Update Wednesday 8th September

Auckland is at Alert Level 4. The rest of New Zealand is at Alert Level 2.

Please check the Ministry of Health website directly go to https://covid19.govt.nz/

Nick's Covid Update

Return to School at Alert Level 2

Kia ora e te whānau,

I’m guessing we’re all delighted that we are moving to alert level 2. School will be open for all children at alert level 2 from Thursday September 9- normal hours. I know that children are excited to reconnect with their peers and staff and last year there was such a positive vibe to be back at school. Some children may be anxious about what they have seen in the media- being back at school is the best remedy for this, with familiar routines and lots to keep their brain occupied.

We will be trying to keep school as ‘normal’ as possible, while operating within the guidance of the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education. Here is some very important information to make sure everyone is safe:

Some of this is different to previous Level 2 operations, so please read carefully.

• Stay home if you have any cold or flu symptoms and get a test. We are also required to ask you to collect your child immediately if they develop any symptoms at school.

• Make sure your child is familiar with hand washing ‘technique’ (counting to 20 or singing the happy birthday song as they wash their hands) and sneezing etiquette. Sanitiser will be widely available.

• Breakfast Club will not be operating until further notice. School gates will be opened at 8.30am

• Children will need their own water bottle, as drinking fountains will be out of use

• Drop off and collection:

Rooms 9, 10, 11 and 12 (Moana) through the two gates opposite their classrooms. Children should be able to enter school independently. At the end of the day, if you are coming on site to collect your child, please wear a face covering, scan the tracer app on the gates and wait on the concrete paths around the perimeter of the grass near Rooms 9-12, maintaining a 2m distance from others.

Rooms 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 (Maunga) will enter through the bike shed. Children should be able to enter the school independently. At the end of the day, if you are coming on site to collect your child, please wear a face covering, scan the tracer app on the gates and wait on the driveway near the admin car park maintaining a 2m distance from others.

Rooms 8, 13, 14, 15 and 16 (Whenua) enter and exit through the dental clinic gate. Staff will be on hand to support at the start of the day- to avoid congestion with parents coming on site, we ask that you say goodbye at the gate. At the end of the day, to avoid congestion and over-crowding, we ask parents/ caregivers to wear a face mask, use the tracer app on the gate, maintain 2m distance from others at all times and wait outside your child’s classroom. Your child’s teacher will ‘release’ your child as they see you arrive. Teachers may provide more specific guidance for whenua children via email.

At the end of the day, older siblings should leave by their younger sibling’s gate.

Under level 1 lots of children and whānau play and congregate on playgrounds after school. We ask that you collect your child and do not use playgrounds (or allow younger siblings on playgrounds).

Broadgreen and Nayland College students collecting younger siblings are asked to follow the same requests - please ensure they know what to do. The side gate near Otūmarama will remain locked

• Wearing of masks- the latest guidance “strongly encourages staff and students aged 12 and above to wear face coverings in secondary school settings.. It remains an option for individuals and a decision for the individuals and whānau. Whatever decisions students and teachers make, it is their own to make and needs to be respected. Where an individual chooses to use a face covering they should supply and wear their own, and to do so safely. This option applies to younger children too.” MOE

• If your child has been using a school device, please ensure it is safely wrapped and returned to your child's class on Thursday.

• Whilst we love the informal catch-ups with parents at the end of the day, we ask that you make an appointment with your child’s teacher if you need to meet.

Please be assured that we will be following all health, safety and hygiene guidance.

We look forward to seeing 400 smiling faces on Thursday.

Ngā manaakitanga,

Nick

30th August 2021, 11am

Kia ora e te whānau,

The quick move to Level 4, record volumes of testing for COVID in the community, extensive wastewater testing, huge numbers of New Zealanders being vaccinated (more than 2 million people have now received their first dose), and a very wide net being cast around confirmed cases, has given Government confidence that we are safe to move to Alert Level 3 on Wednesday.

At Alert Level 3, you legally must stay within your household bubble unless for essential personal movement including going to work and going to school. As the Prime Minister noted on Friday, schools are essentially closed at Alert Level 3 with the exception of those few children whose parents and carers must go to work at Alert Level 3, and there is no appropriate caregiver at home.

Year 11 – 13 students are legally required to stay learning from home.

So we will be open on Wednesday, for a small number of children who need to attend. As you imagine it will not be school as we know it under Alert Level 2 or 1. All our usual safety precautions for Alert Level 3 will be in place which include following all the recommendations from the public health experts. This means we will regularly clean and disinfect high touch surfaces, encourage everyone to frequently wash their hands and cover their coughs and sneezes, and keep everyone physically distanced from others as much as possible. We will also keep school bubbles to no more than 10 students. These bubbles will not mix with other bubbles.

Our contact tracing systems will be in place, which includes our attendance register and visitor register, and we will be limiting staff onsite with the majority of our team working from home.

You can also assist everyone’s safety by keeping your child at home if they are feeling unwell and please do contact your GP or Healthline, to seek advice about getting tested.

We will continue to support all children who remain learning from home, through our distance learning programme.

While we know how difficult it is trying to work from home as well as support your child’s learning, please keep your child at home if there is an appropriate carer available.

