Dear Parents/Caregivers/Whānau

 

In light of the unparalleled and extremely upsetting events of Friday, we would like to reach out to our families to offer our support.

 

We are currently following up on the welfare of any families that may be affected. At this stage, we are not aware of any Heaton families who may have lost loved ones. However, our thoughts and heartfelt condolences are extended to those families, our city and our country as everyone has been impacted by this. 

 

We would like to thank our school community for their support of our students, staff and school yesterday. We acknowledge in particular, the care that staff showed for our students while they were in an extended lockdown on Friday afternoon. To our students, we are so proud of how well you looked after each other and remained calm in such a prolonged challenging situation.

 

We are aware that trauma can manifest in many different ways and can affect anyone, whether directly affected or not. The wellbeing of our students and staff is our absolute priority and we will be paying special attention to ensuring everyone’s needs are met at this time.  Our school is being supported by the Ministry of Education with the Ministry’s trauma response plan being implemented to provide schools with support and guidance as needed.

 

Staff will be carefully debriefing with our students next week and putting in place any school-wide or individual support that is needed.  If you have any concerns about your son/daughter, please let your child’s teacher know in confidence so we can discuss how best to support them.

 

Alternatively, there are city-wide support services available to support our entire community at this time. 

 

On Sunday, we will update our community with information relating to students returning to school on Monday, including our Year 7 activity week, or any other upcoming school events.

 

Ngā mihi nui

Andrea Knight

Principal