Thursday, July 31, 2008

Newsletter for term 2

Tena koutou katoa


The staff at Stratford High School has recently been discussing ‘lockdown’ procedures to enhance staff and student safety. These procedures will only be used in the event of an emergency which could endanger the safety of staff and/or students. They are necessary in our school in case we have any threatening situations such as unlawful entry to the school by unwelcome visitors, serious accidents, events like gas leaks and so on.

The signal for a lockdown will be by three short bursts on the bell or notification by the Senior Management Team. At that point, if in class, the teacher will lock the doors and all students will stay in class until notified that the lockdown has ended. Students will not be permitted to make any unnecessary noise. If the lockdown happens during a break all students and staff will go quietly to the nearest available class for the lockdown. If the situation occurs towards the end of the day we will inform Tranzit of the situation. The buses will be diverted until the lockdown is concluded. Immediately after any lockdown all staff and students will proceed directly to the hall for a short debriefing session.

It is our aim to practice and review these procedures during the next two terms. Please feel free to contact me at the school if you have any questions or concerns regarding the lockdown procedure.

We have recently farewelled our librarian – Julie Woods who has given us excellent service for four years, and our sports co-ordinator Iain McNae. We welcome Julie’s replacement – Marie McGregor who is a former student of SHS and head girl (as Marie Old) in 1980. We also welcome Ina Fouche as our new receptionist/ administration assistant.

Finally – it’s been a very busy couple of weeks on the sporting and cultural fronts. First - congratulations to all of the staff and students associated with our Stage Challenge. I know I’m biased but I was very surprised that we didn’t secure a place in the top three during the evening. The actual performance was extremely polished, energetic, vibrant and exciting. Second – the Manu Korero/ Pae Rangatahi competition was held at Stratford High School last weekend. It was a hugely entertaining and successful event. Congratulations and thanks to McKenzie Marriner, Paul Haenga and our kapa haka who performed brilliantly and to whaea Tina and the huge numbers of staff, whanau and students who helped on the day. Third – the exchange to Taita College in Lower Hutt was a terrific opportunity for our students to represent our school. They did so in an excellent fashion and brought a lot of credit to the school. Congratulations and thanks to the staff and students who went to Taita and to Jacky Kofoed for her organisation. Each of these events made me very proud to be your Principal.




Warren Purdy
Principal

No comments: