I wish everyone a safe and restful break. This comes with a what’s important now (W.I.N) for a number of our Rangatahi at Years 11-13. For some, you are that close to the finish line and what is needed is the final oomph in order to get across the line. The year is not over and many of you must look to reset and refocus after reflecting on the results attained in the recent school exams. I urge that you do not default to the flight, fight or freeze response if results were not up to expectations. Don’t beat yourself up but take the result for exactly what it is, a new place to start from. Remember for those with heavy external exam loads that you will not have 6 exams in 5 days when NCEA externals starts on November 7th as you experienced in the recent practice exams.

Some whanau would have received letters from the deans indicating that your student needs to be doing something extra or different if they are to achieve to, or close to their maximum. If as parents you are unsure then access to the recent school exam results will be live on the school portal via Kamar by the end of today, Friday 27 September.

At the very least it should give you a chance as whanau to talk through how your rangatahi feels about the result and what plan is in place to be better prepared when they walk in to the first external either on November 7th or shortly after. The plan in the holiday should certainly include time to rest and enjoy some time out but should not be at the expense of not observing that 3 terms of hard work could be wasted if the next 5 to 8 weeks are not approached with a plan and some urgency. Some planning over the break and a bit of work will build confidence that you are in charge of the process. Putting it off can just build the internal pressure and a likelihood that you don’t feel good about it. My advice is to acknowledge the challenge, write it down and then write down three things you can do to move forward. The next step is to take one of those three things and turn it into an action. Starting creates momentum and now you feel like you are in charge of the outcome. Ignoring it and hoping it won’t matter is never the best option.

Please do not obsess and do too much, because you need to balance getting up to or ahead of the curve with recharging your battery after term 3.

Mauri ora e hika ma

Good health to all.