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Photo by Principal

Ben Hancock —

Kia ora whanau,

Mā te pā tamaiti e whakatipu. It takes a village to raise a child.

As we close off Term 2 we have been reflecting upon our journey from the end of 2020 to where we find ourselves now.

Our year ended abruptly and we had to quickly respond to the wero of building a new school. This brought with it a number of its own challenges, challenges that staff and students have risen to. We had to make a number of changes and sacrifices in order to have things in place for the start of the school year.

Term 1 had its ups and downs as we all learnt how to adapt to our new normal, Term 2 has seen a more consistent place of belonging and learning.

We will start Term 3 with stage two of our learning village ready to go. Our eight new double classrooms will ensure there is a more consistent learning environment for our students and staff.

It has taken a collective effort from staff and students to get us through two challenging terms. Our community has been great in supporting us through this period- thank you for your ongoing and continued support.

We will be holding whānau conferences in week 2 of next Term. This will be a great opportunity for our community to connect with our Kaiako (teachers) and to get to see our new learning environment. I encourage you all to make the most of this opportunity and book in a time to meet.

I would like to discuss with our community an issue our Kura is facing. A number of Kura across our country have been struggling to deal with the significant issues of social media, Tauhara is no different.

This complex issue is impacting our kura and Tamariki.

There has been a lot of online bullying between students, inappropriate comments as well as objectionable material that has been shared amongst students. Conversations between students have been manipulated or twisted and these rumors have caused a lot of harm to other students.

Most of these incidents/behaviours have taken place outside of school time, however the consequences of these interactions between students often flow into school time. These situations and their resulting dramas are beginning to put other students' safety and wellbeing at risk and this is not acceptable.

We understand that not all of the students in our kura will be involved in these types of behaviours, however we feel it is important that all parents are aware that any student may be involved or could be affected by these indiscretions by other students.

We strongly suggest all whanau having a conversation with your son or daughter about their online activity. Many of the parents who have already been affected by this type of behaviour were surprised at what their child was up to online. Some of the regular comments have been-

  • They didn't know that their child had multiple social media accounts and they were only shown the one they wanted them to see.

  • They didn't know that their child was on their phone at all hours of the night/morning.

  • They were unaware of the content their child was viewing & sharing online.

  • They were unaware of who their child was talking to online (sometimes strangers overseas).


Students often have a better understanding of technology and know how to hide their online activity. Having simple and clear rules with them can help avoid many difficult situations later down the road.

Simple expectations like-

  • Phones are off and handed in at a certain time at night (9pm for example)

  • Phones can be checked by parents at any time unannounced- spot check weekly.

  • Clear expectations & associated consequences for not following the expectations- like loss of phone for a period of time.


Banning phones at school and home isn't the answer. We all live in a connected world where we utilise the online world to live, learn and connect. It is about educating our young people on how to live in this connected world responsibly and safely. It will take our collective efforts to help guide our tamariki through this journey- it takes a village.

Nga mihi nui.

If you would like further information on how to help support your son or daughter to be safe and responsible online, we suggest you visit the following websites-