Kia ora koutou

Nearly the end of yet another challenging term. To date, 106 students have been confirmed as having contracting Covid and 8 staff.

I have been so impressed with the way our students and staff have adapted and been flexible as each day has been a bit different for us all. Keeping routines and regular activities continuing has greatly helped us all to maintain a feeling of normality but in the safest possible way. Thank you very much to families and whānau for keeping children at home if there is any indication of them being unwell.

Some parents, whānau are keen to set up a “Friends of the School” group. With the rebuild starting very soon, an important piece of our playground equipment, the Adventure Playground will be removed to make way for the new block of 9 classrooms. It is very old and something new is needed. Extra funding is also needed for other playground equipment, items for classrooms and landscaping. The friends of the school group will have the opportunity to hear updates on the school directly from the principal, hear from guest speakers and be a consultation group. The first meeting will be week 2 of Term 2. We are thinking 3 times a term. Please email me: knighta@heaton.school.nz. If you are interested. We would like to know the day and time you would like to meet and if there is any other information or activities you would like to add to the “Friends of the School” agenda.

We are finalising our 2022 Annual Plan for the school and this will be on our website at the beginning of term 2. Once again our schoolwide student achievement in reading, writing and maths is very pleasing.

A summary of the 2021 students end of year achievement data:

Reading: Whole school, 90% achieving within or above expected level

Year 7, 87% achieving within or above expected level

Year 8, 93% achieving within or above expected level

Writing: Whole school, 82% achieving within or above expected level

Year 7, 77% achieving within or above expected level

Year 8, 86% achieving within or above expected level

Maths: Whole school, 86% achieving within or above expected level

Year 7, 81% achieving within or above expected level

Year 8, 90% achieving within or above expected level

On behalf of the staff, our very best wishes for a very relaxing Easter and holiday break with your children. I hope you all stay well.

Ngā mihi nui

Andrea Knight

Tumuaki/Principal