Today’s communication is short and sweet as it is a very busy last day after a tumultuous term with another lockdown and the sad loss of our colleague Pauline Grogan-Henderson.

The campus is both busy and quiet with juniors bubbling away on different projects and classes and seniors sitting school practice examinations in the gymnasium. The senior students have been fantastic, following instructions, staying the course and putting a lot of effort into preparation so that they can perform as well as possible when the NZQA examinations arrive.

We are still living in a context of uncertainty around alert levels and Term 4 arrangements and will need to make changes and decisions as information arrives. We are thinking of our Auckland colleagues and school students who are in their fifth lockdown and have endured seven weeks to date of the current one. It is hard to imagine what it must be like for year 12 and 13 students in particular who have high stakes qualifications to sit and have almost spent all of Term 3 at home online with no certainty yet about return to school life. We are indeed fortunate that ours was short and we have been able to return to much of school life.

Of course a number of things are different and are likely to be different next term. I will communicate by email with year 13 parents and students regarding the Leavers’ dinner on 22 October after the Prime Minister’s announcement on Monday 04 October regarding alert levels. A definite decision will be made around cancellation late Monday. To be fair the indications are that it is unlikely to go ahead. We have received further guidelines from the Ministry of Education yesterday around the application of mass gathering rules which tightens the ability to gather students in audiences or larger groups. This will all inform how we manage our Term 4 events, in particular prizegivings if restrictions are still in place.

Meanwhile the sun is shining, students are heading off on holiday, the blossom trees and daffodils are out in Christchurch, and the ducklings are waddling around our steps. There is a lot about life that is lovely!

Ngā mihi