On Tuesday 28th November 2023, it was our pleasure to host formal dinner for the Waitakere Military Cadets for their end of year prize giving.

The menu:

• Main Grilled sirloin with garlic potato, horopito butter, beans and roasted tomato
• Dessert
• Key Lime Pie with blueberry coulis and fresh berries
• Dark Chocolate pudding with raspberry coulis and fresh berries

 Current year 12 and 11 students as well as past academy prefect John Tai Thul, were involved in preparation of the dinner. The formal dinner provided students with a realistic work environment and students excelled in expectations.

Acting Major Peter Walker, Unit Commander Waitakere Cadet Unit was very impressed with our students and was looking forward to coming back next year.

We had a great night on Wednesday, 25 October celebrating the wonderful success of our Academy students to a nearly full house of whanau, students and friends in the Bruce Ritchie Performing Arts Centre at Massey High School. All our students were awarded their course completion certificates for the year plus some individual course certificates from the motor industry trading organization, MITO, plus there were some excellent special prizes won by our top performers.

The night was hosted by our two gold badge prefects Jade Bench and Donte Laute-Skinner who both did a great job presenting these certificates and the prizes and a special mention to our two students who were running the sound desk, Marwan Osman and Karlin Yip.

Special thanks also to our sponsors for the night with our main sponsor, Western ITM of Swanson who supplied a tremendous selection of prizes for our construction students with the help of OX Tools and Milwaukee. Also sponsoring some of the hospitality prizes a special thanks to NZMA the chef school at 100 Symonds St, who trained our year 13 hospitality students this year in level 4 hospitality achievement standards. Many thanks also to all the hard work that our students put in during the year, and to the tutors at MHS, who always go the extra mile. A big thank you to Sarah Maxwell for creating all the certificates for the night and putting the power point together.

Congratulations to the winners of the special prizes, who are listed below.

Please enjoy the short video, which was made by our prefects, Jade and Donte and the photos of the evening (right)

On Monday the 30th of October 2023 the Westpac financial security team came to Massey High School to advise our students and staff on how to avoid financial scamming and other security tips. Also joining them on the day was our community police officer Brooke, and the financial security team from Westpac bank was represented by Emma and Eduardo. 

Our students heard about various fraudulent tricks that scammers use and what types of strategies the banks used to detect suspicious activity.

The students shared their experiences of scams such as the Nigerian Prince or diamond scan, various romance scams and online shopping scams amongst others. Also joining in were staff members who shared stories about how they had been caught buying things online that turned out to be false. The Westpac team were able to advise us all on how to be extra vigilant and not to become victims.

Students from the Carpentry, Building, Automotive and Hospitality academies were present and benefited from insights as to how to make us more secure online and features to look for to avoid future disappointments.

Many thanks to Westpac for providing this in-depth service and to Brooke our community police officer for coming along to give her time and experience to our students.

Now it is Spring the bees are in full swing collecting pollen and nectar from various flower sources around the local area. Bees have an approximate range of about 3 kilometers and can find their way back to their hives on a daily basis. They use various navigation techniques such as the angle of the sun, visual landmarks and are also able to communicate the direction of flower sources of nectar by using a waggle dance in the hive. This shows the direction that other bees should fly to find the flowers. Current sources of nectar and pollen are wattle and gorse plants in the local vicinity. Pollen is used in the hive as a food source for the bees but does not result in honey.  

Our hives are currently jam packed with newly hatched bees and Oliver, our beekeeper was here this week adding a new honey box onto the hives and placing new queen bees into the existing hives. Plus, he removed the other queen bees to try and prevent the bees swarming later in the season. The bees are very busy collecting nectar and storing it in the hives and it is the nectar which will eventually form the honey when it is harvested in early autumn. We are hoping for a much better summer this year as when it is raining and windy during the summertime the bees spend more time in the hives and therefore less time collecting nectar. Plus, while they are in the hives, they will be eating the nectar as it is their food supply, so less honey is the result. The forecast long range for the summer is good in terms of sunshine hours and therefore we are hoping for a bountiful harvest because of good weather.

