Kia ora koutou

This term has been a really tough one for our kura. In week one, two of our teachers were injured in a serious car accident while commuting home from the Invercargill classroom. After three weeks in critical care our much loved team member, Zara Heath, sadly passed away. This has been a devastating loss for Zara’s family and friends, and for our kura. You will find a profile of Zara in this newsletter. She was a talented teacher who was loved and respected by her students and by her colleagues. She will be greatly missed.

Eve O’Neill, leader of the Aoraki team (which covers the West Coast, South Canterbury, North Otago and Central Otago), was also injured in the accident and has been recovering at home. Much of her role has been temporarily picked up by Deputy Principal, Learne McArthur.

Needless to say, the loss and disruption caused by this accident has been immense. Please be aware that some things may happen more slowly than what is ideal as we work to cover the huge gaps created, at a time of year when new admissions into our kura are at their peak.

We have been very busy with a large number of new admissions into the school with our roll currently sitting at over 430 students. It is always our aim to process new enrolments as quickly as possible, however the availability of teachers may impact on our ability to place students.

Like other schools we have been experiencing a lot of illness among staff and students. If your child is unwell, please keep them at home, use facemasks as appropriate and practice safe handwashing. All the learnings from Covid stand true now as we navigate flu season.

A number of school policies are up for review this term. See the accompanying article if you wish to participate in this review.

On August 27 we will be holding our final brand launch, this time at the Dunedin classroom. We are looking forward to hosting representatives of the many organisations we work with in the Otago region who support our students. Also on that day, we will be holding our ‘away’ Board meeting with our school board meeting on the Dunedin site. Coming in online for that meeting will be our two new student representatives, Hannah Brookes and Abbey Wilson, who have been co-opted onto the board to ensure we incorporate student voice in our decision making. Profiles of these former students can be found in this newsletter.

In our classrooms and workspaces around the motu, our teachers have been working really hard to provide great programmes of learning for our students. Thank you for your ongoing support of our school as we go about our work. Many challenges have been coming our way of late, and many of you will be well used to that yourselves. Our priority, as always, is ensuring that our students and their wellbeing are at the heart of everything we do, reflecting our school value of Whakaoranga.

Ngā mihi

Linda