Tena koutou katoa. Nga mihi nui atawhai.

He is risen

The women found the stone rolled away

Found the tomb empty

He is risen, he is risen

The light for the world released

Hear the cry of the women,

He is risen, he is risen, he is risen.

We, women of Mercy, take up the cry

Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice.

Christ, our hope for the world

Our salvation and our strength is risen.

In the Easter scriptures and rituals, we find renewed hope in our world.

We began Term 2 this week, delivering our programmes of learning online. We planned and prepared for this over the past weeks, ensuring we have a balance between continuing the academic learning and the wellbeing of our students and staff, especially that sense of being a community of learning.

The pastoral care team sent information to all students recently to ensure that they still have access to pastoral supports. There is an online booking system set up for students to be able to have online interviews with deans, guidance counsellors, the learning support co-ordinator, the careers counsellor and other pastoral team members. This has been an incredible effort, considering all this work has had to be done remotely and during the term break. A huge thank you to the team.

We will work through our online timetable and systems and reassess early next week to see if there are any adjustments or improvements we can make.

There is a lot of discussion and speculation about how long this will all last and, if schools do reopen, how that will happen and what that might look like in both the short term and into the near future. We will keep you all updated as we are informed by the relevant authorities. Indications are that this decision might be clearer after Monday next week.

Keep safe in your bubbles and be kind to each other.