Riccarton High School


Kia ora koutou

How wonderful it has been to return to some sense of normality of the last few weeks, with normal routines such as assemblies and sports practices finding their way back into the school calendar. I have also been impressed by the speed in which a significant majority of our students have quickly got themselves back into those routines supported through some excellent work by our staff and of course backed up by your efforts as parents and whānau at home.

Can I take this opportunity to thank those of you who responded to our survey regarding the distance learning experience under Covid levels 3 and 4. Some of the key themes coming through included your appreciation of our levels of communication throughout the lockdown, and the degree to which many of our teachers went the extra mile to support our learners. 

Of course, we also wanted to know about things that we could have done better, and once again some key themes came through, including the need for more guidance over what was expected from parents in relation to the learning taking place, and the fact that in some cases there appeared to be an imbalance between subject areas in terms of the amount of work being set. 

Overall, I believe that together we all did an amazing job, particularly knowing that we only had 48 hours to put things together! We have also learnt a lot from this experience and we continue to analyse feedback from both students, staff and you our parents, to ascertain what aspects need to be considered in future planning, including what opportunities there are for our students who tend to thrive in an independent learning environment even under normal circumstances.

I trust that you all find a bit of time over the holiday period for a well deserved break and I look forward to catching up with you in term 3.

Ngā mihi nui
Neil Haywood


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