Kia ora koutou

By Mary Healey | Posted: Thursday May 7, 2020

Like me, I am sure many of you were waiting with interest for the announcements made by the Prime Minister today. It is reassuring to hear how well our country has done at minimising the impacts of COVID-19. Alert Levels 4 and 3 have not been easy and I thank you for your ongoing support for the work you are all doing.

The Prime Minister will announce on Monday 11th when the country will move to Level 2. Whenever that happens, it will not be before Monday, May 18 at the earliest for schools. That gives us plenty of time to be in touch with you about next steps and what changes will look like.

The good news is that when we are able to, we will be ready to welcome all students and staff back to our school site.

As we have done in Alert Level 3, you can be assured that in Alert Level 2 we will know who is at school, who our staff and students have been in close contact with and take appropriate measures to keep everyone safe.

This Pandemic has had, and will continue to have, far-reaching effects on all of us whether that is emotional, social, physical, financial, spiritual, health, academic, etc. It has brought sadness and disappointment to many in various ways.

I have had to make some decisions recently that will bring disappointment to many students particularly those in Year 8. For financial, health and management reasons, I have had to cancel:

Annual James Hargest sports exchange, and
Year 8 camps in November.
The Otago Polyfest has also been cancelled by organisers.

We will look to offer a different activity programme for Year 8 in term 4 once we know what the situation is later in the year.

We all need things to look forward to but as I’ve often said, it’s important that we live in the moment and not for the moment. Make the most of what each day has to offer and be grateful for the little things.