This was so gutting.
I shared this message below with our Maurua whanau group.
"Based on the behaviour from our junior Maurua students recently we've decided to call off our trip to Ihumātao. Despite the whanau hui, all the prep and mahi behind the scenes with getting the trip ready, the approval to go from Whaea Susan etc - we've been incredibly disappointed by some of the behavioural issues and negative attitudes of a small group of students. As a result, we will not be visiting Ihumātao this term.
We want our Maurua students to push themselves to do their best in all their classes, have resilient and focussed attitudes towards their learning, respect their kaiako and give their best with all things they do.
However - we also don't want to penalise those students who have been working hard, staying positive and encouraging each other to do their best. The majority of our Maurua students have been incredible, focussed and positive. We still want to acknowledge those students who have been doing the right thing.
Perhaps if students can refocus we might be able to relook at heading to Ihumātao early next term.
Ngā mihi whanau"
I guess - in the long run this was still the right decision. Frustrating when they were still able to go with Tu Rangatahi, which completely undermined our decision to call off the trip. Cool that they got to experience it. But still sucky too. All that planning... And then...
Hopefully next time they'll be more mindful of the hard mahi their kaiako put in to the opportunities we try to provide for them.