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Linda Miller, Principal
 
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Principal's Report

Ms L. Miller, Principal —

During times of crisis communities come together to support those in need.

We are very aware that many families in our school community are really struggling as the economic impacts of the country’s response to Covid-19 are being felt. We would like to help. If you are struggling to feed your family we would like to assist you with food parcels provided by the school and the school community. Please do not hesitate to contact me mi@otagogirls.school.nz in confidence and I can arrange the delivery for you. The parcels would be delivered to your address in a contactless manner. I look forward to hearing from those we can help.

Equally, if you would like to support families in need you can deposit money in the school account: 12-3485-0014040-00 (please ensure you reference it ‘Food Donation’) or leave non-perishable food items in the tub that will be outside the main doors of the school. We will wipe these items down with disinfectant before packaging up the parcels and delivering them.

Please also contact me or our guidance counsellor, Mrs Taylor tyr@otagogirls.school.nz if you require help with the purchase of winter uniform.

We are coming to the end of the sixth week of Alert Level 3 or 4, and while this has been a really difficult time for all concerned, there is much to celebrate in terms of the success of the country’s response to this crisis. Our comparatively low rates of infection and deaths from Covid-19 place us among the most successful countries around the world in fighting this pandemic. Looking at scenes from countries such as the US and UK remind me how lucky we are to live in this country and be led by our current political leaders.

It is natural that students are finding the current restrictions and way of learning challenging but I would like to reassure you and them that it will be fine. We are adopting a range of strategies to support students both during our current way of working and when we return to school. Our aim is to ensure students are not disadvantaged as a result of the current situation.

Since Wednesday we have been open to students in Years 9 and 10 who have been unable to be cared for at home. Only a very small number of students have attended and we anticipate this continuing next week. Thank you to everyone who has made arrangements for children to be cared for at home and to the teachers who have been supervising our student ‘bubble’ during Alert Level 3.

Since our move to Alert Level 3 it has been nice to see the city slowly come to life and I look forward to welcoming our entire school community back in the future. In the meantime, stay home, stay safe and please let us know if we can help.