Student Handbook

Mission Heights Junior College
Students' Handbook
Our motto is “Growing greatness/Kia mana ake!”
Our vision is to grow greatness through innovative, constantly evolving, personalised learning.
We value:
Integrity - pono or how we manage ourselves. We are confident, honest, reliable, resilient, trustworthy, determined individuals.
Compassion - awhinatanga or how we relate to others. We are kind, caring, mindful, supportive, respectful, positive contributors.
Empowering learners - whakamana or a love for learning and understanding of how we learn best. We are collaborative, independent, curious, creative, innovative, reflective, critical thinkers.
Mission - To build a culture:
of inclusion where our differences are celebrated;
of collaboration where we support and share;
of community where we work together to make a difference.
Purpose:
We believe that learning is a journey, and that school, as a place of learning should encourage and inspire students to discover themselves, learn what forces shape the world around them and how they can find their purpose in life.
Self-discovery - to support and guide our students to look within (microscope) and discover their authentic selves, passion and purpose;
Exploration - to seek beyond self (telescope) on how to become active and positive contributors to their local and wider global community;
Authentic - to provide curriculum set in integrated contexts developed through co-construction and collaboration;
Self-efficacy - to articulate and share a common language of learning (Great Ako) so students will be active participants in the learning process (co-construction), know how to learn, how to assess their progress and identify what support they need;
Optimistic worldview - to share a positive vision of a future filled with challenges and opportunity;
Global citizens - to understand the challenges the world faces including environmental sustainability, climate and digital disruption;
Cultural inclusion - to embrace and celebrate our multi-cultural community, and be mindful of our obligations in terms of the Treaty of Waitangi and as citizens of New Zealand/Aotearoa and
Fulfilment - to learn to appreciate and celebrate beauty, nature, justice, truth and life’s possibilities
Special | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | ALL
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Accidents and Sick Students | |||
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AccidentsIf you have an accident at school, you must inform a teacher who will ensure you are cared for.SicknessIf you are unwell during the class time, you should inform your teacher who will send you to reception with an appropriate note. If you need to go home the receptionist will phone your parents. You are not to go home without going through this process. Please do not just call your parents to pick you up as we will not know where you are. For safety reasons no one will be allowed to go home to an empty house.MedicationYou are allowed to carry your own prescription medicine and panadol for your own use. Your medicine can be stored in the Health Centre with detailed instructions for administration if required.Allergies and Severe Medical ConditionsIf you have medicine for allergies or severe medical conditions it can be stored in the Health Centre.First Aid KitsFirst Aid Kits are kept in each Whanau Space. All whanau also have a supply of Band Aids. | |||
Arrivals and Departures | |||
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Your Whanau area is open from 8.00am in the morning or earlier if a teacher unlocks and allows you to enter. | |||
Assemblies | |||
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Each Whanau holds an assembly every four weeks in the theatre. | |||
Assessment | ||
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Assessment for learning is a guiding principle for effective teaching and learning. Teachers will provide students with authentic assessment opportunities which enhance the learning process. As part of our preparation of students for future NCEA assessment and as a principle of effective learning, teachers provide feedback and feedforward at predetermined checkpoints. Students may be granted the opportunity to resubmit at the teacher’s discretion provided a genuine effort had been made (refer to Resubmission section). Any queries relating to this process should be directed to the Assistant Principal who will address the concern appropriately. It is an expectation the all assessment work is submitted. For late submissions, a maximum grade of Achieved will apply. Assessment and eReporting Yr 9 and 10 Core subjects - 3x assessments annually; 2x TAAB assessments and 1x Common Assessment Paper (CAT). All assessments have feedforward/feedback for students with 2 formal reporting comments for the TAAB assessments only.
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Attendance and Absences | |||
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The roll is taken in every session. Any absence or lateness to class is registered. If you are going to be absent or late your parent or caregiver should phone or email your Whanau Student Services to explain; Coast Student Services: coast_absence@mhjc.school.nz OR phone the absence line on 09 2505600 Alternatively an email should be sent to your Assistant Principal or a note brought when you next return to school. Students who arrive at school after school has started should report to Reception to sign in before coming to the classroom. | |||
Awards and Prizes | ||
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At MHJC students can aim for special awards throughout the year and at prize giving. Students will be recognised for their effort and achievements during Whanau assemblies (usually 2 per Term). We offer many opportunities for students to participate in competitions and many of our students have already been winners. Students are acknowledged in different forums such as virtually, Whānau Assembly, end of term Champions Assembly, end of year Whānau Assembly and Prizegiving.
