24 November 2025

With only three weeks left of the year and our senior students finishing their NCEA Exams, our junior students (Years 9 and 10) are the only year levels in the school. We are emphasizing the importance of them finishing the year strong – making sure the basics of attendance, uniform, punctuality, and preparedness are being reinforced – as is the Government initiated ‘phones away for the day’ policy. A reminder for all as well that attendance is not just being at school but also being in class at the correct times. Having said that, we did commend both year levels on their conduct in the junior exams as, overall, their behaviour during exams was outstanding. We are looking forward to this continuing through the next couple of weeks and into Junior Activity Week.

Tomorrow evening, we farewell Chris Farrington as his 43 years of service to the school and our community draws to a close. Chris has influenced countless young people in his time here both in the classroom (science and biology), and as a long-serving Dean (indeed some current students are the grandchildren of his former students). We are looking forward to reconnecting with past staff of the school as we come together to acknowledge his time at Massey.

Looking ahead to 2026

We will be communicating some changes to our tutor time structure (Hui Arotahi) and school day over the coming weeks. Our timetable changes slightly to accommodate new academic mentoring slots each week – for our senior students, this new slot means that two teachers will be with a class for academic mentoring conversations. For our juniors, there are changes to the current Year 9 programme which will see it run more frequently. There will also be a new Year 10 programme introduced as well – all designed to better prepare our junior students for the rigours of senior school. The end of our school day will revert to 3.10pm each day, there will also be a slightly later start to each school day for students.

Conversations continue with the Ministry regarding the new classrooms which Massey secured – 8 new rooms will either be transported in or be built on-site (depending on the final site within the school) during 2026. We are expecting significant work to take place during the summer break on a number of rooms which involves some internal refurbishment, replacement of roofing, and exterior painting.

Dates to Remember:

WEEK 9

• 5 December - Year 10 Prizegiving, starting at 1.30pm.

WEEK 10

• 8-10 December - Junior Activity Week
• 10 December - Year 10 Last Day
• 11 December - Year 9 Prizegiving, 9am.  Final Day.