• To create more time for Religious Education, senior Health and careers guidance. 
• To create more time for Year 9 Languages in order to be more consistent with other schools and to better support learning a language effectively. 
• To create a space for Scholarship tutorials in the timetable. 
• To create a future-proofed, flexible timetable that would allow us to explore project-based learning opportunities in the junior school. 
• To create a timetable with consistent times. 
• To create a timetable with longer lunchtimes in order to support student and staff wellbeing.

The 2019 timetable addresses all of the aims above. In addition, there have been some other positive outcomes including there being far fewer subject selection clashes than ever before. 

Key things you need to know for 2019:

• School will start at 8.30am rather than 8.25am. This will ensure that all students, including those arriving on late buses, can be in class on time to maximise their learning. 
• All periods will be 55 minutes in length, rather than a mixture of lengths which can be confusing.
• We will still be working on a 6-day rotating timetable; this gives us extra flexibility.
• Lunchtimes will now be 50 minutes instead of 45 minutes.
• School will still finish at 3.20pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. It will finish at 2.25pm, rather than 2.30pm, on Wednesdays to enable staff to participate in professional learning.
• Daily form time (10 minutes) will shift from the afternoon to right before morning tea, and extended form time will occur once a week to ensure that students are getting the pastoral support that they need

Pastoral care for our students:

In our rapidly changing world, our findings from a recent student wellbeing survey highlighted significant increases in student anxiety and stress levels, which were compounded by too much homework and far too many assessments. This has also been supported by an increase in the number of parents who have expressed concerns about their daughters’ workloads and by increased numbers of students accessing our school counselling services.

We, therefore, reviewed the number of assessments that we currently offer and found that students are being significantly overassessed, which is not conducive to leading a balanced and healthy lifestyle. For example, to gain NCEA Level 1, a student needs 80 credits at Level 1 or higher, including 10 numeracy and literacy credits. Some of our Year 11 students have been assessed against between 120-128 credits, including some at Level 2 NCEA in their Year 11 year. To achieve NCEA Level 2, a student needs a total of 80 credits, at least 60 of which must be from Level 2 or above (20 credits can be from another level, e.g. Level 1 carried over from the previous year). They must also meet specific literacy and numeracy requirements. Some of our Year 12 students are entered into over 100 credits at NCEA Level 2 (when they need 60). This same pattern can be seen with Year 13 students as well.

With this information, the staff have been discussing ways of dealing with the issues raised, including the possibility of reducing the number of assessments/credits that are offered. Programmes are currently being reviewed to ensure that students’ learning needs are still being met, including for those senior students who are entering into competitive fields of study such as medicine, whilst still making sure that we are supporting the holistic wellbeing of all students.

If you have any questions about the new timetable or about the 2019 programmes of learning, please contact Julie Netzler, Deputy Principal - Leader of Learning, via email in the first instance: jnetzler@wdsg.school.nz

2019 Timetable Structure/Weekly Schedule:

Times	Monday (1)	Tuesday (2)	Wednesday (3)	Thursday (4)	Friday (5)	Monday (6)
8.30	Period 1	Period 1	Period 1	Period 1	Period 1	Period 1
9.25	Period 2	Period 2	Period 2	Period 2	Period 2	Period 2
10.20	Form Time	Form Time	Form Time	Form Time	Form Time	Form Time
10.30	Interval	Interval	Interval	Interval	Interval	Interval
10.50	Period 3	Period 3	Period 3	Period 3	Period 3	Period 3
11.45	Period 4	Period 4	Period 4	Period 4	Period 4	Period 4
12.40	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch
1.30	Roll Marking (1.30pm - 1.40pm)	Period 5	Period 5	Period 5	Extended Form Time (1.30-1.55)	Roll Marking (1.30pm - 1.40pm)
	Special C/Chapel				Assembly	Special C/Chapel
2.25	Period 6	Period 6	Early Finish	Period 6	Period 6	Period 6
3.20	Finish