Kia ora koutou katoa. Welcome to Term Two.

This week has flown by and there are some significant changes at JPII.

During the term break, our IT network was upgraded and is now run by a specialist Education IT company. We have also changed to a contract cleaning company, and students and teachers have already a noticed a positive difference in the cleanliness of the classrooms. Our next projects are the upgrade of the science and hall toilets in the next holiday break, and the long awaited N4L upgrade.

There was one event this week where a small minority of students badly let themselves, their families, and the school down. I feel it is important to raise this in this newsletter because their cowardly actions have had a significant impact on other students’ sense of safety. I attended a meeting with the Diversity group for LGBTQ+ youth and allies on Tuesday. A group of students had discussed coming to target their peers in a derogatory and discriminatory manner. Told it was unacceptable, they did so anyway. Further to this, some felt it appropriate to yell “gays” in the window and run away. In 20 years in education, I have not seen or heard such flagrant homophobia. It has genuinely shocked me that we have students who feel it is their right to make others feel unsafe in our school. I spoke to the assembly about it today and made it crystal clear that there is no place for homophobia in our school. Our rainbow youth have every right to meet without fear of discrimination or harassment by the few, and I challenge everyone in our community to stand up against prejudice.

I look forward to a positive term where we choose kindness and friendship over ignorance and hate.

Ngā mihi nui

Renée Hutchinson

Principal

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