He mihi aroha ki a koutou, ngā whānau katoa.
Firstly a big thank you for all the support you are giving your children at this time. It can be a delicate balance between keeping them on track and allowing them space to drive their own learning. All staff continue to remain active in supporting our learners wherever possible and please make sure you contact us if you have any concerns. Key staff contacts are available here.
Senior Assessment Week
As part of our calendar review due to Lockdown, we have rescheduled our school-based examinations for week 10. This is in line with the delay of the NZQA examinations at the end of the year. If we continue to remain in Alert Level 3 we will keep reviewing key dates. Our Performing Arts Awards have been rescheduled for Monday 1 November.
Students at Work
We have been made aware of a number of students who are being called into work during school hours. While we understand that each individual case is unique, we support the Ministry of Education’s directive that students are to only work outside of normal school hours.
Support for Families
Alert Level 3 and 4 restrictions can put a lot of pressure on families. We have included some information below in this newsletter that direct families to support if needed.
NCEA Changes
The Ministry recently announced further changes to NCEA should students remain in distance learning for an extended period. The changes will only apply to students who are distance learning for 20 school days or more. That would mean that we would need to remain in Alert Level 3 until 14 September. It is important that students continue to work toward the original NCEA targets and plan to return to school sooner than the 14th. More information can be found here.
Preparing for Alert Level 2
Should we move to Alert Level 2 in the next week or two school will open with precautions. Like we experienced last year, students may notice some changes such as altered room layouts to support social distancing and a renewed focus on hygiene and sanitising.
We would also like to encourage students to bring their own devices to school to reduce sharing between students and to pack their own lunch to avoid congestion at the school canteen. Some sport may continue with restrictions and each school / community event will be reviewed to align with the maximum number of restrictions.
Noho ora mai,
Alastair Sinton
Principal
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