Kia whakaute

Kia hihiri

Kia pono

Tihei mauri ora!

Kia tau te rangimārie o te Rangi e tū iho nei, o Papatūānuku e takoto nei, O te Taiao e awhi nei ki runga i a tātou. Tihei Mauri ora. May the peace of the sky above, of the earth below and of the all-embracing universe rest upon us all. Behold, it is life.

Kia ora tatou katoa! What a year this week has been. As you all are aware, we are all in isolation for the next four weeks and potentially longer depending on the extent of the spread of COVID-19. This time is challenging and a bit frightening, however, we are taking the necessary precautions to eliminate the virus before it is out of control and for that we are extremely grateful. We cannot stress how important it is to listen to the rules at this time. Your family, friends, boyfriends, girlfriends and partners are just one call away. Kia Kaha! We are saving lives.

We know it is disappointing that a lot of events and sports tournaments that you have worked hard for have been cancelled but it is important not to lose focus with school work, music and sports. We all know what it is like to procrastinate and to say “nah I have time to do it later”. By keeping yourself in a routine it will help keep you accountable and productive, ensuring you are getting the required work done. The academic year is very important and doing work now will help get the grades you pursue at the end of the year.

Along with conversations between ourselves and our prefect team, we have been in conversation with OBHS head prefect Angus Henderson and deputy Peter Crosson to try and find ways to keep in contact with our students and keep our prefects involved with their roles over the isolation period. We have since created an Instagram page called keeping up with the prefects (username: @kuwtprefects) on which the prefects from both OBHS and OGHS are able to post real content for the students to see. This includes: study tips, fitness advice, isolation tips, mental and physical health and just all round Hauora (wellbeing). As we know, not all girls will have access to social media. To cater to this, we will email the uploaded videos or posts and send them to the remainder of our girls via email.

We hope you all are staying safe and finding ways to keep yourself entertained over the isolation period. For now we leave you with a challenge. Take your best isolation photo! Send it to either one of us and at the end of the isolation period we will announce the top three winners. Get creative e te whānau!

Whakaohoho, Whakamana, Werohia, Moemoea Haumi e Hui e taiki e

Ngā mihi and stay safe,

Jen Marsh and Hannah Matehaere