|
Marcellin College Newsletter 2026
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Marcellin College
Newsletter
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE
Building an Exam Culture: Optima Quaere
|
|
|
|
|
As we move through Term 3 and navigate the critical weeks ahead, our focus as a school community turns heavily toward academic excellence and building a strong, unapologetic exam culture.
|
While the flexibility of NCEA has historically offered students great choices in gathering credits throughout the year, an unintended consequence has developed over time.
|
|
Across many years, we have seen a trend of students simply choosing not to show up for end-of-year exams because they have already accumulated their basic required credits.
|
|
|
|
Exams have never been optional - yet too many students have treated them that way, achieving the bare minimum and stopping early. We need to dismantle this mindset.
|
With the educational reforms to NCEA placing a firm, renewed emphasis on external examinations as a primary method of national assessment, sitting exams is a non-negotiable expectation for every course at Marcellin College. Students must work right to the very end of the year.
|
Our NCEA students need to view external examinations as an invaluable opportunity to benchmark their abilities against students nationally. It is their chance to elevate their overall achievement - pushing past a basic "achieved" to earn Merit and Excellence endorsements that open doors for their futures.
|
Just enough is simply not good enough. Our school motto challenges us every day: Optima Quaere - Seek the Best.
|
While our practice exams do not take place until Term 4, building the stamina and discipline needed for them starts right now. From our junior school through to our seniors, we are instilling the daily habits of revision, time management, and deep preparation. Preparation eliminates panic, and showing up for the final challenge builds character and resilience.
|
We rely on the strong partnership between home and school to drive this cultural shift. You can support your child now by keeping an eye on their home study routines, encouraging daily review of classwork, and reinforcing the expectation that at Marcellin, we finish what we start.
|
When we hold our young people to high standards, explicitly teach them how to meet those standards, and walk alongside them with unwavering belief, they do not just meet our expectations - they exceed them.
|
-
|
Congratulations to Dr Ah Sam and the music students on a wonderful Music gala last night.
|
- Congratulations to Halo Roache, Year 12, for receiving the PACIFCA Inc Grant for 2026.
-
|
Good luck to our Jazz Band for KBB Music Festival next Wednesday 12th August at Holy Trinity Cathedral (St Mary’s) at 4pm.
|
Optima Quaere - Seek the Best
|
|
|
|
|
|
IMPORTANT DATES: Week 4 - Term 3
|
|
|
|
|
Monday 10 August - Sunday 16 August
- Haka Practice, Time: 8.45am,
- SUSO Music Band Competition, Time: 9.00am - 12.00pm
- Year 7&8 Netball (BYE)
- Navigators Mentoring (A7&8, A13), Time: 8.45am, Venue: Chapel
- Sound Training, Time: 08.30am Venue: Gym
- Diversity Day (10 students), Time: 9.00am - 2.30pm Venue: MIT Otara
- Blues Leadership (10 students), Time: 11.00am - 3.00pm Venue: Blues HQ, Epsom
- Senior Boys Basketball vs Pakuranga College, Time: 5.30pm, Venue: Glendowie College
- Navigators Mentoring (B7&8, B13), Time: 8.45am, Venue: Chapel
- Mass Rehearsal, Time: 9.00am - 3.15pm, Venue: Drama
- Catholic Caring Foundation Mass, Time: 11.00am, Venue: Christ the King Parish, Owairaka
- KBB Music Festival, Time: 12.30pm, Venue: Parnell
- Southside Debating, Time: 4.00pm Venue: De La Salle College, Mangere East
- Navigators Mentoring (P7&8, P13), Time: 8.45am, Venue: Chapel
- Sacramental Mass, Time: 11.30am-1.30pm, Venue: Gym
- Haka Competition, Time: 2.15pm-3.15pm, Venue: Gym
- Navigators Mentoring (M7&8, M13), Time: 8.45am, Venue: Chapel
- SUSO Music (Solo Instrumentalists), Time: 1.30pm
- Badminton Open Boys, Open Girls & Open Mixed Team, Time: 3.30pm, Venue: Auckland Bandminton Arena
- Newsletter Term 3, issue no. 4 emailed home.
