Kia ora koutou. Talofa. Kia Orana. Malo e lelei. Bula vinaka. Fakaalofa atu. Namaste. Kumusta. Haere mai ki Te Kura Te Huruhuru Ao o Horomaka. Warm greetings to the Hornby High School community.

It seems rather odd writing a newsletter column when we have now been off site for two weeks. Our lockdown experiences highlight once more the rich taonga that is our Manaiakalani kaupapa. The shift to online work is seamless, because it is what we do every day anyway. It does take quite some time to get used to the lack of face to face interaction, but GoogleMeets offer a little comfort. It has been a huge pleasure to see the examples of wonderful student work that staff are sending me, and I love sharing just some of those on our Facebook page. I have only posted a very few, as I doubt you want your Facebook feed swamped with Hornby High School posts.

We have been careful not to ‘over egg the custard’ (as a former Principal of mine loved to say) by trying to hold too many GoogleMeets in a week for students. However all students should know that their teachers are only a few clicks away should they need extra help and guidance.

Many students will feel some anxiety because they are missing so much class time. It has been affirming (and not surprising) to see NZQA shift dates and deadlines to support NCEA learners. I have no doubt that there will also be work put into place to repeat the 2020 support with ‘Learning Recognition Credits’, this will in some way compensate for the reduced opportunities for students to gain the credits they need.

I think the biggest piece of advice I can offer is to say ‘your children will be ok’. They will not be harmed by this reduction in ‘in class’ school time. We are suffering a health crisis, not an education crisis. Many of you will again feel as if you need to become teachers overnight. You don’t. Love your children, read to your children, encourage them to read, and they will be fine. It has become something of a social media meme to say ‘we’ve got this’, but the point is, we have!!!

I’d like to say a special thanks to our staff team who (as always) go above and beyond to ensure that Hornby learners get the best deal possible in their education.

In the meantime, stay in your bubble, stay safe, stay kind.

Please make sure you follow us on Facebook for the latest and most up to date news https://www.facebook.com/hornbyhighschool/ , and on our website www.hornby.school.nz . You can also follow my thinking our education journey at Hornby High School, and more generally, on my blog at https://whakataukihewakaekenoa.blogspot.co.nz/

Kia tau te mauri

Robin Sutton

Tumuaki