Week 7 – 3rd Update

Friday 20th March 2020

Dear Parents and Caregivers 

Kia ora koutou

Another update, most of this information is directly from the Ministry so all schools are on the same page. 

I thought you may like the diagram and information below showing Signs and Symptoms. This is not 100% definitive, but a reasonable guide to help everyone as we head into our normal cold and flu season anyway. 

When is sick, sick?

The messaging remains clear – that if you are feeling unwell please stay home, and the same goes for children and young people.  However, at the tail end of a cold, there will be runny noses and probably some coughing. This might be worrying for some people who are being vigilant about their own and others’ health.

A diagram has been developed by Dr Siouxsie Wiles to assist you when considering symptoms. What it tells us is:

  • A dry cough and a high temperature are common to both flu and COVID-19
  • Sneezing is not a symptom of COVID-19, however, if someone has COVID-19, then sneezing can spread droplets containing the virus

With so much information and misinformation swirling around about COVID-19, we wanted to share with you what will happen if we were to have a case in our school community. We have been planning for this and are in a position to respond quickly.

  • As soon as a case is confirmed in our immediate school community (eg. a student, staff member, or member of their household), the Medical Officer of Health and Ministry of Education will inform me about this, and we will work together to get quick and clear messaging out to you.
  • If there was a case confirmed of someone in our school, we will likely be asked to close temporarily by the Medical Officer of Health. This will allow time for close contacts to be traced, appropriate testing to be undertaken, and a careful clean of the school to be undertaken.
  • If our school does need to close temporarily, we have a plan in place to support student’s learning.

 Good hygiene is a priority at our school, and we are reinforcing this regularly with all students and staff. We know that practising good hygiene is still the best thing we can all do to prevent illness.

We are getting the most up to date advice and guidance, so that we can confidently make informed decisions about the safety and wellbeing of our school community.   

Learning Conferences:- We are looking into conducting our Learning Conferences next week via Zoom, an online video conferencing app.  This is to avoid the extra contact of many parents coming onto our site and mixing with others you may not normally make contact with. This will also enable us to have another form of remote communication, if this is needed in the future. Thank you again for your support during these unusual times. 

Have a relaxing and happy weekend with your family.

Ngā mihi

Kind regards

Waveney Parker