On Thursday, 31 August and Friday, 1 September the Year 13 Tourism Academy students had the opportunity to take the Adventure Tourism unit with the International Travel College and AJ Hackett Bridge and Bungy Climb. 

The unit looks at Health & Safety within the Adventure Tourism Industry and students are assessed on their ability to give clear instructions of what equipment needs to be worn and why and how this equipment is correctly fitted. 

The students then have the opportunity to complete the Bridge Climb and Bungy Jump at the Auckland Harbour Bridge. 

All 14 students successfully completed the assessment gaining 3 Level 3 credits and all 14 students also completed the Bungy Jump. Congratulations to these students.

Pictured in the photos are our Head Boy Shane Leatupue and JP Panganiban.

The Waikato Culinary Fare took place on Thursday 29th and Friday 30th June 2023 at The Rotokauri Campus of Wintec in Hamilton.

The Waikato Culinary Fare has grown to become the largest regional competition of its type in New Zealand. This event allows our emerging hospitality stars to compete, gaining valuable skills and experience through participation.

It is also an opportunity for the hospitality industry to come together, celebrating the sector at the leading-edge training facility at the Rotokauri Campus.

Massey High School was once again very proud to be part of this event, which is a highlight of the year for our Hospitality Academy. Our team of twenty-one students and staff members had to meet at MHS at 5am on each day and travel down to the event.

The MHS Hospitality Team, did a fantastic job, gaining the best results we have ever had, with 9 Gold, 7 Silver and 1 Bronze medal awarded in the competition. This reflects the outstanding training our students are gaining and the quality of the learning our students get from our MHS tutors, and the work our students put in.

Many thanks to our staff, (Ms Hanson, Ms Mudaliar, Ms Palmer, Mr Wright and Mr Vaigalu), for all their hard work and support for this event. Plus, a huge well done to all our students who took part, we are very proud of you.

Click/Tap for Waikato Culinary Fare Results 2023.pdf

On Tuesday, the Year 13 Tourism Academy were at Auckland Zoo to present their sustainability projects to the Education Team and the International Travel College. These projects have been ongoing since mid-May and students work within our local community on projects focused on sustainability and the Tiaki promise.

These projects have ranged from a clean-up of the Huruhuru Stream, the creation of pet beds through upcycling tyres from the MHS Automotive Academy to undertaking various “drives” at school to help support local charity Give a Kid a Blanket.

The presentations document the evolution of the idea, how they have worked together, the results and how the impact will be carried on into the future.

The feedback was really positive, and our community continues to be enriched by their actions. Congratulations to all those involved and a huge thank you to Auckland Zoo for hosting us.

On Thursday the 15th of June the Hospitality Academy hosted the Henderson Rotary club, in the Level 1 Hospitality area. The dinner was the annual Rotary Dinner for the club and we at MHS were very proud that they selected us as their venue.

It was well attended with 35 guests enjoying a two-course dinner, while our students practiced their setting up of the dinner service, front of house skills and then cooking and presenting the meals. Our students performed with dexterity and agility under pressure and the careful watch of our tutors.

The guests were treated to house made bread and hummus followed by a main course of mustard crusted roasted sirloin and mushrooms. Arguably the highlight of the evening was the Raspberry mousse, which had an Italian meringue with a chocolate crumb and raspberry coulis. 

It was an awesome experience for the students who really enjoyed the live environment and the challenge of serving food in a timely manner. The students came from all our levels 1, 2 and 3 and we really thank them for their professional approach and commitment to the evening. It was also great training for those involved in the Waikato Culinary Fare, which takes place at the end of this term. Many thanks also to our tutors, Scott Wright, Nyla Hanson, Marshniel Mudaliar and Felicity Palmer for their excellent organization and input.

