Thank you to community for your support this year.

We are getting close to the end of the school year, and what a year it has been. COVID-19 has put a lot of pressure on our community but together, we have risen to the challenge. It is clear that we have all  learnt a new vocabularly as evidenced by our Year 5&6 on TV 1 on Tuesday nights news.

I want to thank you once more, for all you have done to keep yourselves, your whānau and our community as safe as possible. Through reinforcing good hand hygiene, cough and sneeze etiquette, staying away if sick and seeking medical advice, we have kept operating safely, and our tamariki and rangatahi have, importantly, continued to learn.

I also extend a specific thank you to all those in our community who have worked in health services and on the frontline to support New Zealand’s defence against COVID-19. They and their families and whānau have sacrificed so much to contribute to our own safety and to support the return home for more than 70,000 New Zealanders.

You may not be aware of the extent of the work our frontline community do to keep us all safe including regularly being tested, constantly monitoring for symptoms, keeping a close track of their movements, maintaining physical distancing and holding off hugging loved ones when they get home until they have had a shower and changed clothes.

COVID-19 remains a tricky virus and on the very rare occasion a frontline worker has become infected, the system has kicked into place. Through this vigilance and the health system response, we get to enjoy the relative freedom of Alert Level 1.

I am sure you will join me in giving a special thank you to those individuals for all they have done for us.

Denise Torrey

Tumuaki