De La Salle College Newsletter “A Catholic School for Boys in the Lasallian Tradition”

associate principal

Mr Dermot English

Manila Trip

A year ago we chose a group of 17 boys, nearly all from this year’s Year 12, to go to the Philippines for a 15-day service and culture trip. By the time you read this we will be there, as we leave Thursday 26 September. The boys will be doing at least seven performances of dance and singing during the trip, as well having interactions with a wide group of students, families, parishes and one very large prison. There were four previous Manila trips pre-covid, but this is the first for 5 years.

Why Manila? The city itself, (15 million people) has five DLS high schools, ranging from 2000-5000 students, as well as four DLS universities ranging from 10,000 to 20,000 students, so it is a very strong network. We stay with Lasalle communities, and also take part in their outreach- for example in Tondo, a squatters’ settlement of 650,000 people and Bilibid, a prison with 27,000 prisoners.

We will be posting on Instagram throughout the trip, and the boys will report back when they get home about what they have learned. I can tell you now that the main things they learn are how lucky they are to be living in South Auckland, and how close they are to their own culture compared to most people. They also start to realise, on a world stage, how awesome they are.

The group is myself and my wife, Ms Judd- Year 12 Dean, Niko Lomano- Campus Minister, Old Boy Fibber Wulf and 17 students: Troy Sanday, John-Paul Schmidt, Tony Ulberg, John Faafili, Isaac Ete Ahken, Elijah Tia, Roldan Mark, Thurston Ngametua, Lesuni Lokotui, Soane Lokotui, Simote Lokotui, Elijah Hunt, Maulalo Akila, Bruno Ta’ale, Fred Sola, Kerie Aumua and Inglis Tavu’i-Lemalie

Please pray for the safety and success of the trip. Fa’afetai tele lava.

curriculum

Deputy Principal Curriculum- Mr Phil Doyle

Reporting to Students and Parents

Reports have been sent home and emailed to parents for Year 11 – 13 students. Reports will comment on progress in Preliminary Examinations and final internal assessment.

NCEA Level 1

As of 19 September, the average number of credits per student is 54 towards the target of 60 credits. Fifteen students have already achieved NCEA Level 1. Twenty-three students have already achieved enough Merit and Excellence credits for endorsement. This is great progress. However, there have been changes to NCEA Level 1.

In 2024, NCEA Levels 1, 2 and 3 each became 60-credit qualifications, and the new NCEA Level 1 achievement standards were fully implemented. The literacy, and numeracy co-requisite, which sits outside of the new NCEA qualification, also became mandatory

This has meant some changes for students and families as they navigate the end of the year.

Literacy and Numeracy

Learners will only be awarded an NCEA qualification once they have met the 20-credit co-requisite. However, learners need to complete the co-requisite once only.

During the transition period (2024-2027), credits from the approved list of literacy and numeracy-rich standards can be used to meet the NCEA co-requisite as well. For example, NCEA Level 1 History 1.2 AS92025 credits can fulfil the literacy requirements, and NCEA Level 1 Geography 1.2 AS91933 credits can contribute to the numeracy component. If these credits for NCEA Level 1 History and Geography have been used for the co-requisite, they will not count towards the 60 course credits needed for NCEA Level 1. However, we expect schools to offer a broad range of courses, ensuring students can still achieve 60 or more course credits to complete Level 1. There is no time limit on achieving the NCEA Co-requisite. Learners have until their final year in secondary school to achieve the co-requisite.

External Assessment

All subjects now offer opportunities to complete Externally Assessed standards – mainly exams. This is business as usual for say Geography, Visual Art, Maths and Science. However, this is something new for Health, Religious Studies, and PE. The biggest change here is that students will not receive their results for External Assessment to late January 2025. They will be able to login in to NZQA and see their results. This includes results for the Literacy and Numeracy CAA tests that were completed in September.

All of this means that our Year 11 students need to carefully monitor their progress towards 60 credits. Thankfully, their Homeroom teachers are well prepared to help students understand what is needed.

Year 12 NCEA Level 2

Fifty-six students have already achieved NCEA Level 2 Certificate. A further 35 students are only one standard away from achieving NCEA L2. Eighteen students have already achieved enough Merit and Excellence credits for an endorsement. There are an additional group of over 50 students who could potentially achieve an endorsement. Keep up the great work. Students have been reminded that scholarship and University enrolments for 2026, especially for restricted courses that require a Grade Point Average [GPA] in excess of 220 from Year 12. This means that students must keep working this year to ensure that they achieve 80+ Level 2 credits and achieve them at the highest level possible.

