Ashburton school newsletter apologises for last week's apology, nobody can say what the first one was for

An Ashburton primary school has apologised for an apology it published the week before. After four days of inquiries, The Daily Yarn still cannot say what either apology was for.

The second apology sits on page two of the Week 6 newsletter. It is under the lunch orders and above a reminder that hats are still hats. It reads: "We acknowledge that last week's apology did not meet the standard our community expects, and for that we apologise unreservedly." It does not say what last week's apology was about. The Daily Yarn has obtained the Week 5 newsletter. That apology said the school was "sorry for any confusion caused" and that "the matter has been addressed". The matter is not named. Several parents spoke to The Daily Yarn on condition of anonymity, citing fear of being rostered onto the sausage sizzle. All of them said they had assumed somebody else knew.

"I read the second one and went back and read the first one," one parent said. "Thought I'd missed something. I hadn't. I've asked around. There's nothing to miss. Or there is and it's quite bad and they're, you know. Anyway I've got to go."

What we know.

The newsletter goes out Thursdays, by app, and on paper to "the three families who asked". The Week 5 apology ran to 31 words. The Week 6 apology ran to 84. It introduced the phrase "the handling of our previous communication". That phrase did not appear in the previous communication. A board member spoke anonymously because "there's seven of us and they'll work it out". They confirmed a conversation took place between Weeks 5 and 6. They could not recall who raised it or what it concerned. Noeline Prattley, 71, collects two grandchildren from the gate most afternoons and reads the newsletter "out of habit". Her money is on the car park, "because it usually is". She admitted she had nothing to go on. "Could've been the pie warmer. Could've been that business with the hats. I rang my daughter. She said Mum, it's a newsletter, it's not about anything. I said well then why are they sorry twice. She hung up. She does that." Prattley then went to get the grandchildren.

What we don't know.

Whether there was ever a complaint. Whether the Week 5 apology was itself an apology for something in Week 4. The Week 4 newsletter has been taken off the app "for an update". Whether a third apology is being drafted. A source close to the office said the principal had been "in with the door shut since Tuesday and he's got the thesaurus". The source then asked not to be described as close to the office. In 1974 the newsletter was one Gestetner sheet. It smelled of meths and apologised for nothing, mainly because nobody could read it. The pier was still open then too, though that is a separate matter.

A Ministry of Education spokesperson said schools "communicate with their own communities" and the ministry did not "hold a position on apologies as a category". Asked whether an apology for an apology counts as a correction or a new item, the spokesperson said they would "take that away". They have not come back.

The Week 7 newsletter is due Thursday. The Daily Yarn has approached the school for comment and has so far received one automated reply, apologising for the delay.