Edie Fagden, Year 12
Our WISE of the Week recipient for this week, awarded by the Physical Education, Health and Outdoor Education faculty is Edie Fadgen.

Edie continuously demonstrates our core values through her stellar, positive attitude towards learning and her steadfast, consistent effort across all her work. As a natural leader among her peers, she inspires those around her by setting a fantastic example and always striving to produce her absolute best. Thank you for making such a positive impact on our school culture, Edie, keep up the brilliant work!

 

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The past few weeks have been filled with remarkable enthusiasm, achievement, and vibrant school spirit across Waiheke High School. I am thrilled to be able to celebrate the outstanding efforts of so many students in this week’s newsletter. Alongside the general dedication that we regularly see from our students, themes of performance, perseverance and pride are common throughout the major highlights listed below:

Mathex – A group of keen junior teams represented us at the Auckland Mathex competition. This was followed by our school house Mathex competition where our top mathematicians earned points toward our house competition.

Year 9 camp – Another unforgettable time at camp on Motutapu, facing new challenges, strengthening friendships, and exemplifying whanaungatanga in every activity.

Junk to Funk – The annual Junk to Funk wearable art showcase highlighted imagination and ingenuity, as students turned everyday recycled items into artistic creations.

Wheeler’s Luck – Our talented drama students performed two stellar productions of Wheeler’s Luck. Their energy and presence drew the audience in with raucous laughter throughout.

RSA Music Performance – Our gifted musicians delivered assessed performances at the RSA, bringing their best efforts and entertainment to our wider community.

UNISS Netball – Our senior netball girls represented our school at their winter tournament this week. Though a young team, they secured many wins showing grit, teamwork, and positive sporting attitude throughout.

It’s incredible to see the variety of outstanding commitment and excellent performance on display here – all set against the backdrop of Term 3 which is genuinely our heaviest academic term. We’ve also seen the end of our winter sports seasons with strong performances being put in across the board – well done to all students who were dedicated to extra-curricular activities throughout the past couple of terms. Things aren’t slowing down just yet with some major events happening in the next couple of weeks too:

AIMS Games: Our dedicated athletes are preparing to represent us at the AIMS Games. We wish our competitors all the best as they showcase their skills and compete alongside New Zealand’s best.

Kotahi Aroha: We are eagerly anticipating the inspiring Kotahi Aroha kapa haka showcase, celebrating rich cultural traditions through passionate performances next Sunday at Te Huruhi School.

Senior Exams: For our senior students, upcoming examinations mark a critical period of study and reflection. We encourage all seniors to stay focused, trust their preparation, and put forth their absolute best effort.

CAAs: Our second round of common assessment activities takes place in Week 9 giving our students their final opportunity of 2026 to secure their literacy and numeracy requirements for NCEA.

It goes without saying that we will have a busy run into the end of the term and I want to offer a huge congratulations to everyone who has been putting in their best effort over the recent weeks. Equally, I want to wish good luck and encouragement for those who are about to perform over the next couple of weeks. A special mention also goes out to all of the staff and whānau who are supporting these efforts both at home and away. Our students continue to rise to the occasion, and this couldn’t happen without the dedicated team that are working behind the scenes to develop them and give them the confidence to deliver their best.

Ngā mihi mahana,

Cameron Flude

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I am delighted to begin this pānui by celebrating the incredible progress we are making together at Waiheke High School. Our recent data reveals that our collective efforts to prioritize learning and excellence are yielding real results for our students. Most notably, during term 2 we have seen a significant 9% jump in regular attendance (90%+) compared to term 2 last year – consolidating the major improvements across term 1. We are also seeing a much higher rate of Merit and Excellence grades in NCEA, which we directly associate with this improvement in attendance along with strong messaging from staff around their high expectations for our very capable students. These positive gains are evidence that our school is moving in the right direction and that we are achieving our vision of being the best we can be for our community.

To sustain this momentum and ensure every student continues to thrive, we need your ongoing help and support. While we celebrate these successes, we must also acknowledge that the landscape of education funding in New Zealand currently faces significant systemic shortfalls as I’ve touched on in some recent newsletters. Our core purpose remains a commitment to outstanding learning and the belief that every student has the potential for individual excellence, yet the cost of providing this high-quality, holistic education continues to rise beyond the increases provided in recent government budgets. We have been careful to reduce expenditure while protecting vital resources like teacher aides, but further support is essential to maintain and build upon the gains that we have made over the past few years.

In order to maintain the high standards we hold for our students and ensure our teaching staff have the resources they need to help every learner excel, the Board of Trustees has conducted a thorough review of our school donation, which currently sits at $175 per student or $250 per family.

