Kia ora Parents/Caregivers,
We are really appreciating the finer weather this week has enabled many activities such as tree planting, visiting tertiary institutions, ropes courses, and winter sport to go ahead.
As you may have read or seen in the national news, schools have been severely impacted by the ongoing effects of COVID 19. The additional effects of influenza, and other winter illnesses means that we have started the term with a high number of teachers absent from their classes.
We believe that the first half of the term may be where we are hit the hardest and we want to ensure that when your students come to school they always have staff members who are fit and healthy who can support them with their learning.
With this in mind, we wish to advise that from tomorrow Thursday August 4, Papanui High School will be starting at 9:15 (Period 2) for all students. This will continue until Friday August 12 whereby we will review and send out new communication.
These are exceptional circumstances through which we have endeavoured and will continue to try and offer all students the full range of learning opportunities. Decisions to change the school day are not made lightly.
The purpose of reducing the timetable for a short period of time is to allow staff and students to focus on their well-being and to ensure that we have enough staff to cater for the varied activities that we will continue to offer every day.
Supervision can be provided at school for students who still need to be onsite before 9:15am. Senior students who are working independently on assessments or study will also be able to be accommodated at school should they need to be. Any prearranged EOTC that leaves before Period 2, will still go ahead as scheduled.
We thank you for your ongoing support and understanding. If your student or someone in your household has Covid please let us know by emailing [email protected]
A reminder that Academic Conferences are next Thursday and caregivers will have received information about how to book these. They are a fantastic opportunity to make connections and be a part of your child’s learning journey
Ngā mihi
Stacey Fry – Associate Principal
