I hope this email finds our community well and safe during these unusual times. I want to take this opportunity to thank you all for your continued support around our Alert Level 2 protocols and the ever-changing landscape that we are dealing with. A reminder that we do ask that adults do not come onsite for more than 15 minutes and they do not congregate to talk and watch children's practices and stay at drop-offs. We would appreciate it if you could follow our guidelines to help protect our community as COVID is in our region.

St Marys Catholic SCHOOL COVID ALERT LEVEL 2 REMINDERS.

As COVID-19 is active in the Bay of Plenty it is timely to reiterate the Alert level 2 requirements whilst on the school site.

Please help protect our students, staff, and each other by adhering to the following requirements.

1. Use the NZ COVID tracer QR code when entering the school site.

2. All adults coming on-site are asked to wear a face mask at all times and observe social distancing of 2m.

3. If you must come on-site please make your drop off & pick up as quick as possible and no longer than 15min. DO NOT enter the classrooms.

4. Please do not gather outside the classrooms or around the play areas.

5. Please send your child to school with a drink bottle.

6. Hygiene - we use hand sanitizer after every break and promote good hand washing practices. We teach students to cough and sneeze into their elbows.

7. If your child is unwell please keep them at home. Please do not enter the school site if you are unwell.

8. No parents to stay and watch children's practices as we cant have people congregating at the moment.

Thank you for your understanding. Together we will keep our community safe.

As we will all be well aware with Alert Levels unchanged and looking like they won't change, some of our end-of-year gatherings are going to look different. Currently, we cannot hold our End of year Mass and prize-giving inside due to gathering sizes. We are working through options so that we can make it happen for our Yr 6s who are leaving. We will keep you updated as we make these changes. We will be recording the prizegiving and End of Year mass for children and families to watch.

This is a hot topic at the moment and we are trying to navigate this with the lens of keeping our community safe and protected and following the guidelines which are set by the Ministry of Health. I have tried to collate some of this information for you below. Please note that moving forward we are going to need to ask people for proof of Vaccination when working, volunteering on certain activities moving forward. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

If you are a volunteer or intend to be a volunteer we ask that you send us your vaccination status please so we can keep it on file.

Everyone who works on a school or kura site who may have contact with children or students or will be present at a time when children and students are also present must have had a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by Monday 15 November and be fully vaccinated by 1 January 2022.

The term ‘works’ includes all contractors, tradespeople, and consultants (and all their staff and subcontractors).

See the vaccination checklist here.

We appreciate our communities support and understanding.

St Marys Staff