COVID-19 Update

Hi Everyone

We are certainly living in unsettled and rapidly changing times. I hope you are all okay out there but realise that many of you will be tightening your seat belts for a hard impact. I know some of you are already experiencing significant and far-reaching changes to your business and work life. Here at school, we want to keep things as normal as possible for our students so they are not caught up in anxieties beyond their years of understanding. We will also be endeavouring to keep our cohort of children and our whole school community as healthy and strong as we can through a number of measures. 

  • Stay home if you are ill:- To preserve the health of all students, our staff and families please keep any ill child home until they are healthy enough to fight off other bugs and until they are not going to pass on their bugs to others. Unwell children could weaken the resistance of others and ultimately impact on older family members and others in our wider school community. 

Below is a list of activities and events we have planned for the rest of the term. Things could change on a day by day basis and the Ministries of Education and Health could also close us with little or no warning. 

  • Parent Interviews – Wednesday 25th & Thursday 26th March.  We are planning for these to still go ahead but with a few changes to normal practice:-
  • There will be no handshaking or contact
  • Chairs will be spaced over 1.5 m away from the teacher 
  • 10-minute interviews will be adhered to, to keep everyone moving 
  • We ask anyone who is feeling ill in any way to not attend these interviews or if you or members of your family are in self-isolation or have recently arrived back in New Zealand after travel. We may be able to follow up with a phone conversation for these families. 
  • Please book into a slot using the information and codes from last week’s newsletter.
  • Taupiri Swimming demonstrations on Thursday – Decision pending 
  • Country Cluster Inter School Swimming Sports – This Friday is now Cancelled.
  • James Russell Author Visit –  Tuesday 24th March – Has now been postponed.
  • City Cluster Inter School Swimming Sports – Thursday 26th March is now Cancelled
  • Triathlon – Monday 30th March – Decision pending
  • Pumpkin Night:- With gatherings of over 500 banned, sadly our Pumpkin Night has had to be postponed. The PTA will be meeting tonight to discuss options for a future date or ways to possibly measure and judge the homegrown pumpkins at least. 
  • Website:- Our new web site will be our main avenue for all school-wide communications. As per usual you will get an email to alert you and direct you to the website. Please click here  to visit our web site so that it strengthens in Google search.
  • Class and Syndicate information:- This will be sent via Seesaw in Taupiri and Pirongia Syndicates and via Google Classrooms for our Maungatautari Seniors. Please make sure you have the access codes to view these sites, your classroom teachers will be able to help you with this. 
  • Learning from Home:- We will be trialling some work from via SeeSaw and Google Classrooms to iron out any glitches before a possible closure is imposed on us. More information will be coming out later this week.
    • To ensure all children can get home learning opportunities we need to ascertain for the Ministry, the access our families have to the internet and devices. Could you please click here to answer a few questions for us.   
    • For students at home due to any illness, we will endeavour to provide some home learning opportunities for them via the platforms described above.
  • Swimming:- With the colder weather beginning to hit and trying to keep all students as healthy as possible, swimming will continue at each Teacher’s discretion. Please continue to put in togs each day, as the timetable will become fluid to allow the teaching of swimming to occur only when it is warm and sunny. 
  • General:-
  • Hand washing – We are focusing on good hygiene and correct hand washing regularly at school with specific handwashing times given before each break time. 
  • Warm layers:- Please send your child to school with warm layers – our polar fleeces and jackets are great for this as they can be taken off easily as the sun heats up. 
  • Travel:-Anyone who has travelled overseas recently – please do not come onto our school site.
    • Minimising contacts:- We are all about reducing and limiting the amount of close contact with others and keeping everyone’s immunity high and bug-Free. 
    • Please keep us informed, as you would normally with the health circumstances of your children and family.
    • Water Bottles:- We encourage you to send your children with their own water bottles, rather than using the school water fountains, in case these transfer bugs.

​This newsletter has also been posted to our school website, with our regular newsletter and updates  coming out later this week. Let’s all enjoy our friends and families during these challenging times.

Kind regards

Waveney