Mission Heights Junior College

A message for our Year 10 whānau living in Ormiston Senior College's zone.

Please see the information below about enrolments for Ormiston Senior College for 2027. Important dates to note:

Week 1 Term 3 - enrolment packs delivered
20th July - online enrolments open
21st August - online enrolments due
27th August - Open School Event - those who have completed their enrolment application will be invited

Subject selection interviews will happen during Weeks 8/9 of Term 3. Only students who have completed their online enrolment application will have a subject selection interview.

Earlier this year, Rob Cope came and spoke with our community about ways to keep our children safe in this very digital world. He presented lots of tips. One he has shared is below . . .

PlayStation vs Cards?

Playing cards with your child isn’t just a game—it’s a powerful moment of connection.

While a PlayStation offers distraction, a deck of cards invites eye contact, laughter, and presence. It taps into a child’s deepest psychological need: to feel seen and valued.

Every shuffle, every shared win or loss, builds emotional intelligence, resilience, and trust. These are the moments that shape secure attachments and lasting memories—far more rewarding than any digital high score.

When you sit across the table, you’re not just playing a game—you’re saying, you matter to me.

Click below to watch.

PlayStation VS Cards? Playing cards with your child isn’t just a game—it’s a powerful mom...

As part of our Matariki celebrations, we are offering delicious hāngī meals!

Each hāngī includes halal chicken, vegetables, and stuffing, all wrapped in foil packaging.
Cost is $12 or $16 including a drink and pudding.

Hāngī will be ready to pick up outside of Maunga whānau at 12.30pm on Tuesday 30th June.

To order, please complete the google form below.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSflXbEliUNP7vKx3ZaF_BVqOs90pEYjEDL-BIe_bisvmAIgGw/viewform

Jammies for June!
Today, MHJC staff and students wore pajamas and casual clothing to help support 'Jammies for June'. This non-uniform day helps to raise funds (and PJs) for the Middlemore Foundation. Pajamas that were donated by students today will be taken to Middlemore Hospital and given to children in need of warm winter sleepwear.
Thank you to everyone who took part!

To help make Enviro Week come alive today, Year 7 students in Wai Whānau participated in a 'Trees for Survival' planting day. The group travelled out to Whitford to help plant native New Zealand species on a large block of land. Despite a bit of rain, students, staff, and volunteers planted hundreds of young trees. It was a great way to learn more about native species, conservation work, and the importance of the 'Trees for Survival' programme. Well done to all students who took part.

Next Wednesday 17th June, the Executive Council is hosting a special Non-Uniform PJ Day to support the Middlemore Foundation's Jammies for June initiative.

We are joining Dame Valerie Adams’ "Jammie Army" to help bring warmth to children in need this winter.

Here is how you can get involved:

Wear Your PJs to School:
Next Wednesday 17th June, students can swap their uniforms for their favourite (appropriate) PJs or casual clothes.

Donate a Gold Coin: Bring a gold coin donation on Wednesday to help the Executive Council raise vital funds.

Donate a Pair of PJs: We are also collecting brand-new pairs of winter pajamas! If you can't bring them next Wednesday, don't worry - PJs can be dropped off all June long.

A Friendly Reminder: Your Appearance, Your Mana.
While we want everyone to be comfortable please remember to dress appropriately for a school environment.
If you choose to wear PJ's- ensure your pajamas are respectful, warm, and safe for a regular day of learning.

Let's represent MHJC with pride!

Yesterday, some of our Year 10 students (and staff) across the school had the opportunity to participate in Kiwi Bubble Soccer.
This tied into a number of their learning contexts, helping them improve their teamwork, effective communication, and other important interpersonal skills.
It was also an opportunity to experience a different type of movement that focusses on play; showing that physical activity can indeed be fun!

Principal's Memo - 𝗠𝗮𝘆 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 (emailed home last week)
Kia ora koutou

There have been many announcements made recently relating to education which may have caused some discussion and/or debate in the community. So I thought I would reach out to you and explain what plans MHJC has as we navigate these changes. I have also included a brief update on our progress towards achieving the targets set by the government relating to
attendance and achievement.

