Principal's Message

Tuesday 24 March

Most staff on site preparing for the closure

Students may be contacted by teachers to come and collect physical packs for learning in some subjects

Contact the office asap if you are unable to have learning happen at home due to the absence of the internet or a device

School is open for students to collect belongings – come in via the office and sign in on the sheet provided

Wednesday 25 March (open until 4pm)

Some staff on site preparing for the closure

All students required to stay at home except children of essential workers if they need them to be at school (let us know by ringing the office if we are to expect your child in the morning)

Students may be contacted by teachers to come and collect physical packs for learning in some subjects

School is open for students to collect belongings - come in via the office and sign in on the sheet provided

Thursday and Friday 26 and 27 March – School is closed

During this period, nobody will enter the buildings and the office phones will be diverted to a personal mobile. We ask that you email rather than ring unless in extreme circumstances.

All information out from the school will be via email, and on the website and Facebook as appropriate. If you wish to contact individual staff, all email addresses are on the website.

Learning for Thursday and Friday

All staff will trial various platforms and make contact with each of their classes at least once during these two days. Some students may already have work to continue with, others may be given work during these two days, others may simply do a check in with their teacher to understand the way that learning will happen for them in a couple of weeks.

It is important that students are checking emails and are online throughout these days in some capacity, so they are connecting in with their teachers.

Monday 30 March – Tuesday 14 April

Easter School Holidays brought forward

Wednesday 15 April onwards

Full online learning will happen including tutor teacher check-ins with their classes for pastoral care.

More information will be sent out prior to this date to allow you to understand how this will work.

Pastoral Care and Support

These aspects are very important to our college community and we want to ensure that all our young people and their families feel well supported during this time. Please feel free to contact the deans and tutor teachers if you need any support for your child. Our Guidance Counsellors have provided a message below.

We encourage all our students to stay socially connected in some way during this time, whether this is through Facetime, phoning or through the various online platforms available to them. We also encourage physical fitness during this time because so many of our students will be missing out on significant amounts of sport and physical activity currently.

Our Student Leaders are keen to continue connecting with the student body through virtual assemblies – we will let you know how to access these.

Remember that daily masses are online too. We are coming up to a special time in the Church calendar. We need to keep a sense of normality about our daily life, but it may be through different access. https://www.catholic.org.nz/ will keep you updated about online opportunities to take part in mass and prayer.

Message from our Guidance Counsellors

Ross and Liz will be available throughout to support students and their families. We acknowledge we will be counselling via distance when usually this would have previously been face-to-face.

To access the counselling service here at school, please reach out to us via our email addresses below. We will then get back in contact with you to arrange a time to catch up with you via a phone call or we can communicate using email.

Liz: lcameron@kavanagh.school.nz

Ross: mackinnonr@kavanagh.school.nz

You may like to try some of the phone numbers below:

Ministry of Health 24/7 Counselling: Phone or Text 1737

YouthLine: Phone 0800 376 633 or Text: 234

The Lowdown: www.thelowdown.co.nz

If you are worried about someone's immediate safety or have more significant safety concerns, dial 111 or contact:

Emergency Psychiatric Services: Phone 0800 467 846 - Option 2

All of our staff and our board of trustees wish you all of God’s blessings as we navigate our way through this difficult time for our country.

God Bless, and Arohanui

Kate Nicholson

Principal