Great comments were received from the customers, and they have already forward booked for next year.

We are delighted to have our Level 3 Hospitality students start their tertiary component this term. The students will be going to NZMA Chef School on Symonds Street and learning chef skills at Level 4 NCEA in dessert making, complex pasta dishes and cocktail food. Meanwhile the honey from the bees has been harvested after quite a wet summer which affected honey production but still produced some lovely end product.

Our construction students are heavily engaged in our houses, and the builds are moving ahead at quite a speed,as can be seen from the photos. The Girls in Carpentry group, continues to expand and when the weather is fine, they are currently building fences and when too wet, upskilling their techniques in the workshops, making tool boxes.

We have also welcomed Paul Herdman from the OECD,to MHS. Paul was here to look at how we transition students into vocational education at our school. Paul was visiting exemplar schools in various different countries in order to bring back ideas as to how to enhance the process.

The Yr 13 Automotive students are continuing their tertiary experiences at Unitec and are also getting trained in maintenance solutions for various vehicles.

The Early Childhood Academy students, are continuing their work place experiences with local providers and have just completed their first certification.

There are a number of trip planned this term for the Tourism Plus Academy and we look forward to hearing about them later this term.

N Hackett

The bees have been busy over the summer and the bee population in our hives has increased dramatically up to approximately 70,000 bees per hive. During the summer months, bees are very active in making honey. The process begins with worker bees collecting nectar from flowers. The nectar is stored in a special stomach called the crop and is then brought back to the hive.

Once back at the hive, the worker bees pass the nectar to other worker bees, who add enzymes to the nectar to break down the sugars and transform it into honey. The bees then spread the honey out in the honeycomb cells, fanning it with their wings to remove excess moisture and make it thicker.

The bees continue this process throughout the summer, building up their honey stores for the winter months when food may be scarce. The amount of honey a hive can produce depends on many factors, including the number of bees in the hive, the availability of flowers, and the weather conditions.

Once the honey is ready, the bees cap the cells with wax to seal in the honey and preserve it for later use. 

Our beekeeper has this week harvested the honey from the hive, leaving enough for the bees to survive the winter. He was assisted by two our intrepid students, Diego Williams 12 KBH and Mikayla Rapana 12 MWI both from our Hospitality Academy who put on the bee suits so they could observe closely. As the beekeeper removes the honey it is important to wear the suits as the bees exit the hive and are very numerous. 

Other hospitality students watched from a greater distance, and we are all looking forward to tasting the honey in a couple of weeks. 

We are extremely proud to announce our two Gold Badge Academy Prefects for 2023.

They are Jade Bench from the Early Childhood Extension Academy and Donte Skinner Lauti from the Year 13 Building Academy. 

Both these students have displayed excellent leadership skills when they joined the academies at MHS and have continued with their commitment to hard work, excellence and helping others in 2023.

Congratulations to both and we look forward to hearing about their achievements this year and in the future.

Wednesday 8th March marked the first day for our GIC academy to get underway.

This academy is open to girls in Yr 11, 12 or 13, who are interested in developing their carpentry and building skills and will take place one day a week during term time. The students will gain mainly Level Two NCEA credits and will be doing construction every Wednesday. Students come out of your normal Wednesday classes for the whole day and are expected to catch up on the class work they miss. 

This week the girls started using hand tools and will soon develop their skills and put them to use to make benches and tables that will be sited around the school. Other skills they might learn are fence building, paving, landscaping etc.

They will also gain experience of working around and on our houses that are progressing at a fast rate, built by our full time Carpentry and Building students.

The GIC academy runs till Term Four and students from Term Two onwards will be expected to be in full MHS safety gear on Wednesdays. Some of the students were away this week at Polyfest and we look forward to seeing them next week. The academy is still open for other girls who wish to join. Further details can be obtained from Sarah in the Academy Offices at the building site or by email 

Girls in Yr 11, 12 or 13, who are interested in developing their carpentry and building skills are invited to join this one day a week course, which runs for the rest of the school year.

