A note from Damien

Kia ora Koutou katoa, how exciting is it that thanks to the hard work of our Team of 5 million we are heading back towards life as normal (what ever that looks like after Covid19). Lockdown has been a very interesting time to live through, one that our students will remember as a piece of their histories of their lives. 

As you will have read in the last couple of emails our team are well prepared for our Mounties to return to school on Monday the 18th. 

Please make sure if you are dropping them off you know which gate to go to, the process for entering our school grounds (all visitors to our site now need to sign in) or have a talk with your child(ren) about dropping them off at the gate and letting them make their way to class on their own. I'll be on a gate as will our 2 DPs Barbara and Damian (the other 1) so there will be a staff member to welcome them back to school each morning and help them to sanitise and head off to class. 

We have had a team of teachers preparing and planning a learning focus around transitioning back to life at Mount Primary and learning through The Arts to understand, process and share their experiences during lockdown. Please stay in touch with your child's teacher if you have any concerns of worries as they return to school. 

I'd also like to thank our team here at Mount Primary for their commitment and hard work under some very challenging circumstances to provide a distance learning programme that has been a really good mix of hauora, our Mountieisms and foundational curriculum. We have a great team here at Mount Primary and I am really proud of the way we've looked after our Mounties and provided many learning opportunities for them during our time of distance learning. 

Distance learning will still be available for students who are unable to return to school for medical reasons, this will be a little different to the previous distance learning as our teachers will be back teaching full days in their classes but will be a provision similar to our other distance learning but without the opportunity for Zooms or personalised learning through Study Ladder. Please email Heather in the office (heatherb@mtprimary.school.nz) if your child(ren) are not able to return to school. 

Thanks also to you our community for your understanding of the complex and ever changing situation we have been working in, we worked really hard and your positive feedback and support have been massively appreciated by our team. 

I'll look forward to seeing you all back on Monday! 

Yay