Tania Savage

Kia ora e te whānau,

This afternoon our Prime Minister announced our country will be moving to Alert Level 2 on Thursday 14th of May. For our school this means we will reopen for learning onsite on Monday 18th of May.

How can you keep our community safe?

Any tamaiti (child) who is feeling sick or showing cold/flu-like symptoms needs to remain at home. We ask whānau with two or more children attending adopt the ‘One Sick, All Sick’ rule during Level Two. Contact health line to check whether your tamaiti should be tested for COVID-19.
If you are awaiting test results for COVID-19 please stay home.
If your tamaiti suffers from hay fever please ensure they have adequate medication so they do not attend school with a runny nose.
Good cough and sneeze etiquette remain fundamental to preventing the spread of illnesses such as colds, flu and COVID-19. Please make sure your tamaiti/tamariki understands and are following this etiquette.
It is recommended all that can receive the flu vacination this year do so, please organise this for your whānau.
Please adhere to our kiss and drop/pick up – do not leave your car unless absolutely necessary. Please keep to the 1 meter physical distancing rule and do not socialise in groups of more than 10 people in our playground.

What will school look like?

Open hours for tamariki 8:30am-3.10pm.
Tamariki (children) will be dropped off and picked up from the school courts and will walk unacompanied to their outside classroom exit door.
Parents are not to enter the classroom without prior arrangement with the teacher. This is to minimise the ammount of people we need to contact trace if required.
- If you are visiting the classroom you must use the QR code contact tracing form on entry and exit. This will be kept outside each classroom exit door.
- Please email your class teacher directly if you need to deliver your child to class.
Teachers will supervise the coming into and leaving of the classroom.
Teachers will supervise hand sanitiser dispensing on arrival into the classroom and throughout the day as required.
Each tamaiti will have an allocated table and seat for the duration of level 2. These seats will be as close to 1 meter apart from their classmates as we can manage.
Shared resources/equipment/playground equipment will be used, with tamariki washing hands before and after use.
Tamariki and Kaiako will maintain physical distancing so that they are not breathing on or touching each other. This is slightly closer than the 1 meter distance we have been adhering to during Alert Level 3.
The cloakrooms and Library will remain closed, with tamariki keeping their bags on the back of their chairs.
Tamariki will eat their lunch at their asigned seat, simialr to our procedures on a wet lunchtime.
Piano and guitar lessons can start up again during Level 2.
Our office will remain closed unless you have made an appointment by phone or email.
We will be taking a firm stance on keeping the school population healthy and sending anyone who is feeling sick or showing cold/flu-like symptoms home, including staff.

Playground

Our adventure playgrounds will be open and equipment will be available to be used and shared. Tamariki will wash their hands before and after playtime.
No tag, basketball, netball or soccer due to the nature of these games to have close contact. Practising of skills for basketball, netball and soccer can happen as long as tamariki stick to physical distancing. A reminder, physical distancing at schools in alert level 2 is not breathing on or touching each other.
Wheels with safety equipment (helmets) are very welcome in our playground – scooters (non electric), skateboards, rollerskates and roller-blades can all be brought to school to use.

Cleaning

Crest Cleaners will continue to use their anti-viral cleaner throughout the school.
During the school day teachers will clean high touch areas with a bleach/water mix, as recommend by the Ministry of Health.
All classes have hand sanitiser, soap, water and hand towels provided.

What can I do to prepare my child to return to school?

Make time this week for your child to connect with their teacher and class through the daily google meet. This will help your child to feel connected to their classmates and to look forward to seeing them again.

Will Garden to Table be running at Alert Level 2?

Not quite, the kitchen aspect of Garden to Table will not be running at Alert Level 2 as we will not be sharing food. However the Garden teams can still work in the garden with safe physical distancing and public health measures. Our gardens do need a lot of work after such a long absence. The volunteers for this programme can also return.

Will Road Patrol return?

With safe physical distancing it is possible for Road Patrol to return. In order to redo our rosters and sort out procedures we will not resume Road Patrol until the 25th of May

My child is anxious and wants me to come in to the classroom with them, can I do that?

While we would prefer classes remain just for children we do understand that our youngest children will need family support. If you wish to be in the classroom for handover to your teacher please email them before Friday so they can inform you of the procedure for entering and exiting the classroom, including our contract tracing requirements and physical distancing requirements.

When will school visits for new students start?

Our tamariki who are starting in May have already begun online visits to their virtual classroom. Classroom visits can resume during Alert Level 2 as long as physical distancing within schools and contact tracing requirements are followed. Mrs Bains will be in contact with our new families directly to organise visits.

Can I bring in treats for my child’s birthday?

No. During Alert Level 2 we will not be sharing food so please do not bring in cakes or other treats to share.

Will Year 7/8 Technology happen in Term 2?

Probably. At this stage the week we are due to visit Technology is Week 7, we are currently in Week 5. The Ministry of Health and MInistry of Education have said it is safe to begin these programmess again in Alert Level 2. This will depend on Newlands Intermediate School’s readiness to take outside schools for technology.

What does one sick all sick mean?

If one of your children is unwell we ask that you keep all of your children home as an extra precaution. This is only during Alert Level 2.

Thank you for all the lovely words of encouragement we have received through the survey.

Alert Level 2 Survey Click Here

Kia ora e te whānau,

We hope that Term 2 and our distance learning programme has been a success for you so far. We know there will have been any number of challenges for you to deal with but we have been getting some great feedback about the learning that is happening and thank you for all your support.

Today the Government decided that we will move into Alert Level 3 on 28 April. That means we will be open to receive students from the 29 April. We will start to prepare our site from tomorrow.

Here is a summary of what our Prime Minister shared at today’s press conference:

“Schools and early learning centres can be accessed this week for cleaning, maintenance and any other preparations. The current plan is for schools to be able to re-open for a Teacher Only Day on 28 April as part of their preparation, and we expect those who need to attend, to be able to from 29 April. It may take a bit longer for some schools and early learning centres to be ready.”

“So here’s a reminder of the principles for Level 3 when we get there.

Stay home. If you are not at work, school, exercising or getting essentials, then you must be at home, the same as at Level 4.
Work and learn from home if you can. We still want the vast majority of people working from home, and children and young people learning from home. At-risk students and staff should also stay at home, and they will be supported to do so. Early learning centres and schools will physically be open for up to Year 10 for families that need them.”

The key message for you is that if you can, you should keep your child at home. You should only physically send your child to school if you need to. If your child has a health condition that means they are at a greater risk of a severe illness you must keep them at home. If your child is sick please also ensure you keep them at home. I want to assure you that we will continue to support your child’s learning at home.

In order to ensure the safety of those tamariki and our staff who do come to school, we will be operating with strict enforcement of health and safety measures.

The Ministry of Education has advised that they are working closely with health to develop clear guidance that will support schools to safely re-open their premises to students and staff. This will help us work through the public health requirements that we all need to meet. As you will be doing, we want to be sure that what we do will keep our community as safe as possible.

For our school distance learning will continue throughout Alert Level 3 for all of our tamariki, including any tamariki that need to be at school.

To help us plan for Alert level 3 we first need to know how many tamariki will be coming to school during Alert Level 3 please complete the below survey. We need 100% completion of this survey and ask that you complete this by Wednesday 22^nd of April.

https://forms.gle/jjZLBcQcV8UPEfcdA

Ngā mihi nui,

Tania

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