Board of Trustees CHAIRPERSON Mr Russ Brown, Board of Trustees Chairperson
As I write this reflection, COVID-19 has made an
so? These were the questions the board was asking
unwelcome return to our country. As we change
of the school. What we learned was that the staff
once again through alert levels, what has remained
of this college didn’t have the luxury of guesswork,
true has been the unifying mantra that ‘we have
they were prepared, just in case.
beaten this thing before and we will beat it again’, which can be heard echoing around the staffroom
This year has been anything but normal and I
and classrooms of Ōtūmoetai College.
would like to express my gratitude to Ōtūmoetai College staff on behalf of the board for all that they
Considering the year that has been, I would like to
have done, and continue to do in order to support
take this opportunity to acknowledge our staff for
and uphold our students learning and well-being.
their professionalism and duty of care they have so
Thank you for navigating this ‘new normal’ and for
ably demonstrated towards our students over these
providing an unwavering support to our students.
past few months. I appreciate the extra work it must
We are proud of you and your efforts!
have taken to set up distance learning programmes when we first went into lockdown. I salute your resilience in ensuring that our students would continue to learn, albeit from home. I also recognise the fact that our students have continued to receive high quality learning opportunities on their return to school, through Alert Level 2 and into Level 1. We were all getting used to life returning to normal when, seemingly out of nowhere, COVID-19 re-emerged, bringing with it new and complex challenges. Would we go back into lockdown? Would we resume distance learning? Are we ready to do
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