Mā whero, mā pango ka oti ai te mahi
With red and black the work will be complete
It has been a massive start to the year for our Tauhara College community! Everybody; from students to staff, parents to extended whanau, external agencies to even the Ministry of Education itself, have had to alter their daily routines and expectations in order to fit a new set of ‘normals’ into their lives. Some of these new normals have been fairly seamless; with our Junior Village facilities being enjoyed by students and staff alike. Some of these new normals are taking time to settle; the rigors of online learning and the loss of some specialist learning spaces, for example, have required patience and more than a little grit to make the most of.
Taupo is an amazing place, and our Tauhara community is a special group of people. The Leadership team here at Tauhara want to say thank you to all these different parts of our community. Without the support of our school whanau we wouldn’t have made the start that we have. All our students are giving their learning their best shot, and our teachers are stretching to ensure the diverse needs of our students are catered for. Remember that our team of Whanau teachers, at all year levels, are here for your kids. Flick them an email if it seems like your child may need some more support or an encouraging word.
We have undergone a period of significant rapid change and this can affect everyone differently. We are trying to ensure that the learning needs of all our tamariki are met as best we can with the tools we currently have. We know that things could be better; we need our students on site more often, we need more classrooms, we need specialist classrooms- but these factors are out of our control.
We are working hard to ensure that what we can control is exemplary. That our relational approach and pastoral care is effective, our curriculum is relevant and our academic standards remain high.
We are still waiting on confirmation from the Ministry on the timeline and position for stage two of the student village. An additional 14 classrooms, two science rooms, and two food tech rooms make up stage two (18 in total). These rooms are bigger and look more like a modern classroom rather than a temporary prefab. The classrooms are being built off site and will be here before the start of next term. There will be a bit of work to get these ready but we are optimistic that they will be ready to go as soon as possible.
We have been finalising the location and lease arrangements for our off site technology hub. This space will house all of our hard materials (wood, metal, and design) options. This space will be fitted out to ensure that we can deliver high quality learning opportunities for our students. We are still on track to have this in place ready to go for the start of Term 2.
As soon as we have confirmation from the ministry about these rooms and other projects we will update you all. We understand that the delays in getting rooms on site and ready is a concern for you all, as it is for us. We are doing our best to speed this process up to get these aspects in place so our students have the resources to support their learning.
We are on this journey together. We are writing a new page in the history of Tauhara. We are setting the direction and standard for future generations to follow. We want our students and community to help shape this journey. We will be engaging with you all in the coming weeks on the future direction of our school. We encourage you all to contribute your thoughts and aspirations to the future of our Kura.
Nga mihi nui