Author: director

Tuesday 21 April Kia ora koutou With the Prime Minister’s announcement yesterday afternoon that the country will be moving to Alert Level 3 from 11.59pm on Monday 27 April, we are now able to start the process of preparing for what learning at Ao Tawhiti will look like from Wednesday 29 April. The important message […]

Monday 20 April I hope you’ve all had an enjoyable weekend. It’s certainly going to be an interesting week. At Ao Tawhiti we’re finishing up our work from last term this week and getting prepared to start Term 2.1 courses next week. Last Week of 1.2 Firstly a reminder that this is the last week […]

Update Government Announcement – Level 3 and schools You are likely to have heard the Prime Minister outline the high level descriptions of COVID-19 alert levels, with a focus on alert level 3. It’s important to remember that we are still at level 4. The Ministry of Education contacted schools last night to say the following. There […]

Thursday 16 April Thanks I checked in with a handful of the LAs yesterday and all of them really enjoyed catching up with their homebase students. It was clear from speaking with my homebase students that as parents you’re doing a fantastic job of juggling your extremely challenging circumstances while also keeping your children engaged […]

Update Welcome back to school. It’s certainly going to be an interesting experience as we all find our way as we learn from home. I’ve already been asked about a dozen times this morning, when school will be starting up “for real”. The short answer is that we are back “for real” now. The learning […]

Monday 13 April 2020 Kia ora whanau I hope you are all keeping well and finding simple ways to enjoy the lockdown.  It’s certainly been an interesting experience watching my neighbourhood cope with our nationwide restrictions – mostly by walking around our community in numbers that I’ve never seen before.  I feel like there are […]

Dates for Term 2.1 courses Just for clarity, Term 1.2 classes will run until 24 April. This allows students time to finish the work provided online and in class earlier this month. Term 2.1 courses will start on 28 April. Hopefully we’ll be back at school by then! NCEA Due Date Extension Due to the […]

Wednesday 25 March 2020 Learning from home Our fantastic LAs are super keen to be as supportive of you and your child’s learning needs as possible.  With that said, please remember that they are only human (awesome humans but humans nonetheless) and are also experiencing this lock down just as you are.  All of them are […]

24 March 2020 We hope you are all doing well and settling down for the interesting times ahead. School Holidays School holidays are being brought forward so that they are completed within the 4 week lock-down period. Holidays will now begin from Monday 30 March to Tuesday 14 April inclusive (a reminder that the Tuesday […]

23 March 2020 This afternoon the Prime Minister announced that all schools will be closed from tomorrow morning. Children of identified essential services workers are able to attend school for the next two days. All schools will be closed for instruction from Wednesday 11.59pm for 4 weeks. We are currently awaiting further information from the […]

Sunday 22 March 2020 Monday preparation As you will all be aware, the government announced that New Zealand has moved to Alert Level 2 – Reduce Contact for COVID-19. Schools are to remain open at this level. With that in mind we are making plans for how to best manage our requirement to remain open.  At present […]

20 March 2020 Kia ora koutou With so much information and misinformation swirling around about COVID-19, I wanted to share with you what will happen if we were to have a case in our school community. We have been planning for this and are in a position to respond quickly. We know COVID-19 feels scary […]

As you will know the Ministry of Health’s Director-General announced the second confirmed case of COVID-19 in New Zealand.   The parent of two students – one at Westlake Boys High and one at Westlake Girls High – has been confirmed with coronavirus (COVID-19). While this is concerning for everyone, there is no risk to […]

It’s been a great start to the year but something’s been missing. All of our students have set up their plan for the first term but Monday marks the first time in 2020 that all of our students will be on site at the same time. With that in mind we thought it would be […]

Kia ora koutou As you will have seen in the media the situation concerning the coronavirus is rapidly evolving internationally. In response to this we have been requested by the Ministry of Education (MOE) and Ministry of Health to err on the side of caution. This is a new virus and its specific nature is […]

Start of Year Important Dates The first three weeks of the year are filled with a number of hugely important dates for our students. Term 1, Week 1: Starting FRIDAY 31 JANUARY 2020 Friday 31 January: Homebase selection day TERM 1, WEEK 2: STARTING MONDAY 3 FEBRUARY 2020 Monday 3 February: Teacher Only Day [School […]

The first IEMs (Individual Education Meetings) for 2020 are scheduled for Tuesday the 4th of February and Wednesday the 5th of February. The IEM is the most important element of a student’s learning journey and it is essential that you book one. For our IEM booking process we are using the “School Interviews” system. To […]