Kia ora koutou

Ngā mihi o te tau hou. Happy New Year.

We hope you and your family have enjoyed a restful summer. We hope too that you have enjoyed some of the wonderful fine weather, maybe even at the beach.

We are looking forward to welcoming everyone back to school on Tuesday 8 February.

Face coverings

Staff, parents, caregivers and children in Years 4 – 8 must wear face coverings when inside at school while we are at the Red traffic light setting of the COVID alert level framework.

Scarves, bandannas, or t-shirts pulled up over the face are no longer an acceptable face covering.

An appropriate face covering should fit snugly and seal well around your child’s nose and under their chin. The mask needs to cover their nose and mouth properly. Masks can be single use, disposable masks (‘blue’ medical-grade masks) and re-usable fabric masks with three layers.

If you don’t have these specific types of face coverings public health experts  say that any face covering is better than no face covering.

For those of you with children who might be reluctant to wear a face covering, there is some helpful advice from Michigan Health, including using simple, specific explanations about why they need to wear a face covering.

We understand that our younger students will need help to learn how to wear a mask and the reason for wearing them. In talking with them about wearing a mask maybe you could make links to how we have to wear sunhats to protect us against the sun during the summer.

Here is information and a video that may help explain to young children how to safely put a mask on and remove it.

We have two Year 3 & 4 classes. The Year 3 students in Anna and Will’s classes do not have to wear masks but they are welcome to.

In preparing to return to school your child (if they are in Years 4 – 8) will need to come to school each day with two face masks in their school bag. They will have to put their face mask on when they come into the classroom each morning. They can take their masks off when they have morning tea and lunch and when they go outside of the classroom to play or for PE. Your child’s teacher will talk with them about how they can store and care for their mask when they take it off.

Parents, caregivers and visitors and mask wearing
We ask you to plan to make your drop offs and pick-ups from outside the school grounds – down on the lower drive or in the car park area behind our new building or by the gates leading down from the university or down on Buller Street or lower Abel Smith Street.

If you are a parent of a new entrant or your child is just starting school with us you are welcome to come onsite to settle them.

If your child is anxious about returning to school please get in touch with Sue so that she can make arrangements to welcome them back to school.

All parents and caregivers must wear face coverings if they come onto the school site. A reminder if you come onsite you need to remain physically distant from others, especially if you come indoors.

Good hygiene and cleaning

Please help us by continuing to encourage your child to use good hygiene practices including:

• regular hand washing or hand sanitising
• coughing and sneezing into their elbow

At school we will continue to undertake regular cleaning of high touch surfaces. We will be opening doors and windows so our classrooms are ventilated.

Ngā mihi nui

Sue and the staff team.