The current situation with Covid-19 has caused significant upheaval for people all over the world. This has impacted us in many ways, and one very noticeable impact has been families relocating or changing their circumstances in some way in response to various factors linked with the pandemic. Increased anxiety due to concerns about Covid, lack of family connectedness due to closed borders and a reluctance to travel, and changes in family circumstances are a few of the contributing factors to families needing to move.

Anecdotally we are aware of many changes happening for other businesses and schools, and Amesbury School is no different. We have had several staffing changes recently due to families moving to other areas in Aotearoa New Zealand, and at the end of term 1 we will have two more staffing changes.

- Cam Botha, who currently teaches in Koru Hub, will be moving north with her family to Tauranga. We will be very sad to see Cam and Ryan leave, along with their three children, Leah, Ethan and Jacob, who are all ākonga at Amesbury School.

- Esther Koh, who teaches in our Kōwhai group in Koru Hub, will be moving south with her family to Christchurch. Again, we will miss her and Lee, and their two boys John and Michael, who are also ākonga at Amesbury.

- We have very much enjoyed working with both of these fabulous teachers, and we wish them and their families all the very best with their exciting next steps.

We have employed two new members of staff to join us at the start of term 2 as Esther and Cam leave.

- Charlotte Smith will take over Cam’s whānau group in the main group of Koru Hub. Charlotte has been teaching for eleven years in two different primary schools in Wellington. She has a passion for sports and fitness, and creativity and the Arts. This term Cam will not be working on Fridays, and Charlotte will be the teacher in Koru Hub on Fridays, getting to know the hub, and the whānau group she will take over from Cam in term 2.

- Bronwyn Thurston will be joining us in term 2 as a full time release teacher in Koru Hub. Bronwyn completed the Masters of Teaching and Learning programme last year, and is very much looking forward to beginning her teaching journey with us. Prior to that, Bronwyn worked for a number of years in insurance as a claims assessor and case manager.

- Our current release teacher in Koru Hub, Hannah Sadler, will become the second teacher in Kōwhai group with Angela once Esther leaves. Hannah was with us last year as a student teacher on the Masters of Teaching and Learning programme, and she will be working in Kōwhai Hub on Thursdays when Angela is not working. Hannah will also be spending other time in Kōwhai getting to know the tamariki and routines well in preparation for term 2.

We understand that changes in staffing can be a little unsettling for tamariki. We are fortunate that we work in very collaborative teams where teachers take shared responsibility for ākonga, and established teachers can support new teachers and can also support tamariki during periods of change.  

We are living in uncertain times, and our collaborative environment and team approach will hopefully help us to adjust and adapt to the inevitable changes along the way.

Ngā mihi, 

the Amesbury team