Kia ora koutou

A few weeks ago it was SHOWQUEST, now it’s ROCKQUEST. I am so proud of all of our bands - MC1R, Caesium and Bad Revivals - who stepped up with massive performances attracting huge crowd support. For Bad Revivals to place 2nd in Canterbury was awesome, testament to the talent of our students and teachers Martin McDonald and itinerant music teachers. They are now busy working towards making national finals.

In addition to all the other actions, the PPTA have also chosen to hold their “Paid Union Meeting” at 9.00am on Wed 28 June. This means we will have to start lessons late, either 11.30 or 12.00 to be confirmed, and we can only really supervise a few students before that time. We know this means that most students will not come to school as bus times can’t be changed so we asked regional PPTA to consider rural schools and they refused. Personally, I’m gutted. In my opinion, the current set of PPTA actions are casting a threatening shadow over our sector and are not a good representation of most of the teachers I know. Tensions are high for everyone, with a glaring lack of caring leadership from both the Ministry of Education and PPTA.

Despite this, an amazing group of teachers are determined to bring some light into winter and are organising a Matariki Gala to coincide with one of our Open Evenings next Thursday 22 June (3.30 - 5.30). There will be hot food, student work on display and student performances. They’re doing this because we’re proud of our students and we enjoy our school community.

Also despite this, our pilot NCEA Literacy and Numeracy “Co-Requisite” exams went really well. Almost all students brought their laptop, which makes me optimistic that they could bring them for normal classes! My thanks to the organising team, especially Matt Maude, and to the parents who organised their children.

Congratulations to our Under 15 and 1st XV rugby teams this week, on their good wins over Greymouth High School. This was their last game in the Brockbank-Graves cup, placing us 3rd.

Noho ora mai (stay well / stay sane!)

Andy England

Key dates:

See https://darfield.school.nz/calendar/

Monday 19 June: PPTA strike - Years 9 and 10 stay home please (unless essential to be at school)

Tuesday 20 June: PPTA strike - Years 11 and 12 stay home please (unless essential to be at school)

Wed 21 June: PPTA strike - Years 9 and 13 stay home please (unless essential to be at school) AND no extra-curricular learning eg no sport (check case by case because this is only PPTA)

Thursday 22 June: PPTA strike - Years 10 and 11 stay home please (unless essential to be at school)

Friday 23 June - no rostering home we hope!!

Monday 26 June: PPTA strike - Years 12 and 13 stay home please (unless essential to be at school)

Tuesday 27 June: PPTA strike - Years 9 and 10 stay home please (unless essential to be at school)

Wed 28 June: PPTA strike - Years 11 and 12 stay home please (unless essential to be at school) AND Paid Union Meeting meaning lessons for remaining students start at 11.30 or 12.00 TBC

Thursday 29 June: PPTA strike - Years 9 and 13 stay home please (unless essential to be at school)

Friday 30 June - no rostering home we hope!! Last day of term