Talofa lava, malo le soifua. O lenei o'le vaiaso o'le Gagana Samoa.

This is Samoan Language Week, with the theme being ‘Tapena sou ōso mo lau malaga’ - prepare a gift for your journey. Fa’afetai to Maryangel Fretton who explained to me her interpretation of this theme, which she sees as encouraging us to think about what we can offer to others as we journey through life. At present we are all on the same journey as we respond to the Covid-19 pandemic.

There is no doubt that our response to Covid-19 has really tested our ability to be agile. Schools are not normally organisations that are able to adapt quickly, due to their large and complex nature. However, throughout the different alert levels of the Covid response, I believe we have been exactly that. The move to online learning happened smoothly, as has the return to face to face learning. The changes we put in place to ensure better distancing, less movement and better sanitising as we returned under Alert Level 2 have worked well on the whole. Some of these changes have been so successful we are going to continue with them long term, such as the earlier finish of 3:05pm and fewer staff briefings. While we are theoretically able to have full school assemblies, we are going to continue with virtual assemblies until the country moves to Level 1, meaning that our assembly slot will see me, and others, address the whole school via zoom at the end of Period 1 on Tuesday. We will run with only one whanau time each week at present and this will be on a Friday. Students’ timetables have been updated with these changes which start on Monday so please ensure your daughter has checked her timetable before then.

This week we have been collecting feedback from staff and students on how they found the lockdown experience, the impact of the situation on their work and/or learning and what the benefits and barriers were. It is my intention to have a survey ready for next week that will go out to you, as parents and caregivers, to get your feedback. The aim of these surveys is to get feedback on ways of working that could enhance the way we deliver programmes of learning in the future and also to inform us about what did or not work well in case we ever find ourselves in a similar position. I would really appreciate you taking the time to fill this out when it arrives.

Earlier this week our senior students had a zoom session that focused on NCEA. The changes being made as a result of Covid-19 were outlined and a number of key facts covered. Students need to be aware that the examination timetable has changed to that which was advertised earlier in the year.

Another area in which we are having to adapt this year is in relation to our annual Open Night which is one of our major marketing tools. The primary and secondary school principals have agreed that there will be no Open Mornings or visits to contributing schools this year so our Open Night will be the main opportunity for prospective students and their families to see the school. Due to the restrictions on numbers of people who can gather, we are planning to run our Open Night differently this year. The date of Tuesday 28 July remains the same but we are likely to hold three ‘sessions’ of an hour each to allow families to enjoy a shortened version of our school tour. These will be at 4pm, 5pm and 6pm and will require families to book. More information will follow as we finalise plans but please spread the word to any prospective families out there.

La manuia le fa’aiuga ole vaiaso.

Fa’afetai