E ngā mana, e ngā reo.

E ngā waka o ngā hau e whā.

Tēnā Koutou.

We are now a week on from the events of last Friday and while the impact of these events on our school community have been significant, we have managed to maintain the routines of daily school life and our students have truly lived our school values of Aroha (Compassion), Whāi Whākaaro (Gratitude) and Kaha (Strength).

We started school on Monday with a full school assembly to acknowledge how well the students had responded on Friday, to reassure them and to offer support should they want it. Over the week our girls have brought flowers, made a paper chain of hope with messages of support, had bake sales, a coin trail, made hearts, created stars, and written in our condolence book which we will be passing onto the Muslim community at an appropriate time. Thursday, we had a record totalling mufti day with proceeds raised going to the Muslim community. Today (Friday) we had a number of students who wore head scarves to show support and we observed the national two minutes silence at 1.32pm.

On Monday I had the privilege of taking a group of our senior students, along with boys from Christchurch Boys High School, down to the Riccarton Road - Deans Avenue intersection. We placed flowers at the cordon and the boys did a Haka. We were then asked to go to Hagley College and perform for the families of the victims. The traffic was stopped, and we performed a Waiata and the boys their Haka. We were moved by the compassion and love from the victim’s families. It was a very emotional time and I was very proud our students. You may have seen this on Facebook

I would like to acknowledge the professionalism and care that the staff displayed during the prolonged lockdown on Friday afternoon. Thank you for the overwhelmingly positive comments you have sent in via social media and email. After a significant event like this, we want to review our processes. In the next few days we will be asking for your feedback and thoughts on how we managed Friday’s events.

I would like to once again say how impressed I was with your daughters and how proud I am of the way they have supported each other and wanted to show their support for the people most affected.

Nei te mihi o te ngakau

Nāku noa, nā

Peter Sawyer, Acting Principal