Kia ora parents, caregivers and whānau

On Monday we hear what the next phase of alert level will look like and there are concerning developments in Auckland. The uncertainty of the year has made planning problematic for all of us. However, in the scheme of the global pandemic and how people are living their lives overseas, we are fortunate in New Zealand to have many of our freedoms and pleasures of life. Having said that, there are families in this country whose jobs and livelihoods have been affected and many will be experiencing financial stress particularly as wage subsidies and mortgage holidays finish.

I know that our students, particularly Years 12 and 13, are disappointed that many of the events which they look forward to and enjoy have not been able to occur. It is helpful for them to understand that much of what is happening is beyond the control of specific school decisions and controlled by alert levels and financial risk with bookings. This is a good time to talk to our students about gratitude and resilience in the face of an unprecedented global pandemic.

They can be thankful for safe and warm homes, food each day, opportunities in education and parents who care. New Zealand is a beautiful land in which to travel and holiday. We have ready access to parks, rivers and beaches. We are safe from war and we are a peaceful democracy. By many measures we have good public health, education and social systems. Not all New Zealand young people and not all our students experience all of these things and in many nations globally, young people most certainly do not enjoy peace and freedom. Many live in poverty and experience abuse, famine and poor health outcomes for most of their lives.

Resilience is only gained by experiencing negative events or by facing fear and risk and building confidence and hope by working through these. Disappointment is an inevitable part of the human condition – the world does not conspire to deliver us our every want in life. We are not happy every minute of every day. But we can learn to celebrate and enjoy our happy times and put our sad or disappointed times into perspective. These conversations are important to have with our young people, particularly at the moment, and these experiences are what builds resilience.

We still do not know what Term 4 will bring and, at the moment, we do not know what next week will bring. This is requiring us to be adaptable and ready to pivot and change plans at any time. Many of you will be in exactly the same situation in your workplaces. We can guarantee nothing but we will be doing our best to ensure our students are cared for, our Year 13’s in particular are farewelled from the school and our students are well placed with derived grades should NZQA examinations be affected. We appreciate your support as parents and whanau as we work through the next few months.

Ngā mihi nui

Christine O’Neill