an aircraft capable of achieving maximum flight time while carrying as many ping pong balls as possible. After thorough research, we successfully assembled and tested the electronics. We soldered the ESC (Electronic Speed Controller) to the brushless motor using bullet connectors, attached the propeller, battery, and channel receiver, and wirelessly bound the setup to our RC transmitter. A stationary test mounted on a wooden block confirmed everything is functioning smoothly. Next up: We are shaping and cutting the plane’s airframe out of styrofoam based on our initial design." - Aanika, Kiukiu, Jeremy & Jessica (Year 11)
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EXCELLENCE: SPELLING BEEOur school shone brightly in this year’s National Spelling Bee, with eight talented finalists proudly representing us among the top 300 spellers in the country. After several intense rounds at the Auckland final last weekend, we are thrilled to congratulate Bridgette Geerken for an outstanding performance, placing in the top 10 and demonstrating remarkable skill and focus. Throughout the competition, students tackled challenging words like centrifuge, effervescent, internecine, polemical, proclivity, and antiquity, which kept even the best spellers on their toes. We also applaud the efforts of Sanna Haiko, Casey Mackay, Victor Ou Yang, Abigail Tamihere, Justin Zhao, Eman Naveed, and Fae Osborne, each of whom contributed to our school’s impressive achievement. Their dedication, preparation, and courage on stage were commendable. A huge congratulations to all who participated. Your hard work and passion for words have made our school proud and shown that you can compete at the highest level in the country.
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EXCELLENCE: HPSS PERFORMING ARTSPLAY IT STRANGE We are delighted to share the news that Monique Magdadaro (Year 13) was surprised in her class by Stephanie Brown (CEO) from Play It Strange. A video was played from Gin Wigmore (judge) which announced that she was the national winner of the Play It Strange Song of the Year award. This is an outstanding achievement and Monique's prizes include: A $10,000 music video promo package, thanks to NZ On Air A 1:1 mentoring session with one of the competition judges A radio interview and airplay on 95bFM A day in a recording studio to professionally record the song.
MUSIC SHOWCASE On Wednesday 2 September we held our Music Showcase in the school auditorium. 29 students performed as soloists, duos, bands and ensembles. There was a large audience of friends, parents, wider whānau, and people from our community warmly supporting the performances. For some students this was the very first time that they performed live to an audience and despite nerves, each and every person who stood onstage did a wonderful job sharing their music. MAZBOU Q - NZ MUSIC COMMISSION Over the last two weeks we have been lucky enough to have been working with Mazbou Q who is mentoring students in studio and production skills. Year 11, 12 and 13 students have had two class sessions each and what they learned and were able to create was very impressive. Thanks to the NZMC for supporting the mentoring scheme in schools - it is inspiring and benefits the students so much. SIDETRACKED RockQuest finals are next week on Friday and the band are excited and busy practicing. We wish the band all the best. A fundraiser gig will be happening 10 October for those that want to support and sidetracked live some great music. https://www.trybooking.com/nz/event/stage-to-studio-21158
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CONNECTEDNESS: ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE Y9 & Y10On Wednesday of Week 7, the Environmental Science Y9 & Y10 enrichment class visited Muriwai to collect biodiversity data in the field. We visited two beaches - Maukatia Bay and Muriwai Beach - and collected data on the bird and invertebrate species present, including a penguin footprint survey. The two beaches have some differences in habitat, but also allow very different human recreational activities, and we were interested in whether there might be differences in the wildlife present. We were treated to a beautiful day on the west coast, and found some uncommon species including a tarānui/caspian tern and a by-the-wind-sailor (a jellyfish-like hydrozoan), as well as four sets of kororā/little blue penguin tracks. This is the third term a class has conducted this survey, and some very interesting patterns are emerging in the data.
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COLLABORATION: STEM ENRICHMENT MODULE Our Year 9 and 10 STEM enrichment students have been hard at work designing, engineering, and programming with the ESP32 microcontroller. Through creativity, resilience, and collaboration, they successfully built an impressive lineup of hands-on projects. It's been incredible to watch them create everything from an interactive classic arcade memory game, temperature and humidity monitoring systems, and a fire alarm to a Chrome-style dinosaur game, an ultrasonic obstacle detector, an ESP32-powered evacuation alarm, and an RFID door system. We can't wait to see what these future innovators engineer next term.
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MATHEX COMPETITIONLast Wednesday evening a group of 16 Year 9 and 10 students competed in the annual Mathex competition at the Barfoot and Thompson stadium in Kohimarama. The competition requires students to try and answer 20 very difficult mathematics questions in 30 minutes in a high energy environment surrounded by students from schools all across Auckland. The students had a fun evening and represented Hobsonville Point Secondary School extremely well.
