Tena koutou katoa. Nga mihi atawhai nui.

Welcome back! After many long months, we are now preparing to welcome back our Year 7-10 students to onsite learning. For many of our students and their whānau, there is a tension between wanting to come back to school to see their friends, their classmates and their teachers in person, and the health and safety concerns that this time of Covid brings to us all.

To give you some reassurance, all of the adults onsite are now double vaccinated. Our current statistics show that over 80% of our student population is also double vaccinated. We are obviously putting other Health and Safety mitigations in place: mask wearing is mandatory for all people onsite, both students and staff; increased ventilation in the classrooms; hand sanitiser available and regular cleaning of hard surfaces. And, a reminder that, if anyone is feeling unwell, they stay at home.

Our focus for these few short weeks leading up to the summer break is on re-connecting our students to each other, their teachers and the College. It’s been a long time since we have been able to meet, face to face, and we want to make the most of this time.

“As we approach the end of this year, we do not evaluate it only through the sufferings, difficulties, and limitations caused by the pandemic. We glimpse the good received in each day, as well as the closeness and benevolence of people, the love of our loved ones, and the goodness of all those around us.” Pope Francis