Kia ora koutou

The start of winter weather has highlighted the beautiful environment of our school this week. We are fortunate to have such well presented grounds. Breaks have seen students out playing sports or just hanging out in the warmth of early afternoon sun (or enjoying the warmth of our library).

We’re still working on our proposal for cellphone use, but most of the time it isn’t a problem for us because we do have a dominant good culture of being active. The weather hasn’t been so kind for sickness levels which are high. Thank you for your understanding when we couldn’t staff the full school on Wednesday and had to roster home Year 11. We’re aware that this adds pressures in homes and you’ll read later about new PPTA actions which will cause further problems.

RockQuest is on this Saturday at 7pm at the Ngaio Marsh Theatre, UC, Christchurch. It would be great to get some support for our three teams. Go Darfield High!!!

Alex the Darfield Barber has kindly cut me a beautiful mullet! Maybe I felt left out and just wanted to be more...Darfield. Actually, I want to make some fun and get it shaved off for the great cause of Shave For A Cure in August. Cancer of various sorts has had a huge impact in our school community and this is a way to show some support. You can sponsor me - or any of our Shave team - at https://www.shaveforacure.co.nz/t/darfieldhighschool

The PPTA have rejected their latest offer and decided to ramp up their industrial actions:

Continuing the relief ban
Extending the rostering home action to two year levels per day, Monday to Thursday
A ban on all work outside school hours, including responding to e-mails and meetings
A full day ban on participation in extracurricular activities on Wednesday 21 June
A ban on work related to preparation for NCEA changes by teachers who are not part of pilots, including PLD and engagement with the Ministry of Education and the NZ Qualifications Authority.

Point 2 is particularly disruptive to learning and school processes, as well as difficult for parents. While the union cannot tell schools to roster home, we have no choice as we don’t have enough non-union teachers to cover classes. So we will roster home on those days - the schedule is below and in our school calendars.

On Monday 12 June, we have a planned Advanced Workplace First Aid course which will go ahead.

We will still run our pilot NCEA literacy and numeracy assessments and students entered for those will need to get to school (buses will run and an email has been sent home) but will also need to be collected or leave the school site afterwards. Please note that Wednesday will move to 9am so students can get buses to school (but will need to leave when they finish). This may limit attendance for some families - this is frustrating but there will be a chance to do the assessment at a later stage.

We believe that sport will largely be unaffected as teachers volunteer their time for this but other schools may take a different approach so please watch for comms team by team.

We will continue with our Open Evenings on 21 and 22 June (3.30 - 4.30pm).

We will also be holding a Matariki evening on Thursday 22 June from 3.30 - 5.30pm where we’ll showcase a range of student work and talent, eat and just enjoy being together. The staff team organising this are doing an amazing job and it will be a great opportunity to connect and enjoy student performances, work and some shared kai (food).

I am worried for our teachers who feel terrible about the effect of these actions on students and actually on us as staff and you as parents. In my view, PPTA Executive has led this industrial action in a way that is unnecessarily disruptive to students and it is all of us who will pay the price. Yes, the government and Ministry of Education need to do better and teachers certainly need better conditions, but I am certain there are better ways for PPTA to achieve these goals and I am sure we will now face another big hurdle to deal with students further disengaged from learning. If you wish to share your concerns directly with PPTA, their email address is enquiries@ppta.org.nz and phone number 04 384 9964.

Please be considerate to our teachers who are working hard to keep a positive and engaging learning environment at school.

Noho ora mai (stay well / stay sane!)

Andy England

Key dates:

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

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

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

Wed 14 June: PPTA strike - Years 10 and 11 stay home please (unless essential to be at school)

Thursday 15 June: PPTA strike - Years 12 and 13 stay home please (unless essential to be at school)

Friday 16 June - no rostering home we hope!!