Kia ora whanau,

I orea te tuatara ka patu ki waho ‘A problem is solved by continuing to find solutions’. Thank you to our community for their ongoing support through this challenging time. We are continuing to work with the Ministry and their emergency response team have been assessing the site to identify the extent of the damage and what our next steps will be for the Kura. We have been told that we will have 13 new modular classrooms, 5 additional support buildings & 3 toilet blocks. These will be onsite and ready to go for the first day of school next year. The rooms that are being provided are all brand new and meet the requirements of a modern classroom. All of the landscaping and decking will be included in this development. The Ministry and our staff are working hard to ensure that there will be quality learning programs in place and in classrooms for the start of next year.

What our school will look like, we are unsure, but this is an exciting phase of our journey. We will have learning programmes in place for all students. We can confirm that we will be up and running for 2021. We will be ready to go for schooling at the start of next year at Tauhara College.

We would like to acknowledge and thank various community groups, agencies and other Kura in Taupo for their ongoing support during the past weeks.

Last week we celebrated our Yr 13 leavers at our annual Senior Dinner at Wairakei Resort. The event was outstanding and it demonstrated the wairua of our Kura. I would like to congratulate the students on their successes and thank their whanau and teachers for their support. The class of 2020 is an extraordinary group of young adults and we wish them well for their next chapter.

2020 has been an extraordinary year. We have had to overcome numerous challenges and learn to adapt to the new normal. The resilience and flexibility shown by our staff and students highlights the strengths of our Kura.

We will continue to deliver our flexible and adaptive learning programs to our Rangatahi to ensure they have the best possible preparation for their journey when they leave our school. We will not wait, we will not hold our place, we will continue to drive to be better, we will continue to build a sense of belonging, we will continue to strive for individual and collective excellence- because that is who we are, we are Tauhara.

On behalf of the Staff we would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and festive season. Enjoy the time together and rest up- we will be back in 2021 stronger and better.

He waka eke noa,

Nga mihi nui