Hillary House News

So after a strong start for Hillary House in Term 1 everything changed on 25 March. With a dramatic change in life, the closing of the school, the economy, job losses, and business losses, our community has been hit in a way that was unfathomable at the start of the year.

But one thing that has stood out has been the way the students of Rangiora High School have shown that North Canterbury resilience. Whether it's been engaging with their school work in a whole new way, learning new technologies, coping with the lack of sport, lack of contact with friends and no takeaways, the students have shown remarkable perseverance and strength in taking on the new way of life.

We ended Term 1 on top of the leaderboard on the House competition after a fabulous win in Senior SummerFest with our touch team going undefeated. The House Executive team did a fabulous job of organising teams and t-shirts and we fielded huge teams for each day of competition. Well done team!

Our Year 9 students continue this winning form, currently leading the Junior Education Perfect English competition by almost 6000 points, and we also have a competition running on social media to find the best cook in Hillary House. Some of the entries have been absolutely mind-blowing.

We also commemorated ANZAC day in a way we never have before. Many stood at dawn at their gate, made poppies from shopping bags, built commemorative displays and watched the incredible and moving service put together by the Head Students.

Sadly we farewelled long-serving staff member, Katrina Bennett, who leaves us for a position at Rolleston College. Katrina has been a member of Hillary since its early days, a valued form teacher and a member of the Hillary learning team for the last three years. She will be missed by staff and students alike. Katrina’s position is taken up by Kay Robertson, who has taught at the school for several years in various roles and is quickly coming to grips with the “new” online life.

Now as we move into Alert Level 3 and some students and staff return to school we can see light at the end of the tunnel (fingers crossed!). Hopefully online learning hasn’t been too overwhelming for students and whānau, I know there was a bombardment of emails and instructions in that first week, and that some good may have come from this time in our “bubbles.”

Regards,

Ms Gibson

Head of Hillary House