Kia ora koutou,

We are fortunate here at school that we have not as yet had any positive COVID cases of children at the school or staff members. At present we do have 3 staff members who are in isolation waiting for testing results or in isolation due to a family member testing positive.

I would like to reassure you that we have put plans in place to keep your child as safe as we can while they are at school.

Each team is restricted to a specific area in the school at break times so that they are not mixing and we also have the teachers and support staff having morning tea and lunch in separate areas depending on the team that they work in.

We are monitoring the ventilation in the classrooms by encouraging teachers to keep doors and windows open.

Thank you to parents who are keeping their children home if they are sick.

Our staff and students in the Whakapoungakau team are wearing masks when they are working inside the classroom.

Thank you to all of our whanāu who are encouraging their tamariki to wear their masks while they are in the classroom at school. I have been really impressed with the Whakapoungakau Team tamariki and teachers with their positive attitude to wearing masks.

We are moving into Phase 3 tonight so the guidelines around close contacts will change again. It will be only COVID cases and household contacts who need to isolate.

Ngā mihi

Sarah Thompson