Kia ora Whanau,

I hope that your year has begun well and that your tamariki are enjoying being back at Cotswold Matahae, to our new enrolments I am sure your time with us will prove to be very rewarding.

Cotswold Matahae is a fabulous school, full of great kids supported by. a caring, high-functioning and supportive staff.

Unfortunately I have still not recovered from the concussion caused by a car accident on 1st November as I was travelling to the School Disco. 

I have had a supportive team around me and the Smith family have been awesome with their understanding and efforts to help out. I still have headaches on a varying scale each and every day. Concussion is a strange beast to deal with and I have learnt quite a bit about it, especially of late.

I am on a waitlist for a Medical and Neurological Assessments. Today I found out that the Neurological Assessment will be around 4 - 5 weeks away. This is frustrating for me as I miss my job and our supportive community. I do take solace in the fact that I know those staff that are covering the plethora of tasks my role demands are doing a very good job. 

When I have bumped into members of our community around Christchurch it has been lovely to have people showing genuine care and concern for me, Thank you.

I met one young lady in a shopping mall one afternoon (a dads worst nightmare as far as I am concerned) and I was struck by the care she showed me. The importance of fostering great values rang through in this conversation.

To all the tamariki, make sure you are making the most of the opportunities that our school can provide.

I look forward to seeing you all again in the coming months.

Nga mihi

Chris