Dear Parents / Caregivers, and students
Teenaa koutou ki a koutou,
In my communication last week, I signaled that we would like to stop rostering home our senior students before the end of term. Unfortunately, we will not be able to do this. We have seen a rise in numbers of our staff out this week and this is expected to flow into the coming weeks. The additional stress that managing all students back onsite will place on our staff and relievers during the final weeks of the term is greater than the intended gains in getting our senior students back in. This has been a really challenging term for us as we have supported students who have been isolating, re-designed learning plans and supported colleagues while they have been out. We are hopeful that the modellers are correct, and this is the peak of disruption. When we return in Term 2, we will have seen the worst of the impact and we can draw a line under Term 1 and look forward positively to a new term.
Please note that rostering home students from Years 11 to 13 means they will be studying from home for 3 days each year level during weeks 10 and 11. These are study days, where they are to continue with work set in class. Students need to make the most of this time to stay up to date with their schoolwork. If they have questions about their learning and progress, they need to make contact with their teachers during the days they are at school.
Easing of restrictions
The government is using modelling and other data, such as our high vaccination rate, to start taking steps to ease some of the COVID restrictions we have had in place. The Public Health advice supports the easing of some restrictions to live safely with COVID in our community while re-building a sense of normality in areas.
The use of facemasks indoors remains an effective barrier to transmission, and because of this we expect that it will remain in place for a while yet.
The following is a summary of the changes that impact on a school setting.
- The removal of vaccination mandates for education workers (and this includes volunteers, coaches etc) will take effect from 11.59pm Monday 4 April.
- On the same date there is a removal of the My Vaccine Pass from the COVID-19 Protection Framework (traffic light system).
Red
- There is no change to masks in education settings from the existing Red setting. Medical-grade masks remain a requirement for staff working indoors with children and young people in Years 4-13.
- For all New Zealanders, including school settings, masks will not be required outdoors.
- Capacity limits will be removed for outdoor events and activities.
- Indoor capacity limits for extra-curricular activities increase to 200 people, or a maximum capacity based on the maximum number of people who could occupy the space if each person was one metre apart (whichever is lower).
Kind regards
Ngaa mihi
Greg Thornton
Principal
