T1 W5 - Highlights from the Principal... (in Isolation!):
Well it has been an interesting 10 days working from home and not one I wish to repeat anytime soon! From my family to yours, thank you to our community for your messages of support and well wishes and I am glad to say that my family and I have come out the other side of Covid all in one piece and ready and rested to return to school next week (Covid-free)! To our families in isolation right now - kia kaha - you got this!
The team at school have done a great job in my absence and the saying goes that 'Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini - My strength is not as an individual, but as a collective' and it was this collective that kept things stable and steady on this front so thanks team!
I have been keeping an eye on the number of absences and would like to reiterate that although we have students and families impacted by COVID, the numbers at this stage remain very very low. Families are notifying us promptly of household cases
or positive COVID tests and indications are that transmission is occurring at home and in social settings, rather than at school. The measures in place at school (masks, ventilation, frequent cleaning
of hard surfaces, high rates of vaccination) are helping to keep students and staff safe.
We have some important school events coming up so please make a note on your calendars:-
* Friday 11th March - Formal Assessment Reports coming home.
* Monday 14th March - Parent-Teacher Phone Interviews. More info will come out on Monday about how you can book a time slot.
* Thurs 17th March - Yr 4-8 Swimming Sports at Otorohanga Pools
* Friday 25th March - Maihiihi School Triathlon
Information will be sent out closer to the events listed above.
Unfortunately, we have had to cancel our annual Maihiihi School Trail Ride. The compliance requirements for group gatherings at Alert Levels Red & Orange just made it too difficult to run safely. We are all gutted about this and I would like to thank Nicki Raffills, Jeff Greenaway and Luke Edwards for the many, many hours of hardwork they put in to try and make this event work. This is our largest annual fundraiser and a tradition of Maihiihi School and we hope to be able to run this again next year - a big loss for our school this year for sure.
On a positive note, we hope to be able to run another large fundraising event later this year, when levels allow so please support us when this happens.
Take care everyone and enjoy your weekend, until next week,
Vanessa.