Board of Trustees Chairperson‘s Report

It has been an honour to again represent Karamu High School as the Board of Trustees Chair in 2020.

The school year got off to a great start with the appointment of former student, teacher and Deputy Principal, Dionne Thomas as Principal. Mrs Thomas, new staff and over 230 new students were welcomed at a pōwhiri that really demonstrated Karamu’s values and commitment to Proudly Karamu, Proudly Hastings and Proudly Learning. Little were we to know that on the 25 March the country would be in nationwide lockdown which meant all schools were to close and students would remain at home and eventually learn from home, for a significant period of time. 2020 has been dominated by covid-19 with it impacting every one of us in different ways. Mrs Thomas was certainly “thrown in the deep end” with the national response evolving over several days with the Government and Ministry of Education sending out multiple messages around what the response would be. Mrs Thomas and the Senior Leadership Team did a great job at guiding Karamu through the pandemic response. Mrs Thomas showed great leadership during this time with clear communication to staff, students and the community as the response evolved over time.

The significant contribution of the teachers and support staff must be acknowledged. The work they did to ensure the students still had the opportunity to learn “online” was a challenge they successfully met. It certainly changed the way we did things and staff showed considerable agility to adjust to a new way of teaching in a very short period of time. Likewise the effort put in by students, parents and caregivers to ensure learning continued was significant with households affected in different ways due to the covid-19 response and the way it impacted our everyday life. In some cases, whole households were locked down at home, challenging parents and caregivers around students of various ages and abilities needing to learn while adjusting to the “new normal” that had been thrust upon us. The efforts of all Karamu staff, students, parents, caregivers and the community was significant and greatly appreciated. Covid-19 has had a huge impact internationally and will for some time. New Zealand has fared better than most other countries and I certainly appreciated the value of living on a South Pacific island with no shared borders at a time such as this . They also got involved in numerous cultural, art, sport and extra-curricular activities such as Pink Shirt day, raising money for the Mental Health Foundation, the Edible Fashion Awards and the Race Unity Speech Awards which are but a few examples. It has not only been the students that have capped off a difficult year with success, staff member Maiken Calkoen was awarded a Fullbright Distinguished Teachers Award, one of the most prestigious awards available in the teaching profession. A real credit to Ms Calkoen.

2020 also saw the appointment of Ms Sarah Gunn as Deputy Principal at Karamu. Ms Gunn had been acting in the role for much of the year and has quickly established herself as a valuable member of the Senior Leadership Team. A really interesting feature of the Karamu Korero has been the Tira Ora section which profiles the achievements of past Karamu students. A great way to link Alumni with Karamu but also inspire students that after their time at Karamu they can potentially achieve anything, anywhere. The profiles have included politicians, sports people, business owners, entrepreneurs and high achievers who have gained success in their chosen fields and made significant contributions to New Zealand in a variety of ways. To my fellow Board of Trustees members, the Karamu staff, students and community, thank you for your efforts, support, and contribution to Karamu throughout a difficult year.

Ngā manaakitanga

Once restrictions eased and were eventually lifted, it was great how the students and staff very quickly got the school year on-track with the students getting back to normal and back into learning. Well supported by staff, the students were soon involved in completing work and projects towards academic achievement.

Dave de Lange Chairperson Karamu High School Board of Trustees