Term 1 ends at 3pm on Friday 16th April
(School will be closed on 1st,2nd,5th and 6th April for a Teacher Only Day and Easter)
Kia ora koutou. Hello everyone.
It has been great to see the children back at school today and thank you for your support and for engaging in the distance learning programmes offered by your child’s teacher this week. We are now at Alert Level 2 and at this level the overriding principles are:
- To minimise the risk that someone gets infected in the first place
- To ensure we can identify and contact anyone who has been in close contact with a person if someone in our school became infected
- understand that Alert level 2 is not business a usual
To this end and to keep our big Glamorgan bubble covid free if at all possible, we are working under the guidelines below and ask respectfully that our families, whanau and children follow them too.
Alert Level 2 information:
- We are expecting most children in years 3-6 to be able to walk from the drop off zone or bottom of the school field into school by themselves. You do not need to sign in as a visitor from these points. Of course, we realise there may be some children who cannot manage this but the majority know where to go and are confident to find their classroom.
- If you need to come into the grounds please make sure you scan the QR code or sign in using the visitor register in the school office.
- Children should arrive at school from 8:30am onwards. Teachers will be in the classroom to reinforce the hand sanitising routines necessary. Parents please do not enter the classrooms at Level 2. Teachers will release your children at 3pm. Make sure you have made plans for who will meet your children after school and where they are to go.
- The drop off zone is open in the mornings – please do not park in this area, just drop and go. In the afternoons it is closed to 3:15pm and so is available as a safe area to collect your child with no traffic. Parents and caregivers need to remain 2 metres apart unless you are in the same bubble.
- Drinking fountains will be closed and children will need to bring a drink bottle with them to school.
- Full school assemblies will not take place in Level 2.
The advice from the the Ministry of Health, significant to schools is :
Physical Distancing – Physical distancing is a good precaution to prevent the spread of disease. In an Alert level 2 school environment, this means children, young people, and staff maintaining a physical distance so that they are not breathing on or touching each other, coupled with good hygiene practices (coughing into your elbow, hand washing and drying) and regular cleaning of commonly touched surfaces. There are situations where physical distancing is not possible. In these situations extra emphasis on hand washing and drying (or cleansing with hand sanitiser) before and after activities and regular cleaning of equipment is very important.
Mass gatherings – educational facilities are not considered mass gatherings because they are managed environments. This means there are no restrictions on numbers of people indoors or outside at schools and early learning services other than what other public health or health and safety measures require.
The exception is where people from outside the school may be attending, e.g. for a school production, large assembly. In these examples and if a school is hiring out their hall or allowing community groups to use school facilities, the mass gathering rules will apply.
We noticed this morning that some children arrived earlier than 8:30am – unless they have a sports practice we have always said 8:15am is the earliest any children should be at school. If you do drop your child at school at 8:15 they will be asked to hang up their bag and play outside, unless it is raining, until 8:30 when the teacher will be in the class.
We hope for the best and to be at Level 1 soon again but this seems to be our new normal for the moment and we don’t know if or when we will have to slide between the levels again over the coming months. It is important we stay vigilant and observe the protocols set by the Ministry of Health so please reinforce with your children washing and sanitising hands, coughing into an elbow and stay home if they are at all sick.
Go well everyone, stay safe and be kind to each other and yourself.
Ngā mihi
Janet Pinchen
Principal
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