Nga mihi nui kia koutou katoa. Welcome to the Westland High School newsletter for April 2022.

Tēnā koutou katoa, warm greetings to you all

Dear Parents/Whanau and students

As the term comes to an end I must thank the staff for the hard work that has been put in over the past ten weeks, the teaching environment has been challenging with COVID to contend with and the many disruptions this has caused. The staff have made many accommodations to ensure the school has continued to run smoothly and they now deserve a well earned holiday break. If you are travelling this holiday break, enjoy the time with family and friends. I also thank the students and families for their patience during this time as it has not been easy with the many changes. 

We welcome new staff members to our team this month, Miss Ketaki Gharat teacher of physics and science, and Mr Brijen Parikh as our new Sports Coordinator. We look forward to getting to know both of them over the next few months and hope they enjoy their new lives with us here on the beautiful West Coast.  We also thank Miss Holly Lindsay for her assistance with physics and science during term one.

We have great news that school sport can return to normal now. There may be some requirements on a case by case basis for masks to be worn, however, students and or supports will be advised of this where required. Vaccine passes are no longer required. Again with all school based activities we will always consider the Health and Safety requirements for any event.

This weekend is also netball opening day, so if you are out and about head to the Sports hub and support all the players, coaches and officials. Good luck to all our students and staff who are playing this weekend. It will be a great day.

It is pleasing to see the majority of students have very good attendance, on that note a reminder to students that a 95% attendance is required to represent the school for non-curricular activities such as sports teams and the school ball and extra curricular field trips.

Attendance can be checked at any time by logging onto the parent portal (contact the school office if you need access), attendance is also included in the end of term reports that have been progressively sent home over the past few days.

The winter months are almost upon us following a glorious spell of weather, this is a reminder as the days become cooler. A reminder to those students who choose not to wear correct school uniform, whilst this is a small number of students, we do remind everyone that Red Street Wear in town have a good selection of uniform including warm jackets and jerseys available. Between now and next term is a good time to purchase any winter items. There is no excuse for students not to be in correct uniform, students who choose to wear non uniform items will have these items confiscated, and the items will be sent to the school office to be collected by a caregiver. Should parents have difficulty affording uniform talk to the school in the first instance, there is on occasion assistance available.

“The most effective way to do it, is to do it”. Amelia Earhart

Ngā mihi nui
Iain Murray
Principal