Kia ora whānau

With seemingly endless road works and even more traffic on the road, it is important that students understand the need to travel safely on roads and footpaths. There are students who are riding bikes on footpaths which is against the law. Students must ride bikes on the road. I have received some complaints from members of the public about our students riding bikes on the footpaths and almost knocking over pedestrians. Students with scooters must be aware of pedestrians especially as we have particularly narrow footpaths around the school. Intersections are potentially very dangerous and students must be extra careful. We talk to students about safety on the roads as I am sure you do as well.

Term 1 is a particularly busy time at our school as we are getting to know our Year 7 students, sport and other activities begin, the summer sport competition, school swimming sports and parent/student/teacher interviews occur and camps/activity days. This is a huge amount of time and organisation for teachers at a time when they are establishing their class programmes and getting to know new students. We are very fortunate to have such a dedicated and hardworking team.

Most of our teachers will be attending a paid NZEI meeting tomorrow at 1.30 pm. We are unable to provide our normal programme for students and would appreciate them going home at 12.30 pm. Please notify your child’s teacher if other arrangements are needed. Thank you for your support. As you will be aware, there has been a lot of changes in education over the last few years and teaching is becoming a profession that is not particularly appealing to young people. Our teachers are highly skilled individuals who work extremely hard for every child and it is important that they are valued by the government and the community. The purpose of the union meeting is to get feedback from as many teachers as possible about a range of issues that affect us all.

Nga mihi

Andrea Knight, Principal