This course will be taken by Joanna Manuel who is one of our building tutors and will be every Wednesday. You gain NCEA credits, mainly level 2, and will be doing construction all day on Wednesdays. Students come out of your normal Wednesday classes for the whole day and they turn up to MHS in their safety uniform or they can change at school, ready for the normal start time of school. (You are expected to catch up on your class work you miss in other subjects).

If interested, please come to academy office and see Sarah for more details. Students who are already in the GIC Team 2023, please come along to Carpentry workshop deck near Automotive Garage at start of school day on Wednesday 8th March. You will either have your safety uniform or casual clothes to wear for a workshop for Term 1. In Term 2 you will be expected to be in the full safety uniform, which includes safety boots/shoes.  Note all footwear must be enclosed in Term One. No jandals, slides etc. If you have boots, please wear them.

If you want to hear more, see Mr Kanuta, Sarah, or Mr Hackett in the Academy Offices near the building site or email Sarah.

Starting Friday March 17th 

The Multi Skills academy is made up of mainly Level 2 standards and will operate, one day a week on Fridays during school term time.

This academy is available to Year 11, 12 and 13 students who wish to learn renovation skills at MHS. The students will have the opportunity to learn skills such as table and bench construction, paving, plan reading, painting, landscape skills etc. The students might gain a Site Safe Certificate, TBC. This Academy is over-laid on the school timetable, meaning the students come out of their normal classes on Fridays when the academy is on. The students are expected to catch up on the work they miss on the Fridays. All the standards covered in this course will contribute to the NCEA qualification at the given level, mainly level 2. The standards in the course are unit standards. This course can lead to the full time Carpentry at Level 2 in the following year, though this is not essential.

Students will arrive at MHS either in their safety uniform on Fridays or in Term 1, in appropriate casual clothing for a workshop. All footwear must be enclosed, no jandals, slides etc. In Term 2 students will be expected to have their complete safety uniform including safety boots.

All academy students will need to fill out an AWVA one page application form. See Sarah at the Academy Offices for a form or email Sarah Maxwell and a form will be emailed to you.

Building & Carpentry Academies.

Now that the term is halfway through the academies are roaring through their work and training. Two houses are being built by our Yr 12 and 13 construction students. The Yr 12 s are picking up the skills very quickly and are really enjoying the engaging work on site. The sites in the photos were bare ground at the start of February, created by the existing houses built in 2022 being taken off-site to their new sections in Gisborne, see photo. The framework is going up on one of the new houses and probably both next week, will have the framework done.

Early Childhood Academy.

Our students have visited their individual day care centres, and are gaining work experience plus they are researching their professional standards and requirements. The students are gaining confidence at their centres and enjoying the interactions with the youngest members of the community.

Automotive Academy.

Both year levels are zooming through their online course work from MITO, (Motor Industry Training Organisation), with some even having completed that work. Yr 13 students have also started going to Unitec one day a week, Tuesdays, to gain further experience of the trade at a tertiary level. That will continue till the end of June. On the practical front the students are looking at how to fit a back van door on to a van and also how to design and create a steering system for a cart, which is a converted rubbish bin, which we hope to fix an electric motor to.  

Tourism Plus Academy.

This academy has many trips planned as part of their course. They will be going to ITC, International Travel College in the city, to look at Customer Service and later Workplace Diversity. Other courses being planned for are Eco-Tourism, Adventure Tourism, Marketing & Communication and International Customer Service.

Hospitality Academy.

We have welcomed two new tutors to the team. Scott Wright and Felcicity Palmer. Both have extensive experience in the industry both running their cafes and as lecturers. The students are doing a wonderful job working in the school cafeteria and in Term 2 the Yr 13 students will be off to NZMA on Symonds Street, every Friday to gain experience in the tertiary sector.