Term 1 reflections
The last day of term one was 14th April, the day before Good Friday.
Our secondary school whānau had just completed 11 weeks under the Red Setting of the COVID Protection Framework. Just like every other school in New Zealand, we required all teachers and students to wear masks indoors, to teach or learn in ventilated rooms with open windows and doors and socially isolate when possible and to use sanitiser on entering or leaving any building. Once self-isolation was limited to household contacts only, RAT tests became our best friends and part of our everyday professional conversations.
Despite our best efforts, over 100 students tested positive and at least 10O more self-isolated at home. We held google meets with staff, whānau, students, the Ministry of Education, Volunteers, Mentors; everyone who would normally be on site in any normal term. I have not been in a room with more than 5 adults all term. We held our first indoor assembly with Year 9 students on the last day of term.
It is hard to explain just how intense our response to this pandemic has been. On the surface, teachers are holding things together with stoicism (until they or someone at home gets sick). Our teachers and support staff have been the most valuable asset to supporting our students and whānau.
The heightened awareness what is going on around us was something new and overwhelming at times. Every day, it seemed, began with a curved ball and responding to curved balls every day was exhausting! In response to this, we simply closed the school for all students and staff on two days, 21st March and 1st April (no joke!). We just wanted a break, a chance to regroup in order to finish the term with most of us 'intact'.
When Week 11 rolled around we could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Holidays!
Non-contact time (or holidays)
Good Friday:
- Eating apple pies made by Luisa and with apples picked from the apple tree at Cheviot. The tree was planted by my late mum and is not the worst tree at Cheviot to maintain. The diseased, spikey plum trees and the brittle trunked wattles are far worse. One of the trunks of the Ti Kouka finally succumbed to the North Canterbury climate. Maintenance aside, Our place at Cheviot just keeps on giving: grapes, red currants, walnuts, apples and plums.
- Playing 500 late into the night. Yes, we lost, but there's always the next game.
- Exploring Gore Bay for the nth time. The rock wall filled with memories of visitors past was a surprise as was the track to Tweedies Gully (full of slips and slides). I never tire of the beach, the cliffs and the sky.
Easter Monday:
- Andrew's cousin Viv and her husband Matt hunt for specimen rocks and collect fossils at various beaches around Dunedin. After staying at Cheviot for a couple of nights over Easter, they presented us with one of their most recent finds; a fossilised whale bone, 25 - 30 million years old! Thanks cousin Viv and Matt.
- The sunrise on the right is one that I've looked at many times since moving from our EQ'd Red Zoned home to the north of Christchurch. A motorway has grown up around the sunrise, but this doesn't make it any less remarkable. It's not 'home' but it's a cool place to spend a sunrise or two...
ANZAC WEEKEND
- Driving south to Dunedin and on the way we stopped and shopped at Oamaru (The Victorian Precinct). After lunch at The Galley, the Oamaru Wharf called us over and we walked to the end, past decaying fishing boats, sleepy seals and picnicking teenagers. Andrew was the first to spot the Stoneyhurst timber lined up to complete repairs being done on the wharf. Andrew has an engineer's relationship with the Stoneyhurst Sawmill going a long way back:)
- Further south than our book-a-bach was this wee gem, the Taieri River. The bridge, the track up the river, the township, the beach and the subdivision were perfect on a warm autumn day. The search for the school where Robin Bain(of Every St fame) had been a principal was also on our minds as we drove down and back to Brighton on the coast.
- An obligatory visit to the enduring Maurice and Nola in Opoho was part of the weekend. Both were in fine form, with Maurice just down from the attic where he had been tracing water pipes to fix his water filter (Maurice is 89). Nola is renowned for her chocolate chippy biscuits and that day she did not disappoint.
- A family night eating nachos, winning/losing Jenga and watching the Warriors getting mauled by the Melbourne Storm finished the weekend. We said goodbye to Liam and Pippi and headed back to Christchurch after lunching at The Precinct on Vogel Street.
