Kia ora parents, caregivers and whānau

We are getting close to the end of the school year, and what a year it has been. COVID-19 has put a lot of pressure on our community, but together, we have risen to the challenge.

I want to thank all parents once more, for all you have done to keep yourselves, your whānau and our community as safe as possible. Through reinforcing good hand hygiene, cough and sneeze etiquette, staying away and seeking medical advice if sick, we have kept operating safely, and our students have, importantly, continued to learn.

I also extend a specific thank you to all those in our community who have worked in health services and on the frontline to support New Zealand’s defence against COVID-19. They and their families and whānau have sacrificed so much to contribute to our own safety and to support the return home for more than 70,000 New Zealanders.

You may not be aware of the extent of the work our frontline community do to keep us all safe including regularly being tested, constantly monitoring for symptoms, keeping a close track of their movements, maintaining physical distancing and holding off hugging loved ones when they get home until they have had a shower and changed clothes.

COVID-19 remains a tricky virus and on the very rare occasion a frontline worker has become infected, the system has kicked into place. Through this vigilance and the health system response, we get to enjoy the relative freedom of Alert Level 1.

I also thank our staff who rose to the challenge of online learning with minimal notice and have managed the subsequent pressures and compression of teaching and assessment programmes for the rest of the year. As always, the welfare and learning of our students has been at the heart of all they do.

Our students have also risen magnificently to the strangest year of their lives. They have worked hard, foregone many activities they may normally have enjoyed, shown strength of character, perseverance and optimism. As always, they are a pleasure to teach and work with and reflect your efforts as parents.

As we head to the final week of the school year I am sure you will join me in giving a special thank you to all these people for all they have done for us.

Ngā mihi nui

Christine O’Neill