Important information

Kia Ora koutou,

It is exciting to know that on Monday 18th May Highfield School will reopen under Alert Level 2 guidelines. I am looking forward to seeing students and teachers and getting back to the new normal.

Highfield’s Senior Leadership Team have been busy organising school so that it is ready to welcome all students. We have planned a school environment that reassures students, staff and parents that wellbeing and safety is of paramount importance. The plan follows Health and Safety guidelines. You will notice that there is a change to school start times and school finish times as we transition into Alert Level 2. This has been decided on the grounds of staff and student health, wellbeing and allowing for a smooth transition back to full time school. It is important that we all observe these. Please refrain from coming onto school site. If you have to you will need to complete a contact tracing register. All of the above information and more is included in the very important attached document. Please read this very carefully. Your child’s class teacher will be contacting you on Thursday to talk things through and to ask if you are planning to keep your son/daughter at home, and if so what learning we can provide.

We have decided to cancel the Teacher Only Day on Friday 29th May. We hope that this decision will ease transition for our Highfield community.

We are presently in the process of reviewing the timing and format for our mid term reporting.

I would like to acknowledge our staff who have put an incredible amount of effort and time to deliver an online education that's full of diversity, creativity and lots of learning. Teachers had very little planning time for this, but very quickly developed a flexible and organic system. I feel that it is important that teachers are given sufficient time to plan for Monday. Therefore, they will be setting work for Thursday but not having any online groups or teaching. Highfield has planned a whole school Fantastic Friday and I hope that all children will be excited and motivated to be part of this.

It has been a long and windy road, and I am sure there are many positive and engaging stories that we would love you to share. It is also important to note that Highfield staff are here for you and your children and we must keep this incredible relationship that we have built over the last seven weeks. Please email me or the office if you would like to book an appointment for a chat, my door is always open.

Many thanks for all your support during this incredible world event and I will see you all soon.

Take care.

Nga Mihi

Stuart