Tuesday 12 May 2020

Kia ora koutou

Like me, I am sure you have followed with interest the announcements made by the Prime

Minister. It is reassuring to hear how well our country has done at minimising the impacts of

COVID-19. Alert Levels 4 and 3 have not been easy and I thank you for your ongoing support for

the work we are doing.

Our distance learning has been working very well. While it will have been challenging for you at

home, balancing work and care for your children, we are getting a lot of great feedback. It has been

exciting to see the innovation that has been happening and some great videos, slides and blogs

coming through showing what our students and whānau have been up to at home. I’ve been very

impressed with the class Meets I’ve attended too.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister advised that in Alert Level 2 schools are safe environments for

children, young people and staff, and that additional public health control measures are in place to

prevent the spread of disease and to support contact tracing.

The good news is that from Monday 18th May, we will be ready to welcome all students and staff

back to our school site. We expect students to be at school between 8.15am and 8.45am on

Monday. Thank you to everyone who has completed the google form about sending your child to

school on Monday. If you haven’t already completed the form, please use this link.

The key public health approach is to minimise the risk that someone gets infected in the first place,

and second to ensure we can identify and contact anyone who has been in close contact with a

person, if someone in a school is infected.

As we have done in Alert Level 3, you can be assured that in Alert Level 2 we will know who is at

school, who our staff and students have been in close contact with and take appropriate measures

to keep everyone safe.

Our school has safe and sensible practices to maintain the health and safety of everyone on the

school site. Physical distancing is a good precaution to prevent the spread of disease. We do

however know it is challenging in schools, so good hygiene practices and regular cleaning are

even more important here. This includes children and staff maintaining a physical distance so that

they are not breathing on or touching each other, everyone coughing into their elbows,

handwashing and drying, and regular cleaning of commonly touched surfaces.

What will Hay Park School look like under Alert Level 2?

*School will start and end at the usual times of 8.50am and 3.00pm

*Sanitising stations will be set up at the hall and the back gate for use when you or your child enter

our site in the morning

*All students and staff will follow the Ministry of Health guidelines

*We have divided the school into zones and hand sanitiser is to be used by staff and students

before entering the different zones we have onsite eg office, classes, library, staffroom

*Parents can come into the grounds, but please DO NOT ENTER CLASSES

*If you wish to talk to your child’s teacher please go to the school office, or email or text to arrange

a time

*If you wish to drop something off for your child, please go to the school office

*If you are picking your child up early please go to the school office. Your child will come to you

there

*The school office will allow entry of one person at a time

*All visitors will come to the office, sign the contact tracing register and follow safe distancing rules

Under Alert Level 2, we advise any students and staff to stay at home if they are sick. If your child

is sick, please keep him or her home from school. Any child that appears sick at school will be sent

home immediately. Parents and carers will be rung and your child will be isolated until you arrive.

The definition for ‘appearing sick’ includes coughing, runny nose, sore throat, exposed skin lesions,

headaches, sore stomach. If your child displays these before coming to school please don’t send

them! This will create more issues for you as we will call you to collect your child immediately.

As described by Dr Payinda in his NZ Herald article, “Covid's not measles or chickenpox, it doesn't

hang in the air for hours waiting to infect passers-by. It travels on invisible drops of spit. You don't

have to cross the street to avoid anyone. Just avoid getting in their 'moist breath' zone”. We all just

need to remember to have some breathing space at Alert Level 2!

It’s important however that not just at school but at home, safe hygiene habits are practised by

everyone, as this is essential to minimise the risk that someone gets infected with Covid-19.

For more information about the public health measures at Alert Level 2, you can visit the

covid19.govt.nz website: https://covid19.govt.nz/

The government and the Ministry of Education have stated that all children should be at school

from Monday, however we will continue to provide distance learning for a transition period for

families who are concerned about Covid-19. This will be reviewed in line with the government alert

level reviews.

To prepare for the return of students on Monday there will be NO class Meets on Thursday and

only one class Meet on Friday. Your child’s teacher will tell you what time the Meet on Friday will

be.

If you have a school device and charger at home, please get your child to bring them in on Monday

morning.

We will keep you updated about any changes to procedures and alert levels, however if you have

any questions or queries please contact me at shereec@haypark.school.nz.

We are really looking forward to seeing everyone back onsite.

Ngā mihi

Sheree Campbell