Kia ora! It has been so lovely seeing the great learning that is happening all over the school. The excitement and enthusiasm apparent in each class is really energising, and I know many of your children go home at the end of each day telling you about this. The Resilience Project is alive and thriving too, and the teachers are saying how much the students are enjoying this learning. We do have a big focus on well-being, and will continue to have.

As you will be aware, the announcement will be made on Monday about our country moving to Covid-19 Level 1. The Ministry has advised us that for schools this means a continued focus on washing and drying hands regularly (and on using hand sanitiser), and on sneezing and coughing into elbows. If anyone is sick at all, even a sniffle or sore throat, they must stay home and parents should phone the Healthline or their GP. They are firm on stringent self-isolation of those who display relevant symptoms of COVID-19, test positive for COVID-19, have been in close contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19, or have been overseas in the last 14 days. The regular disinfecting of shared spaces is also a focus.

Contact tracing will not be required at the same level as at present, however we have been asked to support the COVID Tracer App by displaying the QR code posters at our gates. This is so that every time you enter the grounds, you can scan this and keep your own ‘diary’ of where you have been.

Thank you to those who have completed the consultation survey sent out this week about the drop-off and pick-up procedures. We will close this off on Sunday evening, but have had over 35% of our families respond already. I want to make it clear that we are looking at how the rest of this term will look, not forever. We know that this period of time, post lockdown, is a time to reset, to re-evaluate, to see what we keep and what we can do differently that works better for everyone. This is the purpose of looking at these procedures as they are one aspect of our school day that we are reviewing. We want to have empowered, resilient, independent students, and we also want to keep our sense of community, a key part of what makes Milford School so special. Once we have the feedback, we will look to see what Term 3 and onwards could look like.

Recently, reminders for school donations and contributions came home. As you will appreciate, the school requires a level of income to provide the extras that we do, such as our specialist teachers in Music, PE and STEM. We believe these are important in ensuring your children have the best possible experiences while at our school, and I am sure you will agree. We are also aware that at this time, especially, some families are experiencing financial hardship. If this is the case for you, please let us know. We do understand.

As previously mentioned, on Wednesday 24 June we are holding parent/teacher/student meetings at school. School will finish at 12.30pm that day to allow teachers to start the meetings from 1pm. Further information (including the booking reference) is attached here.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Ngā mihi nui

Sue Cattell

Principal