1. Kia Mana Ake recognition 2. Kōtuku Award 3. Tautua Award 4.GREAT Learner Awards At MHJC we promote excellence by recognising and awarding students through: 1. Top Scholar recognition 2. Champions Awards (please see Champions Award Criteria for detailed clarification of legibility) 3. Elite Award 4. Academic Excellence 5. Leadership recognition 6. Top performance in Common Assessment Tasks (CAT) At MHJC we promote progress and participation by recognising and awarding students through: 1. Top 10 participants in cornerstones 2. Most Improved 3. Academic Achievement All year students are awarded e-badges for participation in a cornerstone activity and is reflected on the students MHJC Profile. (See below) Participation - getting involved and giving this ago. Showing commitment for a short term activity Merit Participation - to recognise extended commitment and effort to differentiation between a one off commitment and longer term commitments ie Leader for the Year 6 evening vs Council Leader ie ICAS academic competition Vs Science fair ie Swimming Sports Vs Season Sport ie Cultural Dress day Vs Production Champion - elite performance as described in Awards and Prizegiving criteria | ||
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Before and After School Care Programmes | |||
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This programme is provided by 'Mission Kids'. You can attend from 7.00-8.00am in the morning and from 3.00-6.00pm in the afternoon. It will be centred in the MHP Multi-purpose Hall. | |||
Behaviour and Respect | |||
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At MHJC we value positive behaviour. Respect for yourself, for others, for your school and your community should guide your behaviour. You can expect to be treated with respect and dignity. If you have any concerns at all please talk to a teacher you respect. Our expectations are set out in “growing greatness” | |||
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Champions Award Criteria | ||
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Detailed clarification of 4 Cornerstone Champion recognition criteria Students participation across the 4 cornerstones are recognised through the awarding of eBadges on MHOL. In the award of a badge, it is usual for students to have contributed their own time, or for the activities involved to have occurred in addition to their school work. Enrollment in and completion external tests (eg. ICAS, Big Science, Otago Problem Solving, etc) also qualifies students for an academic participation eBadge. Each term we recognise students who have achieved at the highest level for their age group in our Celebration Assemblies, where we present Champions Awards. These recognise those students who have, for example, won a whole school event or placed in the top 3 in local regional or national competitions in sport, academic or cultural activities (4 cornerstones). We also recognise students who have achieved at a high level internationally. Students who have achieved Distinction or High Distinction in more than one competition are also recognised as champions. At Prize giving we recognise students whose participation has been the most significant across all 4 cornerstones. We also have our 4 Cornerstone Elite Awards which recognise those students who have met the criteria to be recognised as a MHJC Champion. We also recognise our elite leaders, our Executive Student Council and exceptional leadership within the other cornerstones. Education Perfect (EP) - General High Distinction is an automatic Champions Award Otago Problem Solving - Excellence qualifies as a Champions Award From 2019 x2 Distinctions will be a Champions Please note: | ||
CYOD | ||
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Mission Heights Junior College is a CYOD environment = Choose Your Own Device. At MHJC, e-learning supports our school vision of providing authentic and contextualised learning to our students. A digital learning environment allows our teachers to integrate creative strategies and satisfy the individual learning needs of our students. This integration supports personalised and differentiated approaches, enhances academic rigour and engagement, connects our learners with global contexts, and enhance an already established collaborative learning environment. Visit Mission Heights Junior College website's CYOD Frequently Asked Questions Cybersafety Agreements Whanau are able to support students if short-term maintenance is being carried out on their device. Parents/Caregivers need to contact Whanau Admin/Leaders to make arrangements. Use these instructions to join the MHJC Wireless Network | ||
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DIGITAL LEARNING | ||
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At Mission Heights Junior College, we are excited to move into the next phase of growth in the school, which is the introduction of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in the school in 2018. This follows the introduction of Google Apps for Education to the school in 2014, the Chromebook e-Pedagogy trial in 2016 and BYOD in 2017. Visit the Mission Heights website, Learning @ MHJC for further information. | ||
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E Updates and eMail; Keeping Informed | ||
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You should check the eUpdates either in your whanau or on MHOnline every day. You should also check your emails. If you do not you will miss some exciting opportunities or you may miss important information. | ||
eBadge - 4 Cornerstone | ||
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Students participation across the 4 cornerstones are recognised through the awarding of eBadges on MHOL. In the award of a badge, it is usual for students to have contributed their own time, or for the activities involved to have occurred in addition to their school work. Students and Learning Advisors will track their 4 cornerstone participation through the eBadges awarded on MHOL. Below is guidance on how students and Learning Advisors can follow up if they think an eBadge is missing. | ||
Emergency Evacuation Map | |||
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ePassport | ||
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The MHJC ePassport is a progressive set of activities and tasks designed to help students use the internet safely and competently. There are four areas of focus for the ePassport: cyber safety, digital organisation, digital capability, and digital citizenship / digital footprints. Each year the activities / requirements for each focus increase in complexity. Students start working on the Bronze level and should strive for Platinum level by the end of Year 10. Students will receive an e-Badge each time they successfully complete all the activities at Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum levels. | ||
