Tēnā koutou whānau, parents and friends of TGC

Face to Face Onsite Learning Continues

We continue to operate with onsite learning and learning from Google Classroom for those students who are isolating or are COVID positive. With the new seven day isolation period underway on Friday, we hope to have more students well and back in at school through next week. Our roll numbers have fluctuated over the last few weeks but more senior students are now back in school after a wave of 16-18 year old students tested COVID positive.

Should we have staffing shortages, we will once again move into rostering senior students home. Please keep an eye on our Instagram and Facebook page for those quick updates.

Managing wellbeing under a COVID-19 context

We are very aware that gaps in learning are starting to appear as students who are sick and isolated for 10 days have not been able to complete classwork in the normal way. Teachers too are feeling the pressure of this as many are juggling their own families who have been impacted by the virus. This is a nationwide issue.

Here at TGC, we continue to change programmes of learning and modify courses and offer catchup as we can. Until the outbreak reaches its peak and tapers off, the disruption will be ongoing for a little longer. We thank you for your understanding at this time but be assured we are well aware of the issues and are focusing on what we can control. Students and staff simply need to be well before returning to school and work.

International Student update

You may have heard that an initial group of international students may be able to come to NZ later this year. This is exciting news for our school which has a long standing commitment to international students. We value the richness that they also bring to our school and of what we add to their experience. Thank you to Mrs Clifford, our International Director, for her ongoing support and of her support of the 13 students that have chosen to stay with us.

International Women's Day

On Tuesday 08 March we celebrated International Women's Day, a focus on women and girls. We celebrated the influential women whom our five Houses are named after and had also gifted every student a house badge. Whina, Mansfield, Te Auetu, Batten and Sheppard were all College aged once before and their legacy lives on well after their passing. Here at TGC we are inspired by them but also have the responsibility to uphold their mana and contribute to “empowering tomorrow's women for a different today” as stated by our schools vision statement.

More than a Badge

This week we were especially pleased to be sharing with and gifting to all staff and students the last piece of our House revisioning. Today, I share the narrative that sits alongside our House badges and the significance they hold with our wider TGC community.

Our House badges have been designed with inspiration from tangata whenua. The poutama pattern that is featured is a pattern familiar to us in weaving and more specifically in tukutuku panels; it can be seen in our own Te Whare Wānanga o Mereaira.

The poutama pattern has both spiritual and educational purposes. It signposts a journey to seek knowledge and enlightenment and identifies the pathway of trajectory shown through the upward movement of the stairway.

We see the poutama design as significant also to our upholding of the mana of our House namesakes. Jean Batten, Te Auetu Harata Hall, Dame Whina Cooper, Katherine Mansfield and Kate Sheppard, embody what it means to journey upward with the betterment and growth of others in mind.

Our House badges are taonga. They are valued by us both culturally and socially. They connect us all as kaitiaki of our kura.  

Kia kaha to our TGC community and thank you for your ongoing support.