I hope everyone had an enjoyable Queen’s Birthday weekend. It was great yesterday seeing our students getting behind mufti day and supporting Youthline, a fantastic organisation supporting youth mental health.

There are many issues today which challenge our young people around resilience, coping with distress and grief, feeling disconnected or alienated or generally not coping. Please remember that our three professionally qualified fulltime counsellors are here to support our students and have excellent referral networks in the health and social sector. They are also supported by a strong pastoral network of deans and ako teachers. If your child feels they cannot make the contact for support, parents are very welcome to do so.

Speaking of life challenges, we are seeing covid impacts in many directions. For Christchurch people the impacts of lockdowns and alert settings come on top of a decade of earthquake fall out. People naturally have elevated anxiety, frustration and levels of mental unwellness. We are still managing to hold the operation of the school together on site and appreciated your support around the two remote days. Please make sure you read the weekly newsletter and any direct emails to you from me. Through these two channels you are kept up to date with school operations and exactly what is happening. For anyone who is unsure, school is operating full time on site as normal with no rostering off or remote days – don’t let your daughter tell you otherwise!

You may have seen the release this week of the government school attendance strategy to lift school attendance. There has been a decline in every region, in every decile, in every school and in every year level. No school is immune. Our statistics are good but not excellent. School attendance is shown by research to be directly linked to learning and achievement. Please reach out if you are having any concerns about getting your child to school if we have not already reached out to you, which is more likely. The covid context has exacerbated student re-engagement in school for some – it takes a village to raise a child and we can support you. We want every student in every year level here every day unless sick.

Have an enjoyable weekend and let’s hope we continue to enjoy sunshine.

Ngā mihi