We are looking forward to welcoming students into classes next week. Well done to everybody for juggling the work-home lock-down balance and for keeping students engaged in learning during this time. A big thank you to the ‘Bubble School’ teachers who have been in looking after a handful of students doing their online learning over the past three weeks. Well done also to these students for their positive attitude and creative video-making and obstacle-coursing during these weeks.
Preparation for NCEA has proceeded incredibly well in the lock-down but we do want to support students for whom online learning has not gone so well. Please encourage your daughter to seek help if she needs it. NZQA have pushed back the NCEA exam dates by 10 days to help students to do as well as they can.
We are working hard to plan the return to school so that students are not overwhelmed with assessment on their return. It will be an exciting transition back into actual real-life classrooms and students need to give themselves time to adjust. The focus of next week will be reconnecting and re-setting rather than assessment.
Some students have experienced heavy workload while in lock-down and this will be far easier to monitor and coordinate once teachers and students are back together at school. We all agree that there is no dead-end or cutoff with assessment and that we are here to support students to achieve success. We encourage you and the students to communicate with us early to avoid bottlenecks and pressure points.
Assessment is simply feedback on learning. There is a strong relationship between achievement, engagement and wellbeing. When assessment is ticking over and students are achieving well, they feel good about themselves and feedback fuels their motivation. Therefore we want to help students to manage their assessment and due dates and avoid a crush of delayed assessment at the end of Term Three. Please work at home to manage due dates (when they are finalised) on the calendar, student diaries and phones.
As always, maintaining good sleep, exercise, hydration, nutritional and organisational routines supports student learning and wellbeing. Thank you for your continuing support for the students’ school work over this most unusual time!
Please contact the subject teacher, Head of House, Guidance Counsellor, Careers Department or myself if you have any questions at all. We are here to support your daughter to be well and achieve success.