Once again, thank you for the way our community supported the College during the events of 15th March.

Following the lockdown process we conducted a thorough review through a range of means. One of these was getting feedback from staff and students whilst another was our involvement in the Ministry of Education Review facilitated by KPMG.

Since we have received the feedback from the two separate reviews, we have put in place a range of procedures to make the lockdown process more familiar and comfortable for our staff and students.

Late in 2018 the College began a process with a company called Harrison Tew, who are well known as emergency procedure specialists for schools. We were part way through this process when we were faced with 15th March. The company were invaluable during the lockdown process as we received advice and guidance over the phone on a regular basis. Following the 15th March we have continued our involvement with the company. This has involved training for the Senior Leadership Team, as well as a full staff session held more recently.

In the near future, Harrison Tew will run student assemblies to familiarise students with our process of lockdown and then we will complete a full lockdown practice with our full school. The practice will involve full communication with parents from the beginning to the end and will enable us to fine tune the process.

We will let you know well in advance when this practice will take place.

Can I also reassure you all that we don’t go into a lockdown lightly. If you are contacted by text or the school app that we have gone into lockdown it is because there is a danger to the school, most likely from a threat outside. Please let us do our job, which is to protect our students. It is not helpful if you put yourself at risk and come to the school. We can’t let you in for safety reasons and it makes it very distressing for the students in our care. We will contact you when the risk has been minimised or isolated and we can lift the lockdown. Thank you for your ongoing support.

Rowan Milburn

Deputy Principal