Kia ora tātou

Thank you for your understanding in having our Year 10-12 students working from home last week, and I hope they managed to add in some extra housework and cooking for you at the same time!

We continue to work in a complex environment and we are averaging about 25% absences daily. Within the data we are keeping, it becomes quite obvious which year levels have peaked or are heading back into a new increase in numbers. At the moment, we are not needing to make any other remote learning changes, however if the number of affected staff increase, we may need to do so.

We give out many masks every day to students who have forgotten or lost their own masks. Please ensure your child has their mask ready to take to school every day. We have also now received a supply of RAT tests for student use, and these can be sent home with a student to use the test under your supervision and in your care if they are showing symptoms and need to leave school. If you don’t have any tests at home and you are worried your child may be positive, please collect one from the college office when you pick your child up.

Yesterday morning, a group of students attended staff briefing to talk to us all about hybrid learning and how it is working out for them. It is important that we hear student voice. Our well intentioned and well thought out plans for students sometimes don’t hit the mark for various reasons and I would like to thank the students, led by Olive Scurr, Academic Prefect, who were able to offer suggestions for improvement and let us know what is not working at their end when learning from home when the rest of the class is in school.

Our Year 13 students are very competently managing the Relay Your Way (Relay for Life) event being held today. Our first group through so far as I write this, the year 11 and 12s, did a fantastic job and some achieved a good number of laps. It was also good to see a very reverent approach to the remembrance aspect of the event, with candles being lit on the steps of the Cathedral for those in families lost to cancer. We would like to say a very big thank you to all of our parents and whānau for their support of this fundraising. I imagine there are very few famlies who will not have been touched by cancer in some way.

Next week, our online parent-teacher interviews begin for whānau. The support offered at home for our learners is crucial to their success. A strong three-way partnership – home, school, learner – has been shown to increase progress and achievement. The interviews are a chance to strengthen the learning journey for our young people. I encourage you to catch up with the various teachers in your child’s life. We also hope that having an online format will make this opportunity more accessible for you at present. Be patient with us however – it is our first time attempting this model!

This week in the Church calendar is week four of Lent. Caritas has put out a very useful Lenten Resource to support prayer and reflection during Lent. The gospel reading for the 4th Sunday of Lent was the parable of the prodigal son, which is a very familiar gospel story. It is timely then, that in our leadership team meetings at school we have been discussing some further restorative training for staff to refresh and upskill as the year goes on. I am a firm believer that a Catholic school, if living its values, needs to use restorative processes, and reflect the mercy shown by Jesus and take heed of the messages in the gospels. And so, let us pray this week from the Caritas booklet:

“E te Atua o te manaakitanga, God of hospitality, at times we wander from you, and you call us home. You always rejoice in those who are lost but now are found. Open our hearts to those to whom you are offering a fresh start. Amene.”

Enjoy the extra hour in your weekend as daylight saving finishes!

Take care and God bless.