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Getting to and from School | |||
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We would like to encourage you to walk or cycle to school. We train road patrollers for road patrol duty on Jeffs Road and Valderama Drive. If you wish to cycle to school we have great bike storage facilities but you need to ensure you are a confident bike rider, have a road worthy bike, a well fitted safety approved helmet and a bike lock. Students who cycle, scooter or use skate-boards on school property or during school related activities must wear a safety helmet. Exemptions may be granted on cultural grounds if supported by the NZTA. | |||
GREAT Ako - MHJC Learning Framework | ||
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At Mission Heights Junior College, teachers and students use the GREAT Ako framework to explain the learning process. | ||
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Homework | |||
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Any homework should be an extension of your learning and should be relevant to it. You may be further exploring issues you are working on, participating in online discussions, or further developing current projects and tasks. All students should regularly increase their reading mileage by reading a book from the library as well as making use of Mathsbuddy and Reading Plus/Lexia Power Up. Completing Reading Plus and Mathbuddy is a weekly homework expectation. You may also get homework on Education Perfect Most students will need to complete some homework to deliver their best work and to reinforce learning. Year 9 and 10 students in particular should regularly expect to have to complete work at home each night. A guide...... Maori/Pasifika Homework club is run after school weekly on a Monday from 3-4.15pm in Forest Whanau, F10 AND F11 upstairs and all students are welcome. | |||
How to Guides | ||
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The MHJCwiki is the Mission Heights Junior College knowledge base and the main ICT blog. This is the placed to go to find instructions and how to guides. The link to the wiki can be under the Quicklinks Menu on MHOL or in the MHJC bookmarks folder on your tool bar. | ||
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ICT and Cybersafety | |||
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ICT is integrated into all your classroom programmes and there will be many opportunities to use a wide variety of ICT skills. On your enrollment form you signed the Cyber-safety agreement. | |||
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Learning and Assessment | |||
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At Mission Heights Junior College we want you to be very involved in your learning. You have a Learning Advisor who meets with you and your parents at your student lead conference twice a year. Your Learning Advisor will support you to set learning goals. You can monitor your progress on Mission Heights Online as a record of your learning and achievement. You can access your eReport and your e-asTTle/PAT results easily online. Assessment and eReporting Yr 9 and 10 Core subjects - 3x assessments annually. All assessments have feedforward/feedback for students with 2 formal reporting comments (1&3) plus an Examination (Common paper) | |||
Learning in a Secondary School Environment | ||
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Mission Heights Junior College is a secondary school and there are many benefits of attending a Year 7 to 10 secondary school. You will be taught by highly qualified specialist teachers in specialist rooms right from Year 7. You will identify your DEEP course preferences during the selection process. | ||
Library | |||
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Mission Heights Junior College Library is a shared space with the Mission Heights Primary School. The library has many books for learning and pleasure and access to ICT to continue with on-line discussions and research. You can work in this space until approximately 4.00pm each day. You can reserve and renew books online. | |||
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Mission Heights Primary School | |||
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Mission Heights Junior College shares its site and some facilities, such as the library and field with Mission Heights Primary School. Please respect the right of both schools to use these facilities. You are encouraged to model positive behaviour to the students at Mission Heights Primary School and you will have opportunities to take leadership roles in working with them. | |||
Mobile Phones | |||
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You are allowed to bring your mobile phone to school. As a courtesy to others these will be switched off and in your bag in the bag cupboard during your learning sessions. | |||
Money | |||
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You can make payments at reception. You may need to bring money to class to pay for activities such as mufti days. If so teachers or senior students will collect any money from you promptly at the beginning of the school day and send this to Student Services. Please do not bring money or valuables to school unnecessarily. | |||
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Newsletters | ||
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Each Term a school newsletter is produced and will be emailed to you at your MHJC address and to your parents at their e mail address. These celebrate the successes of our students and include news from the previous month. Enjoy reading them and learn more about your school and fellow students. | ||
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PE and Sport | |||
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You are expected to bring and wear your PE gear whenever you have a PE lesson. You are required a sunhat for PE lesson in Term 1 and 4. You are permitted to wear you MHJC Sport hoodie as part of your PE uniform only. If you cannot participate because you are unwell or injured, or have some other reason for not participating you should bring a note from home. | |||
Photocopying/Printing | |||
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Photocopiers are available in each whanau. Your photocopying is monitored by your individual ID card and you will have a print credit loaded against this card. You need a functioning ID card. These can be purchased from reception for $5. When the printing/photocopying credit has been used up, you will need to top up at Reception. | |||
