Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa. Kia ora, Hello, Talofa, Mālō e lelei, Bula, Hola, Fakaalofa atu, As Salam Alaykom, こんにちは, Hallo, Hoy, હ લ ો, Hē leu, Mauri, न म त, Ola , Chum reap suor, Kumusta, Nihao, Xin chào.

Dear Parents and Caregivers

It is with a heavy heart that I wish to express our joint condolences, sadness, thoughts and prayers to all the members of our Muslim community, and the wider Muslim community of Christchurch, following the tragic events of last week. I think the words of Jacinda Ardern express what we are all thinking and feeling;

"Our thoughts and our prayers are with those who have been impacted. Christchurch was the home of these victims. For many, New Zealand was not the place they were born, in fact for many New Zealand was their choice. It was the place they committed themselves to, where they were raising their families, where they were part of communities that they loved and who loved them. It was a place that many came to for its safety, a place where they were free to practice their culture and their religion.

"For those of you who are watching at home tonight and questioning how this could have happened here, we, New Zealand, we are not a target because we are a safe harbour for those who hate, we were not chosen for this violence because we condone racism, because we are an enclave for extremism, we were chosen for the fact we represent none of these things. Because we represent diversity, kindness, compassion, a home for those who share our values, refuge for those who need it.”

We have a number of Muslim families with children at Riccarton. While, as far as we know, none of their immediate family members are victims, our families have lost best friends, colleagues, neighbours, Mosque teachers and fellow worshippers. Our thoughts are with these families and all of our Muslim community. 

As-salāmu ʿalaykum - Peace be upon you.

At Riccarton we are a a melting pot of diverse religions and cultures. We are shocked by what has happened and stand united with our Riccarton Muslim families to support them and their children.

What does this look like at the moment?

• Keeping things normal at RPS. Caring for all of our learners.

• Following all of the advice from the experts as to how to best deal with trauma experienced by children. We have shared this with all parents as well.
  

• Generally looking after each other and reducing additional stress and worry where possible.

This Friday we will be holding a mufti day to raise money for the Muslim families affected by the tragic event. The money will go straight to the Mayor's fund.

The Lockdown

I thought it was best to go through the lock down process, so everyone understands what occured on Friday and why things happened the way they did.

Please note times are approximate:

At around 2.15pm we got a number of calls from concerned parents who knew of the shooting, asking if school was closing etc and if they could pick up their children. We even had some parents come in and immediately take their children. At this stage, we had not been put in to lockdown and did not know of the incident. At this time we found out details of the incident via the media online and circulated this amongst staff.

At around 2.25pm we were advised, via the Ministry of Education, that the New Zealand Police had instructed all Christchurch schools to go into immediate lockdown. This meant that the lockdown signal was given (which is a pulsing bell) and all staff and children were required to be locked into the closest classrooms until police had advised otherwise.

This was communicated to parents via text, email, the school facebook page and the school website. Obviously, due to the time of day, there were large numbers of parents here who were unaware of the lockdown. After consideration, we made the decision to ask these parents to either come into the school and be part of the lockdown, or  to leave.

Throughout the afternoon, we communicated with parents as updates were received from the Police, via the Ministry of Education. The lockdown was lifted around 6pm and this was communicated to all parents via the channels already mentioned above. There was a delay for some people in receiving this as some networks became overloaded.

Once again, I would like to commend our staff for how they handled Friday’s lock down. They were outstanding and professional. Our students, for the most part, were amazing as well and put in a long time at school on Friday! 99% of our parents were amazing and followed the police instruction which helped maintain a calmness for everyone. Unfortunately, we had 2-3 parents who decided that they would not follow the advice of the police and created added complications and stress for staff and students. In a debriefing this week with our police education officer, he has asked for any further dialogue with these parents about the lockdown, to be referred to him.

Some things to note:

• Do we have up-to-date telephone numbers and contact details for you?

• Do you follow the school Facebook Page? This was, and is, one of the best and most stable forms of communication.

• Not everything that needs to be communicated can be done at the same time - in a case like Friday, please keep regularly checking throughout the event.

• If you are not at school and we go into lockdown, please stay away. Parents turning up, in some circumstances, can serve to further unsettle children.

• Please don’t ring the school during a lockdown. This slows up our resources and ties up our telephone lines should the police need to communicate directly with us. 

Once again, a massive thank you to everyone!

Have a fantastic week and please encourage your children to be respectful, responsible, real learners. 

Ngā mihi nui
Paul Irving
Tumuaki - Principal