Term 2 2020

Kia ora whanau,

As we begin term 2 for 2020 things are remarkably different than we expected them to be at the start of the year.  We are currently in a nationwide lock down at Alert Level 4 in our response to COVID-19.  This means we are going to be teaching and learning from our homes to yours.  This is a very new experience for us as teachers and for students and yourselves.

We ask at this time that you and you students are patient with us as we iron out any kinks that may appear.

All teachers will be able to teach your students from home.  We have asked that they are available between the hours of  10:30am to 3pm each day to answer any student questions.  Students will also have a face to face lesson with each of their teachers once a week.

We are aware some of our students currently do not have devices and a small number do not have internet access.  We are working on getting the remaining school devices we have sent out to students - we have more than enough to cover the students who do not have them.  I have also requested Hard Copy learning materials be sent out to all of our students by the Ministry of Education to support the learning our teachers will provide.  The devices will be delivered by the YMCA staff who are part of providing an essential service.  We are thankful for their help with this.  The devices will start to be delivered from today and will be completed over the next few days.

We will be providing some information for NCEA students shortly particularly Year 11 students and we will also be publishing a schedule of when the online classes will be running as soon as our staff have had a chance to meet.  This will be added to facebook, our website on the Learning from home page and emailed to all students.

All google classroom codes and other information about Learning from Home for our students is found here: https://www.fvhs.school.nz/learning-home.

Arataki teachers have been asked to check in with all students in their Arataki group three times a week.  The Arataki teachers will be the first point of contact for students if they experience any difficulties including teachers not contacting them, not being able to access work, worries about their learning etc.

We are thankful to all parents and whanau for the support we know you have already given us and for the work you will continue to do with your children during this time.

We are encouraging students to get themselves into a routine and each day to complete learning for each of their subjects.

I would like to also publicly express my thanks to our staff who have done a fabulous job adjusting to this new way of being and many of whom have spent their holidays getting their learning up and running digitally.  To our support staff who will also be working in a different way while we are not at school - thank you!

All the very best with this new reality you find yourself in whanau.

Ngā mihi nui

Joss Hale

Principal