From the Principal
The PPTA Te Wehengarua has advised the Board of Trustees of Waikato Diocesan School for Girls that teachers at our school will join their colleagues across New Zealand in a national one-day strike on Thursday, 16 March, as a result of a breakdown in collective agreement negotiations.
Although Dio will be closed for in-class instruction, onsite supervision will be available for boarding and day students.
Please complete this Google form ASAP if your daughter/s requires supervision on this day.
Due to the strike's timing, boarding families will potentially double their travel to the school - collect students Wednesday evening, drop back Thursday night, and collect Friday evening again for the planned Exeat weekend. Supervision will be available in A Block classrooms and the Library in the day school on Thursday, 16 March. However, we are happy to discuss how this could work best for you and your daughter/s. Please get in touch with the Director of Boarding, Jackie Smith, jsmith@wdsg.school.nz, to discuss this.
I appreciate that this strike may inconvenience parents and students alike, and thank you for your support.
Consent2Go
We are excited to announce that we will soon offer our families Consent2Go. This digital solution easily enables you to keep your child’s health records accurate and provide consent for school events, excursions and camps in a secure and timely manner. We are always looking for ways to enhance our student care, and after careful evaluation of our requirements and providers in the market, we have decided to use this solution.
Consent2Go is a direct provider of services to the school and must comply with our Privacy Policy. The system is used in many other schools across Australia and New Zealand and is proven to be highly effective.
Why are we changing?
For student safety, it is vital that their information is as up-to-date as possible and complies with government regulations; the processes we currently use to support this are complex and time-consuming for all involved. Consent2Go will replace our current process and will be the channel that informs you about school incursions, excursions and camps, allows you to provide your consent and be the collection point for student health information.
It has an easy-to-use parent interface, including a parent app, and I’m confident you will find it a much easier process for your child/children.
When will this change occur?
We are working through our implementation schedule and looking to introduce the new system in Term 2. We will email you again closer to this time and provide further instructions on using the new system.
Cancellation of Athletics Day
I know that some in our community were frustrated and disappointed with the cancellation of Athletics Day. Unfortunately, outdoor events are always at the mercy of the weather, and the decision to cancel Athletics Day was not taken lightly. We knew we'd made the correct call when the rain arrived, as predicted, just before lunch.
Safety is the central factor in deciding whether to cancel or delay an event and prevent accidents and other problems caused by inclement weather. Due to this being an offsite event, various logistical elements must also be considered. As you will appreciate, many hours of planning and organisation are behind any large event.
From a health and safety perspective, many field and track events would not have been able to take place. It would have been irresponsible to proceed and risk a student's injury.
From a logistics point of view, transporting students back to Dio in the wet weather would have been an enormous task. Not to mention our need to consider our boarding school needs.
We understand that these whole school calendar events set the tone for the year and play a major part in our student's physical and emotional well-being. We are fortunate at Dio to have many events and activities throughout the year that nurture our student’s Hauora. We are planning a House afternoon onsite on 23 March, where we take some of the best from Athletics Day and participate in fun events to build House and school spirit further. I want to acknowledge my staff's hard work and dedication that makes these events possible.
For our competitive athletes, seeing you participating in this week's central zone athletics was a highlight for me.
I wish our rowers well as they head to Lake Karapiro this weekend to compete in the North Island Regatta. These young women have trained extremely hard in what is considered one of the ultimate team sporting codes.
I would also like to acknowledge the many hours our production cast and crew team have put into the major Dio production of A Midsummer Night's Dream with a punk twist! Tickets are now on sale on Monitor (accessible via our school website). And, after putting my nose into some of the rehearsal time, I highly recommend you come along.
Finally, the school population will grow tomorrow, with over 900 visitors registered for the annual Open Day for prospective students and their whaanau. It is a great opportunity to showcase "our place" and celebrate all that is Dio. I would suggest that given the large volume of traffic on site tomorrow, you may like to organise to collect your daughter/s off the campus (bottom of River Rd hill, Clarkin Rd) and avoid any potential traffic congestion.
Wishing you a happy and restful weekend.
Mary Curran
Principal