Raureka School Term 3 Week 7
Newsletter 8 September 2021
PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE
Kia ora koutou katoa, Talofa lava, Kia orana,
Here we are at the start of Alert Level 2, with the school technically closed today and only students of parents who need to be at work attending. Tomorrow we are looking forward to having everyone back and learning in class and at school.
A huge thank you for being so supportive and helping us help the children during lockdown.
Remember that we will be opening the gates tomorrow at 8:30 to allow children to come in, classes start at 8:55. We will finish the day at 2:30 for a week, this is to allow us to reinforce the social distancing with our children.
If you don't need to come on site please drop off and pick up your children from the front/back gates.
If you do have to come onsite your will need to use the Covid App logon or fill out a login sheet outside the classroom or the office. Parents will need to keep 2m from others. Using Ministry of Health guidelines you must wear a mask.
In Level 2 we won't be having Assemblies until we find a way to manage this and maintain social distance protocols.
I have been so impressed with the work shared on Seesaw. You have done extremely well, I am proud of your efforts.
I want to thank you parents for all of the work you have done to support the children with the home learning.
A huge thank you to all of our staff who have been working with the Bubbles at school and for
preparing and marking work on Seesaw.
OSCAR will start as well for parents tomorrow afternoon.
Next week we will have our building renovations start with Room 12/13 getting a makeover. The Room 12 children will move to the Library and will work in there until the project is finished.
We will also have the back of the hall seating changed as well as a sump installed. This will take a while and a lot of the work will happen off site. Once this has been done it will be brought onsite and quickly finished off.
I'm really looking forward to having this work done.
Nga mihi
Greg
Information from the Ministry of Education
Things you need to know about Alert Level 2
1. Schools are open to everyone, and all children must attend.
At Alert Level 2 there is a low risk of community transmission. It is safe for children and staff to attend school and for school hostels to be operating as there will be appropriate measures in place, including for children and staff at a higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19.
2. Learning will be onsite with distance learning offered in some circumstances.
Distance learning should be provided for those required to self-isolate, those individuals who health authorities have asked to stay away while waiting for a test result, or those choosing to remain at home because they are at a higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19 and are not fully vaccinated.
3. Schools are not classified as gatherings and a range of events and activities can go ahead.
For most day-to-day activities at schools, the rules for gatherings do not apply. Under the COVID-19 Public Health Response Order, schools are exempted from physical distancing requirements when people are there to receive, provide, or support education services.
Physical distancing where practicable, does however apply for inter-school activities such as technology schools, when more than one school is sharing the same space.
When considering very large numbers of students congregating, such as at assemblies and when watching sports events or cultural events on school grounds, if these events do go ahead, public health advice is that they should take place in well-ventilated areas or outdoors and spectators/attendees should be physically distanced.
As soon as your event or activity brings people onsite who are not there for education purposes, including students, parents and caregivers, then the rules for gatherings do apply. This would include performances such as school plays, cultural events and sporting activities.
4. Schools will close for cleaning and contact tracing if there is a confirmed case who was infectious when at school.
Your Director of Education will work closely with you and health authorities should this occur. Please contact your Ministry regional office if you hear of a confirmed case in your school community but haven’t been advised about it by health officials.
5. Face coverings are not required at school or on any school transport.
Public health advice now, in light of the increased risk of the Delta variant, is that face coverings for students aged 12 and over are strongly encouraged to be worn. Should they choose to, those individuals are encouraged to provide and wear their own face coverings, and to do so safely(external link)
6. Sick people must stay at home.
They should seek medical advice if they have COVID-like symptoms and get tested if advised to do so. If that person displays relevant symptoms of COVID-19, tests positive for COVID-19, or has been in close contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19, they must self-isolate.
At all times, people who have been at a location of interest at the relevant time, or is connected with a confirmed case in some way, must follow the advice of the health authorities.
7. You must have a contact tracing system in place.
While record keeping is mandatory for many businesses and services, this is not a requirement for schools and early learning services.
The other systems and processes already in place to record who is onsite at all Alert Levels are sufficient to enable contract tracing.This includes displaying QR code posters at your entrances, your timetable, attendance register and visitor register.
8. Fundamental public health measures continue to apply at every alert level:
- Physical distancing (not touching and not breathing on each other at Alert Level 2)
- Hand hygiene
- Cough and sneeze etiquette
- Regularly cleaning and disinfecting high touch surfaces.
9. Think and plan carefully before you go ahead with any activity that brings a large number of students together and/or spectators are involved.
Some events may need to be cancelled or postponed when we are at Alert Level 2. Inter-regional travel is possible but only where you are confident the appropriate measures will be in place at the host venue, including requirements for gatherings.
Contact Us
Email: office@raureka.school.nz
Website: http://www.raureka.school.nz
Location: Raureka School Gordon Road, Raureka, Hastings 4120, New Zealand
Phone: +64 6 878 9766
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/raureka.school