It was pleasing to hear that across New Zealand compliance is high. As you have been doing, please continue to follow all the alert level requirements at Level 4 and stay at home. It is the best tool we have to keep our community safe.

Ngā mihi,

Nick

25th August 2021, 11am

Kia ora e te whānau,

Although I know no more than you about the decision on Alert Levels on Friday, we have begun planning for a potential Level 3 scenario at some point in the future.

Previously, at Alert Level 3, schools have been open for children of essential workers only. Children have been in bubbles of less than 10.

We are awaiting specific guidance from the MOE but with the increased transmissibility of the Delta variant, I am anticipating some changes to 2020. These bubbles can be quite challenging/ traumatic for younger children as it is unlikely they will be with their regular teacher or children they know (last year less than 10% of children attended at Level 3). Children also have to sit physically distanced from another child.

Therefore, even if you are eligible to send your child as an essential worker, I urge you to try to find a family member to care for your child.

To support us with our planning and preparation, it would be helpful to know if you intend to send your child to school if we move to Alert Level 3. Teachers who are not in school at Alert Level 3 will continue to be responsible for online and distance learning.

Please email Carol at carol.mann@naylandprimary.school.nz by Friday 27 August to advise if your child will be attending school if we move to Alert Level 3. If we do not hear from you, we will assume that you do not require attendance at Alert Level 3.

Ngā mihi nui,

Nick

23rd August 2021, 7.00pm

Kia ora koutou,

I think we had all anticipated a further extension of Alert Level 4, and the Prime Minister has confirmed this. The Alert Level will be reviewed on Friday afternoon, but for now Alert Level 4 will remain in place until 12:59pm Friday 27 August.

Despite this news, it is really pleasing to see Alert Level 4 is having its impact on the number of confirmed cases, with numbers not dramatically increasing as they would likely have done if we had been at a lower Alert Level.

And so our distance learning programme will continue! Please note. it is only in very limited circumstances that students, parents or caregivers are allowed to come to the school grounds. So please do not come to school unless you have been individually contacted by us to do so. Otherwise, you will be in breach of the COVID-19 Health Response Order. I was in school today putting up notices to advise that school grounds and playgrounds are not to be accessed and had to speak to two teenagers who were on site- please ask all family members to respect the restrictions we are all working to maintain.

You may be wondering how, with so many contacts being identified of confirmed cases, we aren’t seeing bigger case numbers identified. Just like the Delta variant is different, so has been New Zealand’s response. Previously we might have moved to Alert Level 2 or 3 if there was a new COVID-19 case in the community (which happened most recently in Wellington). This time we moved immediately to Alert Level 4, after only one case had been identified.

Health authorities are also casting a MUCH wider net to determine who is a contact of a confirmed case. People who previously might have been considered a casual contact are now being treated as contacts. Where schools may have closed for three days while contact tracing was undertaken, they are now closing for 14 days with staff and students all self-isolating for that time. As a result, there are more than 13,000 close contacts being followed up by health authorities.

There is a lot we can all do to protect our whānau and community from COVID-19 including:

· Everyone must continue to stay home in their bubble

· Do not mix with other household bubbles – if they have COVID-19, it can easily spread to your household, and every other household they and you are connecting with

· As new cases are identified, new locations of interest are added to the Ministry of Health website – please keep checking this. You can search by your location and they are sorted by date, so you only need to check the locations which have been added when you last checked

· Wash your hands regularly, especially when you have been out in public

· Stay home if you are feeling unwell and seek advice about whether you need to get a test

· Wear a face covering when out and about, and you MUST wear a face covering in any businesses or services which are open at Alert Level 4 (unless you have specifically been exempted from doing so, which includes anyone aged under 12)

· Keep a two-metre distance from people outside your household bubble

· Check in using the NZ COVID Tracer App wherever you go or keep a manual record (a reminder the App only stores information on your own phone – no one else will know who it is that checked in, or when)

You can go to the COVID19.govt.nz website if you would like more information on Alert Level 4 requirements.

We can also make sure we are passing on good information. There is a very helpful article by Dr Siouxsie Wiles and Toby Morris in The Spinoff regarding misinformation and disinformation.

Their red flags for how to spot bad information are particularly well-summarised. Bad information will:

· downplay COVID-19 and the pandemic

· focus on survival rate

· ignore long COVID

· emphasise individual freedom

· try to sell you something

· push simple cures/treatments

· make you feel fearful or angry.

“Good information put out to help you make an informed choice won’t make you feel scared or angry. It’ll make you feel empowered.”

Finally, some families in our community may be finding it difficult to access food and essential items such as medicine. This information about how to access to food or essential items summarises the supports that are available, including financial help to buy food.

Please do take care and let us know how we can best support you and your whānau.

Kia kaha!

Nick

23rd August 2021

Kia ora e te whānau,

A big thank you for taking the lockdown seriously and doing what we have been asked – we’ve seen before that staying at home will break the chain of transmission and save lives. It is even more important that we all follow the health advice because the Delta variant is very contagious.

Breaking the rules risks the health of those close to you, the wider community and could result in the lock down period being extended.

Please remember that the school, playground and school grounds remain closed at Alert Level 4.

As always, please let us know if there is anything you need to support you and your tamariki during this time.

Ngā mihi nui,

Nick