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CONNECTEDNESS: WINTER TOURNAMENT WEEKCongratulations to all of our players, coaches and supporters for an incredible week of competition. We had teams competing in UNISS Netball, Trident Football Tournament, Kathy Seward Football Tournament, NZSS Rugby League Championship, and NZSS Table Tennis Championship.
A huge congratulations to our Premier Netball girls, finishing 2nd and securing promotion to A Grade for the first time in HPSS history. Congratulations to Year 11 student Bella Gunston for being selected in the Tournament Team; an outstanding individual achievement. A special shoutout to our individual athletes who represented HPSS throughout Winter Tournament Week. We had students competing in weightlifting, climbing and equestrian, taking on some of the best athletes in their respective events.
Congratulations to Sam Howlett, who finished 2nd in her division in Weightlifting; a fantastic result.
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EXCELLENCE IN SPORTSKarate Tournament Congratulations to Nethnilu Abeywickrama (Year 12) who competed in the NZ Nationals Karate Tournament and the NZ University and Secondary Schools Tournament. Combined over the two Tournaments Nethnilu received gold in the Senior intermediate Kata and Gold in the Premier Kumite, Silver in Premier/Intermediate Merged Kata, Bronze in Premier Kumite and Bronze in Premier Kata. (Photo Left) Kickboxing Congratulations to Rongze Gui (Year 12) who won first place in the 48kg Sanda/kickboxing in 2026 New Zealand championships. (Photo Right)
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CONNECTEDNESS: INTERNSHIP STORIES - ALEX KENNEDY-CLARK AND NICHOLE CHINGSPCA This year I’ve been doing my SPCA internship every Wednesday, and it's been awesome. A typical afternoon for me usually starts with washing litter trays, food bowls, water bowls, and toys to keep everything clean and hygienic for the cats. Once the washing is done, I set up litter trays by lining them with newspaper and place them out into the different cat areas to replace dirty trays. Near the end of my shift I feed the cats, empty litter boxes, and check on the cats’ wellbeing and behaviour. I also, of course, give the cats lots of love and cuddles when I can. The people at the SPCA are, I think, the best part of the entire experience. The other volunteers are amazing and we always end up chatting while we work, which really helps make even the most tedious activities interesting. I’ve also had the opportunity to talk to members of the public after they’ve decided to adopt a cat, and it’s really amazing seeing how happy they are and knowing the cats are going to good homes. This internship has helped me build confidence and given me a much better understanding of what working in animal care is actually like. I’ve always been interested in working with animals, and this experience has made me even more excited to work with animals in the future. NorthWest 7 Day Pharmacy During my internship at NorthWest 7 day pharmacy, I have been learning about the day-to-day work that happens behind the scenes. A typical day involves organising and processing new stock in the dispensary, filing prescriptions for the archives, disposing of expired or returned medicines, and assisting staff with various tasks. Since much of my work takes place in the back, I have learned about aspects of the pharmacy that customers don't normally see. What I have enjoyed most is seeing how a pharmacy operates in a real-world setting. It has been interesting to observe how prescriptions are managed, how different issues are handled, and the teamwork required to keep everything running smoothly. The team has been incredibly welcoming and supportive throughout my time there; they are always willing to answer questions and explain procedures whenever I am unsure. This opportunity has given me a much better understanding of the profession and has definitely increased my interest in pursuing pharmacy as a career. Moving forward, I plan to learn more about the role pharmacists play in healthcare and the responsibilities involved in managing patient care.
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KEY DATES 2026All key dates for the year can also be found on the Calendar on our SchoolBridge app, along with Attendance, Daily Notices, Reports, Results, and Payments. Term 1 (10 weeks) - Friday 30 January - Thursday 2 April Term 2 (11 weeks) - Monday 20 April - Friday 3 July Term 3 (10 weeks) - Monday 20 July - Friday 25 September IEMS: Yr 12-13 - Wednesday 16 September 2pm - 8pm Derived Grade Exams - Thursday 17 September to Friday 25 September Board Nominations Close: Thursday 24 September School Ball: Yr 12-13 - Friday 25 September
Term 4 (9 weeks) - Monday 12 October - Thursday 10 December Public Holiday: Labour Day – Monday 26 October Board Voting for Parent Nominations Close: Thursday 29 October Year 12 Prize giving - Wednesday 4 November 2.30pm Year 13 Graduation & Prize giving - Wednesday 4 November 5pm Staff Only Day - Friday 6 November NCEA Exams - Tuesday 10 November to Friday 4 December IEMs: Yrs 9,10,11 - Wednesday 2 December 2pm - 7.30pm and Thursday 3 December 3.30pm - 7.30pm Year 10 Prize giving - Friday 4 December Year 10 Camp - Monday 7 December to Thursday 10 December Year 9 & Year 11 Prize giving - Thursday 10 December
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