Principal's Welcome 

4th September 2020 (Friday)

Tena koutou katoa

It was wonderful to have the students back again this week. Teaching is about personal contact and relationship building which is difficult to do through a video link. This week has been about returning to learning in a classroom setting.

Students and staff did struggle more with keeping motivated and enthused in the second lockdown. Despite the sense of deja vu, I must commend staff on their professionalism to develop resources and activities and maintain an online learning environment for our students. Thank you also to parents, caregivers and the students themselves for their efforts made during lockdown.

For the immediate future, the college has two priorities. The first is to ensure student safety and that their wellbeing is being looked after. Information has been provided to students about the Health and Safety requirements. Face coverings are optional for students, but I strongly recommend their use on school buses and where social distancing is difficult to maintain. If you have any concerns about the wellbeing of your child(ren) that you wish to share with the college, please do so.  The Guidance Counsellors or Deans would be suitable points of contact.

The second priority is to ensure that students are where they need to be with their learning. This is particularly the case with students taking NCEA. Considerations are being made within the school, by NZQA and with tertiary providers, to make sure that students can continue on their career and academic pathways. In the last two weeks, we have received information from the University of Auckland about changes easing entry requirements into 2021 courses. At the college we want to support students in their academic endeavours not hinder them.

Parent/student/teacher interviews for Year 11-13 students will be going ahead as scheduled on Tuesday 15 September. These will be conducted by Zoom and more information has been provided in this newsletter. We will continue to review other college events in light of the restrictions that have been imposed. The aim is to have them, if possible.

Thank you for the kind words I have received from members of the school community over my recent appointment as Principal. It was slightly anti-climatic that I was officially appointed and then within 24 hours the school was in lockdown with no students on site.  Seeing the students again this week has been great.

Look after yourselves. 

Ngā mihi nui,

Gordon Robertson
Principal

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