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Chair of the Board’s Statement
CHAIR’S STATEMENT
This year’s graduating students will soon leave our school after a tough year. One punctuated by the impact of COVID 19. 2020 is a year our leaver’s will remember forever. It was a disrupted academic year, they missed out on some of the highlights of a final year including sporting events, cultural activities, even a School Ball.
COVID impacted the School in many negative ways but there has also been a positive impact. The teaching staff responded effectively developing new ways to teach and engage with students, likewise pupils have learnt to work remotely and to use technology to connect with each other.
Most importantly our community has met a significant challenge together, one that will make our students stronger, more resilient people and kinder people. The type of people that any school should be proud to graduate. Our teachers and support staff rose to the challenge and through hardship developed new ways of teaching and caring for our students. Reflecting on this tough year we must acknowledge the difficulties but we are a stronger school now and that is important because Pukekohe High School plays a vital role in our community. It is our local secondary school and most local children will attend the school. So, this school must be as good as we can make it.
Improvement is a focus of the Board and senior management and a considerable amount of work has happened within the School this year to improve equity for Maaori and Pasifika, teaching practice, financial management and to build a strong culture of excellence. The Principal and the Senior Leadership Team have worked very hard and this year the Education Review Office (ERO) returned to the School. This year’s ERO report validates the work that has happened and confirms that we are moving in the right direction.
Like our leavers the school is poised to transition, to step into a new future. The school’s academic results are improving, discipline issues are being addressed and most importantly we can now plan for the future. The school and the Ministry of Education are already discussing how the school’s campus will be rebuilt to accommodate the growing roll. The Board is developing a new blueprint for the future and will be discussing it with the community next year. The school is changing and becoming fit for the future.
This year’s leavers are the same, prepared and ready but making their first steps into an uncertain future and the Board of Trustees says to them; kia kaha, kia maia, kia manawanui, be confident, brave and steadfast. The tough experiences of 2020 have been a fire that has helped temper you, surviving COVID’s disruptions with good humour has built resilience and perseverance that will be a feature of your character for ever.
In conclusion the new Board of Trustees farewells this year’s leavers and wishes all of them good luck. We thank the school staff and our community for the way that you supported them during 2020 and to next year’s students and their families we say join us in our journey to make Pukekohe High School the best school it can possibly be.
Ben Stallworthy
