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

What incredibly sad times these past few weeks have been. I find it hard to understand the amount of hate that must lie at the heart of what we have seen. But I have been given hope, hope for our future in Aoteoroa New Zealand, when I see the love and compassion with which our rangatahi have responded. I continue to give my message of kindness and love, of manaaki and aroha, and the evidence I have seen suggests that our young people are listening. My plea to you all is to feed that naturally occurring kindness and love, to make sure that we strive to become better than the tragic example we saw on March 15th.

Thank you to everyone who supported us during the lockdown of 15 March. Our lockdown processes are based on the advice and best practice given to us by NZ Police, and are designed to keep students and staff safe. Once we go into lockdown, no-one is allowed into or out of the school until we have been given the all-clear by the Police. This is really important as we have a ‘duty of care’ for all of the rangatahi in our care, and our procedures follow the advice given to all schools. In the situation as it unfolded on that Friday, things were so fluid there was no guarantee of where the danger may have lain. For that reason, when the school is put into lockdown, whānau should not come to the school and if, as some found on that day, they were already here, the best course of action is to keep yourselves safe by going home. That was the Police advice on that day too.

Thank you to all of our whānau who respected that, and supported our lock down actions. We use all of the media available to us to keep you informed, because we realise that the thing you need most is that reassurance that your children are safe. We used our website, Facebook, text messages, and the school app, to keep you informed. We noticed a significant increase in the number of whānau who uploaded our school app onto phones after the event. If you don’t yet have the app on your phone, there is advice elsewhere in this newsletter on how to download it.

We are about to enter enrolment season for 2020 entry to Hornby High School. Our kura has an enrolment scheme that came into place at the beginning of 2019. The Board of Trustees has decided to make 15 out of zone places available for 2020, all in Years 7 to 10. Last year we had quite a few whānau disappointed because they left application for enrolment too late. Application for out of zone enrolment closes on 26th July. It is easy to think that that is a long way away, but the time will rapidly pass. The agreed zoning rules are such that we cannot accept out of zone enrolments beyond that date. Details of our enrolment scheme are available on our website. Look under the ‘Enrolment’ tab for a zone map and specification.

Finally, please remember that message of kindness, aroha, and compassion. We want our young people to grow up in a world where these are our watchwords, our moral compass for our actions.

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 on education at Hornby High School, and more generally, on my blog at https://whakataukihewakaekenoa.blogspot.co.nz/

Nga mihi nui
Robin Sutton
Tumuaki