Kia ora parents, caregivers and whanau

Firstly, I hope you are all well, and safe in your bubbles. It’s been an amazing time, from the announcement of a Level 4 lockdown less than 2 weeks ago, to the move to Level 3 in a few days’ time. I’m really pleased and proud of how seamlessly our staff have moved into Learning@Home mode. From our experiences in last year’s lockdown, we know that our students’ wellbeing over lockdown is crucial, and we have modified and adjusted our requirements and expectations accordingly. This is about ensuring our students stay positive but focussed, have learning to do that is manageable and meaningful, and that they return to school feeling able and equipped to take on the rest of the term and year. If you have any concerns about how your child has fared over this period, please contact the Ako teacher in the first instance.

My thanks go out to all of our parents and caregivers for your support over these difficult times, and I appreciate the feedback that we are receiving. It isn’t always easy to get teenagers to do their schoolwork, less so when we are in lockdown, but my teachers tell me that there is good engagement and involvement in many areas. We’re looking forward to having everyone back at school and getting on with things again!

As we return to school, we will continue to abide by all the requirements of health and safety, and I’ll let you know more about this as official information is released by the Ministry of Education. On the learning side, it would be good for students to bring their own devices to school if possible, at least for the remainder of the term. We have distributed a large number of school chromebooks to students who have no access to devices at home, and this will impact on the availability of the sets of chromebooks that are used by teachers on a period-by-period basis. Having their own device at school will ensure students continue with their learning without short-term disruption.

As we move into the second half of this term, our senior students (suddenly!) realise that the end of the year is moving closer! There are some changes in dates of events, resulting from the NCEA exam period being moved back 2 weeks. For seniors, the most important of these changes is that our Senior Practice Exams have been moved back to the last week of Term 3. We still plan to have a senior parent-teacher meeting evening early in Term 4. Updated information on events will be available on the school website and in further communications with home.

On the administration side, I know that many parents and caregivers will still be wanting to enrol 2022 Year 9 students at Upper Hutt College, and are mindful of our request to have enrolments in by 23 August. We are continuing to accept enrolments so please don’t panic! You can email them to our wonderful Enrolment Officer – Kirsten Hicks – hicksk@upperhutt.school.nz.

I hope you enjoy this edition of the newsletter – it’s a reminder of all the wonderful things that our students have been doing this term, both in and out of the classroom. I was especially impressed by the experiences of our students on their Duke of Edinburgh tramp to the Tararua’s recently (more detail in this newsletter), hence the choice of photo for this article - some of the students atop a snow-covered Mt Holdsworth!

Keep safe.

Ngā mihi nui

Judith Taylor

Principal