Greetings from St Bede’s College.

In these unique times Term 2 continues, but as you will be aware, the Prime Minister yesterday gave the country a picture of what Alert Level 2 will look like, for not only the country, but also the education sector.

There is a clear message that when we move to the next level that the safety of our people is still a priority, and how various sectors ensure this will occur is top of mind for everyone as we prepare to enter into Level 2. Life at school when we return won’t be quite the same as when we left seven weeks' ago. At this stage, the earliest students will be allowed to return to school is on Monday 18 May, but that is contingent on the Government's decision on Monday next week.

This gives us a week to work through preparing our staff and the school site to ensure the safety of all. We will be in contact with you early next week once we have certainty of when schools can return and resume learning onsite.

Challenging though these last few weeks have been, both the staff and the boys have responded admirably to online learning, particularly as we had so little time to prepare for this eventuality. We are aware that some students have thrived and some have struggled, so in the first few weeks back at school we will spend time in assessing each students progress while they were in the lockdown environment. Attention to the boys pastoral needs will remain a priority as they readjust to coming back onsite.

In the meantime please communicate with the school any concerns you have about your son's wellbeing or his learning, which we will endeavour to address as best as we can.

Our team in the Centre of Wellbeing will continue to be available to support their existing caseload as well as any new referrals from students and whanau. 

Take good care of yourselves. It is important that if you are feeling stressed or overwhelmed at any time, please contact Mr Gray via email to wgray@stbedes.school.nz. He will either contact you himself directly via phone or he will get his fellow counsellor Mr Williams to make contact with you.

Our counselling staff can Skype, Zoom or talk over the phone. Mr Gray and Mr Williams will be available from 8.00am – 4.00pm Monday – Friday. Please email regardless, but if it’s serious and you are needing an immediate response, please make contact with your GP or Crisis Resolution (contact number below), because it may take a while for one of us to respond, or if it is at a time outside of our hours of work.

If you feel more comfortable talking to someone else, there are some options available to you. Here are just a few:

• Helpline 1737 they’re 24/7 free text or call.
• Youth line 0800 376633
• Crisis Resolution for major mental health worries and concerns Ph 0800 920 092, contact 24/7.
• If at any time you feel unsafe, please phone police or contact Oranga Tamariki on 0508 326 459

Until next week,

J. G. Boyle