Principal's Message

Welcome back to Term Two and a very different looking Term Two it is! As I look back on my last newsletter mid-March, I admit that I did not see myself writing the next one in lockdown a month later.

My comments this week are focussed on gratitude. We have an amazing team of people at Kavanagh College and it is times like the present that this becomes so obvious. Although we have just come out of two weeks of school holidays, I know that many of our staff haven’t taken much time at all for themselves. Behind the scenes, the preparation to go fully online for our teaching this term has been challenging. There is a big difference between providing a blended curriculum of online and face to face instructional teaching within a physical classroom setting, and rewriting units of work and reorganising the year plan to be fully remote. I would like to thank all our staff who have worked so hard in the last couple of weeks to pull this together.

Thank you to our Year 13s – what wonderful leadership! If you haven’t seen the assemblies they have continued to put together weekly since school closed, then you are certainly missing out. These videos are being emailed to all students on a Wednesday and also uploaded to Facebook. Be sure to check them out. It is important during a time like this, that our students’ sense of belonging and wellbeing is strong. We hope that these assemblies are contributing to this.

On a personal note, and a reflection that is being reiterated across various forums, I am appreciating the quality time (although the quality comes and goes some days!) that I am spending with my family. Unfortunately, we only have two of our four children at home with us during lockdown, but it is time I did not expect to have with any of them and I am treasuring it. I am aware that lockdown life, and its many complexities, is bringing significant challenges to many families and I hope that somewhere in amongst the messiness of this time, you are finding the special moments and are able to make the most of them.

On behalf of our college community thank you to all of you who are essential workers and are continuing to work in public settings during this time. I know that many of our senior students have been working in supermarkets over the lockdown and this will have presented some new challenges for them too.

A few reminders as we move into remote learning for term two:

· Please ensure you have read the parents’ guide to remote learning that was sent to you by email last Thursday. I hope that you can use it as a reference guide during this time.

· Our counsellors, Liz Cameron and Ross McKinnon, continue to be available to students, parents and staff if there is a need to talk through any wellbeing or pastoral concerns. Their email addresses are on our website if you would like to email them.

· Your child’s tutor teacher is the first point of contact for any general enquiries or concerns.

· Learning programmes are continuing during this time. The work being done by your child is not extra, or simply a ‘time filler’. Once we return to school, it will be expected that your child has completed the learning necessary to move onto the next part of the year’s programme. Please encourage and expect good habits and self-discipline during this period.

· All year 9-13 students received a google form to fill in that requested their mobile numbers so we can add them to our system. The reason for this is in the parent and student guide. Please encourage your child to return this information as quickly as possible so we can complete this information for staff.

Take care of yourselves, and may we reflect on the positives rather than the negatives of our current situation.

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. Amen”

Ngā mihi nui,

Kate Nicholson

Theme for 2020 “Do the little things well’

‘Ahakoa he iti he pounamu’ (Although small it is highly treasured)