Christmas Break Notice

At the time of writing we have just over a week to go before the end of the school year and if we think back to the end of March this year, when all schools in PNG were instructed to close, it is with great relief that we have reached the end of another school year. This year, has of course been unlike any other that we have ever experienced.

We were forced to close on 23 March until 11 May, but throughout this time we produced online learning materials and also had printed materials in the school office for parents to pick up. In addition, we worked through the term 2 break and in this way retrieved 2 weeks that had been lost during the shutdown. For the term 3 break we took only a one-week holiday and this meant that we had now recovered 4 weeks that had been lost during the lockdown. We also extended term 2, 3 and 4 by one week to make them all 11week-terms and this gave us another 3 weeks recovered from the lockdown. By this means we were able to recover all 7 weeks that were lost when all schools were forced to closed as a result of the pandemic.

One of the major losses of the year was not being able to have our usual sports programmes and other extra-curricular activities as we were encouraged to avoid large gatherings and to socially distance ourselves. From the resumption of classes up until the present we have all been wearing face masks on a daily basis. I know that many people think the wearing of masks is unnecessary, but at the very least it has enabled us to stay healthier than usual and to avoid colds and flu.

The year was potentially most devastating for our grade 12 students and indeed the grade 12 students throughout the country. We will not know, however of any negative impact on our students’ examination performance until we receive the National Examination results in a few weeks’ time.

At this time of year Goroka Grammar School starts to recruit teachers for the next academic year and this year is no different. Two teachers have already indicated their intention to resign: Ms. Agerenga who taught Biology and Science and Mr. Henry who taught ICT studies. We wish both these teachers success in their future careers. There are likely to be other teachers who will move on at the end of the year and we also wish them all success in the future.

Now some dates for your diaries:

Tuesday 1 December Sports at NSI

Thursday 3 December School closes for the Christmas holiday

Monday 25 January Teachers resume for 2021 school year

Monday 1 February Students resume for 2021 school year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OUR CLIENTS.

Paddy Kelly

Director of Education