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Linda Miller, Principal
 
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Principal's Report

Ms L. Miller, Prinicpal —

Greetings from lock-down land!

It has been a pretty surreal sort of week as we have moved from Level 2 of the Government’s response to Covid-19 on Monday through to Level 4 as of midnight Wednesday.

We are all now in lock-down and today marks the end of Term 1, with the school holidays having been brought forward by two weeks. Holidays now start on Monday 30 March and end on Tuesday 14 April, with ‘school’ getting underway again for Term 2 on Wednesday 15 April.

Students should all be underway with their online learning by now and should have experienced one or two Zoom sessions across most of their subjects. Please note that the end of term interim reports for senior students will not proceed this term.

Despite the school being closed there is much help available for you and your child over the coming weeks. This newsletter includes articles by various members of our team here at OGs who can provide various types of support, along with their contact details. Please reach out if we can help in any way.

If your daughter has left books or resources at school, they are unable to be retrieved until the lock-down is over. However, teachers or friends will be able to send photos of workbook or text-book pages so please reassure her not to worry.

Over the next two weeks of holidays please encourage your daughter not to worry about school. While there will be some senior students who will have some assessment work they wish to work on over this time, everyone needs some down time, away from school work. During the holidays try and turn the focus of your child away from school and Covid-19 and onto activities you as a family can do together that are fun and active.

Finally I would like to say a huge thank you to the teaching and support staff here at OGs. The seamlessness to our transition this week from face to face to online learning is down to years of investment by the Board of Trustees into our computer infrastructure and professional development and years of work by our teachers in keeping up with technology, developing online resources and being prepared to try new things. We are extremely well placed as a school to deliver online through this time of turmoil. Our cleaning and caretaking staff have done an outstanding job since the start of the year keeping the school clean and sanitary as the Covid-19 situation has developed. Our office staff have ensured that the critical functions of the school have continued, and will continue to operate, during the lock-down.

I will be back in touch with you all prior to the start of Term 2.

All the best to you and your whanau for the weeks ahead.

Kia kaha!