Kia ora, Parents and Caregivers

I trust you and your family are safe and well as the clean-up begins after Cyclone Gabrielle wreaked havoc on our community. I recognise that many of you, along with family and friends have been badly affected by this extreme weather event. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all. Please reach out to us by any means possible if you require support. I also recognise that many of our parents and caregivers will not be able to receive this message, hence why we are using Newstalk ZB to broadcast announcements too (available in Hawke’s Bay on 96.7FM for the latest Civil Defence information and news updates).

To provide clarity and certainty, we have made the decision to close the day school for the remainder of this week. There is enough pressure on our College community at this time coping with clean up, the lack of power, limited communication channels and road access, as well as concerns associated with loved ones who cannot be currently contacted. Contact with staff is very difficult right now and we are not able to fully staff the school to provide support for our students. This also means that our Swimming Sports event, scheduled for this Friday, is postponed until further notice. We have also had to make the difficult decision to cancel the three remaining Year 10 camps due to the damage caused by the Cyclone to roads in and out of Hawkes Bay.

The boarding house remains open to care for those who have been with us since we closed the day school. However, now that we have made the decision to keep the day school closed for the remainder of the week, we ask that any parents who are now in a position to pick up their sons, or who can arrange accommodation for the remainder of the week and weekend with family or friends who live locally, please do so. This will take the pressure off staff and resources in the hostel. I ask that you continue to liaise with Mr Ahern, Director of Boarding if you are picking up your son.

I do wish to reiterate, however, that all boys who are currently onsite in boarding are safe and welcome to stay. We have plenty of food and staff supervision.

Could I also please underline Mr Ahern’s message to boarding parents this morning. Please do not return your son to boarding this week unless there is an emergency. As stated above, we do not wish to add to the pressure on staff and resources in the hostel at this time.

I will provide a further email update and radio announcement on Friday, regarding a decision to reopen the day school next week, once we have been able to contact staff to ascertain their readiness to return. We anticipate that by this time there will be more roads reopened and power restored to more areas.

Those staff who have access to the internet will upload work for students, via our learning platform, Schoology. This is obviously not a priority for those families without power or internet access for the remainder of this week.

Please take care of yourselves, family and friends and do reach out to the College if we can assist you in any way at this time.

Ngā mihi

Stuart Hakeney

RECTOR

Article added: Thursday 16 February 2023