Happy holidays!

Dear parents/caregivers

After a long period of time being unable to welcome parents to events at the school, we were delighted with the turnout for our inaugural Kakui Ako (Community of Learning) celebration for Matariki and our Dance Showcase earlier this week. 

Despite atrocious weather, a large crowd of supporters turned out to celebrate Matariki.  It was amazing to see students on stage from all of the different schools, alongside some fabulous artwork and a few brave food vendors.  

Dance has been a growing subject over the past few years.  Jana Polglase has done a stunning job leading this programme and alongside growing numbers of participants, the quality of the programme also continues to grow.  Well done to all the performers and the Arts team for putting on such a professional evening of entertainment.  

We also received news this week that 'NayCol Chorale' (Mixed Choir) have been invited to The Big Sing Southern Cadenza, the South Island finals of the 'Big Sing' national choral competition. This is a stunning achievement for a co-ed state high school and I wish them all the very best for this competition to be held in just a few weeks in Timaru.

The past term has certainly been challenging as we continue to grapple with covid isolation and other winter illnesses circulating.  We have averaged between 15-20 staff away most days over the past few weeks and peaked at 29 staff away on one occasion. With student absences also high, staff have struggled to ensure continuity of learning programmes.  This is obviously an issue right across the country and, as you can see from this newsletter, I am so proud of our community for continuing to push on and ensure opportunities continue to be available for our students both within and outside the classroom.  

As we move into this next stage of the pandemic, I have discussed with various Ministry of Education officials things I believe should be considered to support schools movings forward:  

• Remove the inequity of Learning Support Coordinators only being resourced in some 'selected' schools.  In this region it equates to almost a $1m deficit in funding over four years for Nayland College compared to other similar high schools.
• Transfer funding for the Attendance Service to schools directly and significantly increase support.  The pandemic has created a truancy crisis across New Zealand.  Individual schools are best placed to support re-engagement in our own communities. 
• Work with communities to create a local facility for students with diagnosed behavioural needs that require specialist care and intervention.  Currently the closest educational option for some students that have been excluded from both mainstream and alternative education provision is in Christchurch.
• Fund Alternative Education provision appropriately.  It astounds me that centres like Youth Nelson rely on council and business partnerships, charity and goodwill to operate.  We have been informed that the long anticipated alternative education review has been further delayed.  This is a travesty for Youth Nelson and other similar centres. 
• Press pause on the myriad of initiatives floating out of the Ministry of Education.  We are pleased to see NCEA changes delayed by a year, however, other reviews such as the curriculum refresh are slipping under the radar without appropriate engagement by schools.
• Increase school operational funding to cover exponential cost increases in relief staffing and other burgeoning costs. There has been some recent movement to support schools further.  An example is the recent $4000 additional funding we have received for heat, light and power costs.  However, this does not even cover 10% of our shortfall which is now over $60,000. These additional costs have to be recouped from somewhere.  Although we are currently managing to ensure frontline teaching resources are not impacted, this is not sustainable in the long term. 

We do receive amazing support from our local Ministry of Education office. Unfortunately, there is limited scope locally to address the national concerns listed above, but we do appreciate the steps they have taken to support Nayland College and our learners. 

I wish all of our staff and students a happy holiday and look forward to seeing everyone back refreshed and well for another busy term.

Ngā mihi

Daniel Wilson
Principal