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Resubmission | ||
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Assessment for learning is a guiding principle for effective teaching and learning. Teachers will provide students with authentic assessment opportunities which enhance the learning process. As part of our preparation of students for future NCEA assessment and as a principle of effective learning, teachers provide feedback and feedforward at predetermined checkpoints. Students may be granted the opportunity to resubmit at the teacher’s discretion provided a genuine effort* had been made. Any queries relating to this process should be directed to the Assistant Principal who will address the concern appropriately. *Genuine effort = on time submission and good effort
Year 7 / 8 we allow students who have achieved any grade to resubmit - applying Feedback (this includes formal comment and annotations around the students work) with the teacher discretion provisions as determined above. Year 9 / 10 we allow only those at Working Towards the opportunity to resubmit and will achieve a maximum AT grade - applying Feedback (this includes formal comment and annotations around the students work) with the teacher discretion provisions as determined above. | ||
Rubbish, Recycling and Environment | |||
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We are all responsible for our environment and we all work together to care for it. As an Environmentally Sustainable Designed school we encourage a 'walk it in/walk it out' approach to our litter and waste management. Recycling bins are available for you to dispose of your waste responsibly. | |||
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School Map | |||
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![]() Ground Floor ![]() First Floor | |||
School Uniform | |||
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When you wear your uniform you represent Mission Heights Junior College. We hope you will wear your uniform with pride and we expect you to wear it correctly, both in the school and in the community. The uniform can be purchased at John Russell Menswear, Howick. | |||
Schoolbag Storage | |||
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Cupboards are provided to secure your bags and belongings in all classrooms. You will have the opportunity to secure your bags in the bag cupboard which will remain locked during interval and lunch. Your bags will also be secure in bag lockers during PE lessons. All bags will be in cupboards during class. Be ready to learn with all the equipment you need on your table. | |||
Stationery | |||
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Back to School stationary are available from the School Website. These lists are also available from Reception. Please check your year level list to ensure you have all your stationery before school starts. | |||
Student Leaders | |||
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You will have a range of opportunities to become a leader within our school community e.g. as a librarian, road patroller, ICT crew member or monitor with specific responsibilities. Some of you will want to mentor and work alongside younger students, some will take on service roles in our community. Students will be selected as class representatives in February and will be involved in the Whanau Council for the year. In addition, at least two senior students from each Whanau will be appointed to the Executive Council, who will meet regularly with the Principal. | |||
Sunsafe Sunglasses and Suncream | |||
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New Zealand has one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world. We expect you to be responsible and wear a hat at morning tea, lunchtime and other times when you are outside. We encourage you to wear sunglasses and use effective sunscreen. It is a requirement to have a sunhat term 1 and 4. Please be sun safe. | |||
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Teaching and Learning | |||||||||||||||||
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You will have your own learning plan or timetable. You will be involved in planning aspects of your learning with your teachers.
You will have the option to study a variety of other things through your DEEP options and this is where you can experiment with a number of different learning experiences. You will have 4 DEEP sessions a week. Your fifth DEEP session will be your Learning Advisor time. You will identify your DEEP course preferences for each term. You can select a maximum of 3 DEEP cooking courses over the entire year. A maximum of 2 sports can be identified within each terms selection and you can choose maximum of 3 DEEP courses in the same curriculum/learning area. You will have no more than two directed “essential“ programmes. | |||||||||||||||||
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Website | |||
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Wet Days | |||
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On wet days you have access to indoor facilities such as the library, class rooms, and your Whanau areas. We ask you to behave considerately whenever you are in these areas. | |||
Whanau Camps | |||
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Each Whanau will have a camp for Year 7 students. Some Year 10 students will attend as leaders. At these camps you will enjoy a variety of outdoor experiences. | |||
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Your Learning and Your Learning Advisor | ||
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At Mission Heights Junior College we want you to be very involved in your learning. You should understand your learning and set challenging goals for yourself if you want to succeed. All student have a Learning Advisor. Your Learning Advisors can support you if you have a question/concern about your learning and are available as a usual first port of call for your parents/caregivers if they have question or concern about your learning. Learning Advisor time occurs once a week and is scheduled during Friday’s DEEP session. Your Learning Advisor will also meet with you and your parents at your student led conference twice a year. Your Learning Advisor will support you gather evidence for your holistic report & to set learning goals. You will be able to monitor your progress on Mission Heights Online through your eReport. You can access your eReport and your e-asTTle/PAT results easily online. | ||