PRINCIPAL PANUI: COVID-19 ALERT LEVEL 2 NOTICE

Thursday, 13 August 2020

Kia ora koutou

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

It is reassuring that we  have done this well in the past and I have every confidence in our ability to do so again for the students in our care and community.

Whilst there will be some emerging anxiety, our kura and community is resilient, sensible, prepared and is going to be fine.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR OUR KURA?

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.

Tikipunga High School is open as normal. Our focus at school is to ensure hygiene practices and safe physical distancing are present, and that visitors are minimised to and from our school site.

We are currently working on processes ensuring that students will continue to have access to learning should the government  change the alert level in the future.

NZ COVID TRACER APP

I ask you all to please download the NZ COVID Tracer App and use it if you haven’t already done so. This app makes tracing potential contact fast and efficient which is essential.

KEY NOTES FOR LEVEL 2

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.

You will already be familiar with alert level requirements and we confirm the following will apply for schools and early learning services:

All of New Zealand excluding Auckland region

• At Alert Level 2 it is safe for all students, children and staff to attend school and early learning. There will be appropriate precautions in place.
• Children and staff who are at higher-risk of severe illness are encouraged to take additional precautions when leaving home.
• Please be alert to illness and ask anyone who is presenting as unwell to go home, or ask parents and caregivers to come and pick the child up.
• Messaging about good hand hygiene and cough and sneeze etiquette to be reinforced.
• Soap and water is very appropriate for washing hands, particularly if hand sanitiser stocks are low.
• For schools, children, young people and staff should be far enough away from each other so that they are not breathing on or touching each other, coupled with good hygiene practices and regular cleaning of commonly touched surfaces. There does not need to be a specific measurement but where practicable and reasonable 1 metre can be used as a guide, particularly between adults.
• Physical distancing of 2 metres is recommended for parents and caregivers, from people they don’t know (to align with public health measures outside the school grounds).

MASKS

Masks are not required at schools and early learning services at Alert levels 2 and 3.

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/

If you have any questions about our health and safety plan, or have a child who might be vulnerable to serious illness and would like to discuss a plan for them, please contact me.

We will be in touch again soon to update you on our plans.

Noho ora mai rā, tātou tātou

Ngā mihi

Alec Solomon

TUMUAKI/PRINCIPAL