Kia ora koutou katoa. Well, what a week this has been! The change of alert levels was sudden but not totally unexpected with Covid-19 still rampant in many parts of the world. We are relatively protected from the scale of infection in NZ however we do need to remember it is still with us globally and will from time to time come into our community. What we can do, is react with calm and know that if we all stick to the rules we have a greater chance of returning to lower alert levels quicker.

I know that many of you chose a few activities to do over the three days, and we were very supportive no matter how much or how little you did. Each family needed to decide what was best for them at this time. I have heard that some really enjoyed starting the 21-day challenge and in thinking about how they could be Kaitiaki of the Tīkapa Moana in our local area, spent time picking up rubbish from the shore and beach at Milford. The photo below shows two of our students doing this, thank you Chloe and Alex MacLeod for being Kaitiaki role models.

Our new junior playground sunshade was completed today. As you can see by the photo above, it looks amazing and covers this playground so well. Thank you to the 2020 fair committee for their fundraising efforts and to Lidguard Sails for the fabulous job!

I popped into the hall this morning to hear our orchestra as they practised (see photos below). It always amazes me how great they sound, especially at this time of the year when they have only just begun practising again.

We would like to wish a very happy Lunar New Year to our families who celebrate this. Lunar New Year marks the first new moon of the lunisolar calendars traditional to many Asian countries including China, South Korea, and Vietnam, which are regulated by the cycles of the moon and sun. While the exact date changes each year, this year it is celebrated on February 12th, and in terms of the Chinese zodiac animal, it is the Year of the Ox.

Many of you know that we host after school coding classes for a group of Years 4-6 students that a university student (and ex-pupil) Jack runs. He has up to 12 students in a group and this year these will be on Thursdays from 3.15 – 4.15pm in a classroom in our school. Forms are available at the school office or you can find it here.

Assuming we have moved to level 1 by next Friday, there will be a whole school assembly at 2.15pm led by the Year 6 team. All parents are welcome to attend.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Ngā manaakitanga

Sue Cattell

Principal