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

As we close our 2020 year, I am reminded of what is reputed to be an ancient Chinese curse “May you live in interesting times". I’m not entirely sure that that is its true origin. The sentiment still applies though, because living through both 2019 and 2020 has certainly felt like a case of living through ‘interesting times’, possibly a little more ‘interesting’ than many of us might have liked. Such times as we have experienced, such challenging events, have left many teens struggling to make meaning out of all that they have seen, heard, felt, or experienced. One result of that is that schools right across the country have reported many more challenging behaviours from students than usual, and we have been no exception. I have noticed however that our own ‘challenging behaviours’ have been significantly less severe than those that many other Principals have reported.

For whānau, parents, caregivers, my first message is to assure you that you are not alone, either in what you may have experienced, or in the challenges that this has represented to you as caregivers.

One of the consequences of experiencing events like these is that these experiences can draw us together, creating bonds that we might not otherwise have found. Our sense of ‘whanaungatanga’ has grown as we find ourselves shoulder to shoulder facing the challenges, the adversity, that has been these past two years.

Of course when you are in the middle of such experiences, generally you have little choice but to carry on. As Sir Winston Churchill said, "When you are going through hell, keep going".

Why have I chosen to make some comment on these things right at the end of the year? My message is simple. Take the summer opportunity to care for yourselves. Our relationships are the most important thing we have in life. As human beings we are social animals, we thrive and rely on our relationships with others. So over the summer, take time to focus on your relationships, be kind to yourselves as well as to others. As a former colleague often said, we are human ‘beings’ not human ‘doings’, so take the time to simply ‘be’. Be in the moment, be present with your whānau, spend time with your tamariki. Life is less about what we have and what we do than it is about who we are, about the aroha, the manaaki, that we bring to each other.

Whatever the Christmas season means to you, I would like to wish you all a great season, and a restful summer break. We look forward to seeing you all in 2021, and we look forward to seeing the record number of new students who have enrolled with us in 2021.

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