It is good to have started the term with most students and most teachers at school. The first week was notable for how noisy and busy our school was – a welcome change after a subdued term 1 to be honest.

We have continued with our Covid hygiene practices and will be working hard to get through the winter in the best health and spirits that we can. Please continue to keep your child home if they are at all unwell. This helps to protect the whole community. Thank you for your support with this.

Winter sport has begun, and it is lovely to see and hear the enjoyment everyone is getting from playing in teams again. Just this week our boys and girls football teams competed in the Inter-intermediate tournament. Our girls had mixed results but seemed to love every minute of their day. Our boys’ team was pipped at the post by Raroa in a penalty shoot out for 1st place. A really tough way to finish a tournament but testament to our boys, they were gracious runners-up. We are all proud of them.

Next Friday, June 3rd we are having a community – wide professional learning day. The local primary schools are joining with us for a day of learning. We are sharing new and interesting curriculum initiatives from each school and developing a stronger sense of the educational pathway in our community. The principals of the local schools meet regularly and have begun to develop a shared vision for all the students in our community and care.

Please keep your children home on Friday June 3rd.

Thank you for supporting Run for Us. What an outstanding day it was too. We all commented on how much our students enjoyed just spending time outside together, walking, running and talking. Having our new bike track has added another place for our students to connect and keep active. We have noticed already how many students are walking the track with their friends each day. I will keep you posted on the total we raise from the Run for Us. It is such a valuable fundraiser to us but on this occasion, it was a real opportunity to connect again as a school.

After a rather disconnected term 1, when I heard a student say as I passed, “That’s the principal isn’t it?”, I have invited myself in to all the classrooms. What a delight this has been. Sitting with students as they talk, and draw and write, getting to know names and faces and then answering questions about the school has lifted my spirits. It’s easy to be distracted by all the ‘white noise’ around us at times and the demands from the wider sector.

I am working with the Ministry of Education to develop a local curriculum framework for all schools to use. I have started developing our own at the same time. Over the coming months I will share what we are developing and ask you to contribute to this discussion.

We are looking forward to a happy, healthy term 2.

Angela Lowe

Principal