Curriculum Reviews:
The Ministry has signalled a move to a more “knowledge rich” curriculum with a focus on knowledge and skills. We will continue to provide the foundations for our students to succeed at senior college while ensuring the content is delivered in a way which will engage and interest our students, see connections between subjects and have authentic, real world outcomes.

Assessment:
The Ministry has introduced a new SMART assessment tool for reading, writing and mathematics. We chose to continue with e-asTTle this year to ensure that the new assessment tool can be used with confidence in 2027. This gives us another year to be able to use comparative data to inform our planning and teaching and to integrate the new descriptors into our assessment model.

Reporting:
We will continue to provide a holistic report to parents which provides progress and achievement data across all subjects; engagement data which includes attendance, punctuality, involvement and excellence in our extra curricular activities, and has a special element about how our students are living our values.

By 2027 we will be using new progress descriptors for all subjects but only for English and Maths in 2026. We are using this year as an opportunity to align the new curriculum with our assessment model and the new reporting statements.

New Qualifications:
Much discussion in the media has focused on the replacement of NCEA by the Foundational Skills Award in Year 11, New Zealand Certificate of Education (NZCE) in Year 12 and New Zealand Advanced Certificate of Education (NZACE) in Year 13. While these changes are more applicable to senior colleges, we have started consultation with Ormiston Senior College about how we can best prepare students for the new Year 11 qualification which will have a strong focus on literacy and numeracy. Currently there is very little information about what this qualification will look like but we are confident that our students will be well prepared as we have provided specialist subject teaching from Year 7-10 since the school was opened. We will continue to offer students in 2026 the opportunity to gain their co-requisites in reading, writing and mathematics. These are required in order to achieve Level 2 or Level 3 qualifications (many of our Year 10
students wrote these earlier this term). This may change in 2027 depending on whether senior colleges will only be able to offer co-requisites in Year 11 and not in Year 10. We will also continue to offer NCEA Achievement Standards this year but stop in 2027.

National Targets:
Literacy and Numeracy.
We are well on track to reach the targets of 80% of our Year 7 and 8 students being at or above curriculum levels in reading, writing and mathematics by 2030. Given the high percentage of students whose first language is not English, this is a significant achievement. All our teachers are receiving PD in writing which is our focus for the year as this is an area which lags behind other data at MHJC and across all schools.
Attendance.
We are also tracking very well towards the target of 80% of our students attending 90% of the school year. Our data for Term 1 was 76% and while in Term 2 we may have more seasonal illnesses we hope to stay in the mid 70s.
My thanks to all our parents who prioritise attendance and punctuality and I also urge parents not to plan overseas travel during term time as this is our biggest cause of unjustified absence.

Professional Development:
It is obvious that the amount and pace of change would place a heavy load on our teachers. We will be supporting them by providing Professional Development after school and time will also be provided by the Ministry for teacher only days. We thank you for your understanding in advance for the inconvenience these days may cause which we have minimised following feedback from last year and your understanding of the pressure the education sector is under at the moment.

Conclusion:
I hope this brief summary might help parents understand a little better what changes are coming our way and what our plans are.
Meantime I am pleased to say that our commitment to achieving our goals and vision of growing greatness through innovative, constantly evolving, personalised learning continues to shine through despite these changes. I am sure that our community will join me in thanking our staff for their individual and collective efforts. This is a team effort and your support is invaluable.

Kia mana ake - growing greatness!

A few reminders for our school community . . .

Friday 29th May 2026 - Teacher Only Day
As previously communicated please note school will be closed to all students on Friday 29th May 2026 for Teacher Only Day.

Monday 1st June 2026 - King's Birthday
School will be closed on Monday 1st June for King's Birthday.

Yesterday, MHJC hosted our annual Mathex competition in the gym. This event has students participating from our feeder primary schools and from across all 4 of our whānau.
Congratulations to all students who took part! It was a great day to celebrate our maths success. 🎲🧮