Kia ora parents, caregivers and whānau,

It’s been another busy term, and this edition of our Newsletter reminds us that regardless of Covid, influenza and reduced timetables, our students are fully engaged in the wide range of activities occurring in and out of the college.

It hasn’t been an easy term for us as we have struggled to manage the ongoing absence of teachers while still maintaining the necessary presence of a teacher in the classroom. Our very small pool of regular relief teachers has been amazing, and we are grateful for their ongoing availability and commitment. The daily pressure on teachers to cover the classes of absent colleagues has been a problem in almost every secondary school in the Wellington area, and probably throughout the country. We have tried to manage that with our reduced timetable, and this has certainly helped with the stress levels of our teachers by ensuring they have their planning and preparation time at school.

At this point, with COVID and influenza still impacting on teacher staffing, and predicting that this will not improve in the next month or so, we will be:

• continuing the reduced timetable for the first 2 weeks of Term 3. There will be some small changes - Ako Times will be the same length for all days of the week, interval will be slightly longer, and lunchtimes will be slightly shorter - but we will still finish at 2pm.

• continuing to wear masks at school, with the only exceptions being in PE, Dance and Drama Performances, and for those students who have an exemption.

Thank you for your understanding and support with these arrangements.

ERO (Education Review Office)

ERO maintains a regular review programme to evaluate and report on the education and care of young people in schools. A new model is now in place where ERO supports each school in a process of continuous improvement. This new approach involves an ERO evaluation partner working with the school to strengthen its systems, plans and practices through evaluation. UHC has started this process this week, welcoming our ERO evaluation partner, Christine Gold, to the school and starting the discussions and mahi to make our school an even better school for our students. We will keep you informed of our journey.

After a term that has provided so many challenges, I thank you all for your tolerance and patience, and hope the holiday break provides time to relax, refresh and recharge. I look forward to seeing everyone back next term.

Ngā mihi nui

Judith Taylor

Principal