- Word the Frontline (Semi Final), Time: 11am Venue: Aotea Square
- Netball: Junior Gold vs MAGS, Time: 9.50am, Venue: Court 5, St Johns
- Football: 1STXI vs St Peters College, Time: 10.00am Venue: Marcellin College
- Netball: Senior Gold vs Epsome Girls Grammar, Time: 12.35pm Venue: Court 6, St Johns
- Bollywood Dreams, Time: 1-2pm Venue: Drama Studio
|
|
|
|
|
Curriculum
|
|
|
Preparation For Upcoming External Assessments and Exams
This term, Year 10 students sit the digital corequisite assessments in Week Nine:
|
- Tuesday 15 September: literacy (reading) periods one, two, and three
- Wednesday 16 September: literacy (writing) periods one, two, and three
- Thursday 17 September: numeracy periods one, two, and three
There is a preparation day that will be held on Wednesday 9 September, where students will spend periods 1, 2, and 3 preparing for literacy and periods 4 and 5 preparing for numeracy.
|
All Year 11, 12, and 13 students will spend this term completing internal assessments and preparing for their practice exams in Term Four, Week One. This week, we reminded all senior students of our attendance expectations for both practice and NCEA external exams. We encourage every student to ‘seek the best’ by preparing thoroughly in the coming weeks. To support them, we will be sending a weekly study email tip every Monday through to the start of the NCEA exams.
|
|
Deputy Principal Curriculum
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pastoral Care
|
|
|
|
I am pleased to share the attendance results from our Term 2 Every Day Matters report. Thanks to the collective effort of our students, staff, and families, our regular attendance rate - students attending school over 90% of the time - has reached 74%. This represents a significant improvement compared to Term 2 in 2025 where we only had 47% of our students attending regularly. Furthermore, 97% of our students are arriving to school on time regularly. We want to extend our sincere gratitude to all parents and caregivers for supporting your children to establish positive daily habits and routines.
|
|
|
Consistent attendance remains a central focus for our school community this year. Regular participation in school is vital not only for academic progress and learning continuity, but also for building resilience, promoting student well-being, and fostering social connections with peers. As we move through the remainder of the year, we strongly encourage all families to maintain this momentum and ensure your child is at school every day. Every day in the classroom counts towards their long-term growth and success.
|
|
A closer examination of the Term 2 data reveals notable variations across our year groups. Our junior levels set a strong benchmark, led by Year 7 with the highest proportion of regular attenders at 83%. However, the data highlights a clear need for improvement among our senior students. Most concerningly, Year 11 recorded the highest rate of chronic absence across the school, with 10% of students attending less than 70% of the time. As senior qualifications and assessment demands increase, consistent attendance becomes critical. We ask parents of senior students, particularly those in Year 11, to work closely with us to ensure regular attendance so that every student can achieve their full academic potential.
|
|
|
|
Deputy Principal Pastoral
|
|
|
|
School Attendance Dues - Financial Assistance
|
|
|
Financial assistance is available to assist families who may need financial support with the payment of Attendance Dues for preference students attending both primary and secondary Catholic schools in Auckland Diocese.
|
Families facing financial difficulties can contact their school office, their Parish Priest, or Auckland Common Fund Ltd at the Catholic Diocese of Auckland on 09-360-3040 for further information.
|
Application forms for this assistance are available from school and parish offices, or can be downloaded from the Catholic Diocese of Auckland Website:
|
|
|
|
|
School Policies & Procedures
|
|
|
|
|
Our school works with SchoolDocs to provide a website for maintaining, updating, and reviewing our school policies. Different policies are under review each term and our school community can submit feedback. Follow the instructions below to contribute to the review.
|
- Go to the SchoolDocs site for our school by clicking on this link: https://marcellin.schooldocs.co.nz/1893.htm
- This will take you to Current review and review instructions.
- Enter the username (marcellin) and password (seekthebest).
- The policies listed here are the key policies under review this term. Click on the policy you want to review.
- Click the “Start your review” button at the top right-hand corner of the page.
- Follow the prompts to submit your review.
Note that you can review any policy that has a “Start your review” button, not just the key policies listed in Current review and review instructions. There will be other related policies in that section of the site open for review.
|
|
If you don't have internet access, school office staff can provide you with printed copies of the policy and a review form.
|
|
Optima Quaere - Seek the Best
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
