Katrina Munro, 1st May 2020. Today will be remembered for the day Carisbrook school launched its new website and newsletter format.

                           “Seek Excellence Together”

                 “Whāia te iti kahuraki ka mahi tahi tātou”

2020 was declared the year of positivity and we started strong. So many new faces committed to making our school a place to be proud of. Then on the 23rd March the announcement came, we were moving into Covid-19 Alert Level 4. Two days to set up, plan and implement Distance Learning.

Distance Learning was new to so many. No only did our students have to come to terms with it so did many of our teachers, support staff as well as the Management Team and the B.O.T. Education as we knew it has been changed forever.

Covid-19 has been a world wide pandemic and so many tragic stories. It has changed our world forever.

However amidst all this, there are exciting things happening across our school with everyone busy learning.

• Our students have engaged in 'zoom' meetings as a class, worked online, watched the Education channels on T.V. and learnt so many tools and skills to work Distantly.
  
• The Teachers have had numerous workshops to support online teaching. They have had to set up learning platforms and make contact with students and whanau in new and innovative ways.
  
• The Support Staff have had numerous 'zoom' Professional Learning workshops and took on students to support from a distance.
• The B.O.T. has held budget, finance, property, human resources and full BOT meetings via zoom.
• Lauren is our Lead Teacher of Distance Learning. It is wonderful having someone of her skill set and her passion for sharing and supporting others.

Meanwhile we:

• had whanau bubbles and got to spend time together.
•  meet our neighbours and had fun sessions together.
  
• were glad no alarms went off accidentally at school disturbing our neighbours. So were they!
  
• got to explore our neighbourhood, local walks, tracks and local attractions.
• got to look out for the teddy bears in the windows.
• reached milestones or maybe had a birthday.
• entered competitions such as, "Living in a bubble" Congratulations Laura Scott for taking the picture below of Josh, which made the cut and featured in the ODT.

On Wednesday 29th April schools could open for those students whose caregivers were essential workers: We held a Staff only day the Tuesday before. The Staff made up hard learning packs and these as well as 66 school chromebooks were hand delivered to our students. We know many are still waiting for the Ministry devices.

We set up two bubbles. Each bubble has four Teachers who work two shifts. No sharing and keeping 1 metre distance inside and 2 metres outside is the new norm. Thanks to one kind lady who donated a ball for each student.

Mr Madill came up with a novel way to keep track of his students from afar as they keep their physical distance.

As they say, "Every cloud has a silver lining" and our Carisbrook family can be proud of how positive we all are.

              "He waka eke noa." We are all in this together

Katrina Munro

Acting Principal