Thank you Dorothy Burt

I am just sharing my email message response to Dorothy Burt (Manaiakalani)


Kia ora Dorothy,

I trust that you and whānau are safe and well. Thank you for your email and for keeping me up to date with the Manaiakalani support. 

Hangouts:
We had already organised Hangout meetings with our Pandemic response team, which includes senior leaders, PPTA, NZEI, Board and Student representation before the school closures. So our initial planning was already in place. Our Curriculum leaders had a Hangout during the last week of Term 1.

We have scheduled Hangout meetings this week in preparation for the start of Term 2 with Curriculum leaders, the Guidance Network Team, and our Board.

I am glad that our school is one of the Manaiakalani outreach schools and that I had completed the DFI course in 2019. I am appreciative of the skills and capabilities that I learnt from DFI. I have been sharing my knowledge with many of my staff, to their surprise!

Before the lockdown, I announced to staff that the tools in Google suite would be the principal conduit to connecting with our whanau. For a couple of reason: every student, staff, and board member has access to Google tools, and we have ICT support from Fusion. Our school website will be the central portal for our students and whānau. I was concerned that teachers would use other platforms with their learners. The message to my staff was clear.

Limit the Links:
I plan to reinforce your message ‘Limit the Links’ excellent sound advice. My challenge is to get the same message across to all teachers of Mairehau HS. Many of my teachers need to be upskilled in the use of Google tools; however,  the cluster PLD (Jan 28), Mark and Sharon would have helped many of our teachers to prepare for this exceptional event. 

Principal visibility:
I also need to be visible to my community and will begin to update our school website during the week and after our Hangout meetings. I have already sent a couple of messages to my parents. (via email, school website and my blog). Parents are sending me emails/ texts of support and appreciate being updated about next steps.

I have been busy with MOE and MOH updates. Most importantly making sure my students and staff are well. I had already implemented the payroll provisions before the Secretary of Education announcement, thanks to my Board. The underlying message is let us put people first.

Ngā mihi kia koe
Keep on sending your messages, Dorothy. I do not plan to join your PLD Hangouts as I have already scheduled my own. I feel supported by you and your team, fantastic.

Take CARE Dorothy, stay safe, keep well, and all the best to your whānau.





Naku noa,

Harry Romana
Principal
Mairehau High School