Kia ora koutou
Welcome to the first of our digital newsletters for 2022. Now that we are operating under the Orange setting, we are able to resume most of the activities that were not able to take place during the first term of 2022. We hope that this format of newsletter reflects the diversity and richness of curricular and co-curricular life at PHS. Please contact [email protected] if you have a story or achievement, that has a connection with our school, and that you would like to see featured in the next issue of the newsletter in 3 weeks’ time.
One of our key aims this year is to reinvigorate school and house spirit that has been impacted by Covid restrictions over the last two years. This is crucial to promoting pride in our school and to motivating our young people to achieve success. We will have more specific detail to share in our next newsletter on our school houses. For now, it’s wonderful to see the winter sports season in full swing and to read about the range of cultural groups operating in our kura.
The priority for the next two terms, particularly for senior students, is working consistently towards their academic goals. Students will have started to receive assessment results and will be able to determine whether they are on track to meet success. The senior parent-teacher meetings on Tuesday 24th May from 2:30pm to 7:30pm and Thursday 2nd of June 2022 from 2:30pm to 7:30pm are an ideal time for parents to get a good understanding of progress to date. We look forward to welcoming as many of you as possible at those two evenings.
Clearly, Covid is still circulating in our community. We ask that your child continues to bring a mask to school every day. There may be times that we’ll ask them to wear a mask– for example, when we are having an assembly in the hall. If there are a high number of cases at school or in the community, we may ask that for a period of time students return to wearing masks indoors. Please continue to notify the school if your child tests positive for COVID-19 or is a household contact and needs to isolate. You must stay home for 7 days if you test positive. Day zero is when you tested positive and you can return to school on Day 8 if you have no symptoms.
Although we are endeavouring to have all year levels at school, staff illness may require the school to roster students home again. We will give parents/caregivers and students as much notice as possible if this is the case.
Ngā mihi nui,
Richard Barnett