Year 13 NCEA Level 3

For students in their last year we have thirty-five students have already achieved NCEA Level 3. Not long to go now gentlemen.

BYOD

We have come to the end of a busy term, especially for our Year 10 and Senior students. One of the things that have been most noticeable has been the lack of uptake of BYOD and availability of Laptops for Digital Assessment for our Year 10 students. As you know De La Salle College is a BYOD school. A laptop is the preferred device in our school. Increasingly, students are unable to access the learning without access to a laptop and more importantly are unable to complete their assessment against NCEA Level 1, 2 and 3. Our uptake at Year7, year 8, Year 9 and Year 11 is very high. At other levels we have some work to do.

In 2018 the Ministry of Education commissioned a report into BYOD use in schools. The IDC Education Study: Digital Education in Schools stated that the top benefits and challenges were;

Top 3 BYOD Impacts and Benefits

1. Self-directed learning is enhanced with deeper and personalised learning
2. Faster content updates and accessibility for students and faster assessment of learning success
3. Collaboration and interaction in addition to the classroom

Top 3 BYOD Challenges

1. Widening equity gap and affordability. De La Salle College is committed to supporting students and families who need help getting a laptop for their son. We continue to provide loan laptops as well as finding ways to support families to purchase. We
2. Management laptops and users. Sadly, this is an issue for De La Salle too. Students damage school laptops making it unsustainable for the college to provide laptops. We believe students will take better care of their devices.
3. Safety of laptops and users. De La Salle believes strongly that access to a laptop is an important part of modern learning. However, we also expect students to spend quality time off a device, writing, talking and solving problems.

Historically, De La Salle has provided devices for students. However, this negates some of the benefits of digital technology use in schools by not reducing digital inequity for those unable to afford technology and relying on school provided devices. It also reduces the learning environment to the classroom. It does not allow students to learn and collaborate outside of the classroom. With a shift towards education beyond just the traditional classroom environment, the inability to take a device outside of this environment will also provide a barrier to work seamlessly on research and assignments at home at the students’ own pace. The IDC Report also reported that it is not just children who benefit from school devices in homes - adults can also use the devices as an opportunity for continued learning and qualifications as they learn alongside their children.

We urge all families to start planning now for 2025. All students require access to a reliable laptop.

Academic Year 7/8

Assistant Principal- Mr Herbert Tanuvasa

Term 3 has reached its conclusion and what a full-on term it has been! It would not be an exaggeration to say students and teachers alike are looking forward to a well-deserved break. I for one can say I am feeling exhausted writing this as we reach the Term 3 finish line. A lot of hard work over ten weeks with the tanks running on empty.

Speaking of tanks running on empty, it was amazing to see the commitment of our young men participating in the Spartan Challenge! This was officially the wettest Spartan Challenge to date and our young men had to dig deep to get through the various obstacles. Getting to the end took a lot of courage.

Another type of courage on display was from the 8 young men representing their classes in our speech competition. To stand up in front of 200 peers and state personal beliefs can only be applauded.

Next term we have a lot of exciting activities lined up (outside of our already exciting curriculum) but for now I want to encourage everyone to take a well deserved break these holidays with rest and recreation.

“Farewell to Joachim Iakopo, 2024 Speech final winner. We wish him and his family all the best with their move.”

In Christ

gateway & careers

It has been a very busy couple of weeks with the careers department. Many of the students have been working on scholarships and hard work seems to be paying off for the students. There have been a number of year 11, 12 and 13 students who have done submissions.

We recently had a presentation from Sally Lavea from ADRA who sponsored 24 students for their driver’s license. The careers department put on a morning tea for the SDA as well for the students, and the students were interviewed as well as Ms Nayagar being interviewed. The 24 students were successful in either their learners or restricted licences.

We had a number of students who were successful with gaining scholarships with St Vincent De Paul Trust. Eight students were interviewed who put their names forward and the students were successful.

The Trades programme finishes on 24th of September and we are waiting on the results for the students who completed the programme. Hopefully all have passed their assessments. It has been a good year but transport to Mt Wellington has always been a problem.

The Gateway programme has been full on and we have just completed assessments for year 12 Countdown, Mangere East, year 12 Warehouse Manukau, year 13 Warehouse Manukau, year 13 Part time Employment and Woolworths Mt Wellington, and year 11 McDonalds, and year 13 Airport. We are still waiting on the results for these assessments. Gateway has been going very well this year and we are on target for assisting 110 students in to work experience or part time work.

Term 4 promises to be equally as busy before the students go for exams, and we wish them all the best.