This school donation has remained unchanged for a decade and its purchasing power has been eroded by significant inflation. To address this and align our school with comparable secondary schools across Auckland, the Board approved an adjustment to our donation rates starting in 2027.

We do not make this decision lightly – we do so to protect the learning journey of our children and ensure they are not bearing the brunt of the current economic climate. To provide context, our current research into the annual donations requested by our closest neighbouring Auckland public secondary schools produced an average donation request of over $500 per student for the year and in some cases the request was over $1000. However, we acknowledge that this comes at a time when many families are feeling a fiscal pinch. As a result, we are increasing the requested donation for the 2027 academic year to $300 for a single student and $400 for a family.

These contributions remain voluntary, yet they are vital. Where subject fees are directly related to consumables for a given subject, the school donation provides discretionary funding for generic classroom resources, technology upgrades, and co-curricular opportunities that allow our students to live out our Waiheke WISE values—Whanaungatanga, Independence, School Culture, and Excellence. This investment ensures we can continue to provide the learning environments and wider school initiatives that are helping us to raise the standard of education on Waiheke.

For whānau and community members who are in a position to provide additional support beyond these rates, I am pleased to update that the Waiheke High School Foundation, first announced at our 40th anniversary celebrations, is currently in its final stages of establishment. This foundation will serve as a long-term vehicle for community-led investment into the future of our kura. We will share more details on how you can contribute to the Foundation in the coming months.

Thank you for your ongoing partnership and for the support you show our staff and students. By working together, we ensure that every student at Waiheke High School can embody our school whakataukī in pursuit of their farthest horizon.

Ngā mihi mahana,

Cameron Flude

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It is easy to focus on the large, flashier projects that often dominate school wish lists, but true success in education is built on the foundations we don’t always notice. Over the term break, we reached several milestones in our ongoing infrastructure upgrades – projects that might not be glamorous, but are vital for creating the comfortable, safe, and effective learning environment our students deserve.

A decade ago, when the Ministry redirected us away from the prospect of a completely new school, we were faced with a daunting goal: we needed to turn our aging facilities into high-performing buildings on a shoestring budget. This has been a steady process, often punctuated by ‘function over form’ solutions, but I am proud of our recent progress and incredibly excited about the further upgrades in the pipeline.

Perhaps the most rewarding aspect of one of the recent upgrades is that it has been a direct result of student voice. Since my first term here, students have consistently raised the issue of comfort in our A-Block classrooms – especially during the hot summer months.

 

I am pleased to report that we have completed the installation of new heating and cooling systems across all nine classrooms in our main A-Block. These promise to be a total game-changer for focus and engagement, and initial feedback shows that even the heating is a major upgrade from our old gas boiler.

Coupled with our existing solar units, these heat pumps provide a cleaner, more efficient climate control system than we have ever had. This is a fantastic example of a successful outcome built by prioritising student feedback in our strategic planning.

Progress is also moving steadily in our older buildings. We are currently midway through our phased replacement of the windows and joinery in B-Block. By moving from the original drafty wooden frames and thin glass to modern, high-performance glazing and joinery, we are creating the comfortable, consistent climate that these classrooms have lacked for years. Alongside this, we have completed the internal access renovations connecting our Art and Technology classrooms. It is exciting to see the vision for our Creative Industries hub beginning to take shape with colour, texture and design elements stitching together the different areas of the block. While there is still work to be done, the improved flow between these spaces allows for a much more integrated and collaborative approach to learning.

While it would be ideal to have the resources to keep everything perfect all at once, there is great satisfaction in looking back at these tangible improvements. Looking forward, our main focus points on the horizon for the next 12 months include:

• Continuing the replacement of the remaining windows and joinery in B-block.
• Replacing the aging extraction unit in our technology block. This is a critical prerequisite for our next exciting addition: a new laser cutter to supplement our existing workshop.
• The replacement of the aging A-Block deck.

In 2026, we commissioned a property masterplan detailing the development of our outdoor spaces for the next two decades. Our first step in enacting these developments is to address student seating and shade.

 

In keeping with our commitment to student-led decision-making, I am working closely with our Student Board Representative, Isaac Thorpe, who is coordinating the canvassing of student opinions on how to best approach this. Isaac has already done an outstanding job capturing student feedback on key issues, ensuring our next steps reflect the style and utility that matter most to our learners.

While the dream of a new school feels like a long time ago now, the reality of a fully revitalized campus feels closer with each step. Every new window and every new heat pump brings us closer to providing the best learning environment for our students.

Ngā mihi mahana,

Cameron Flude

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