Friday 20th March 2020
Kia ora koutou,
Thank you to those members of our community who have recently returned to New Zealand or have family visiting from overseas and are in self isolation. We appreciate that you have contacted us to let us know what is going on and are doing your bit to keep our community well.
With so much information and misinformation swirling around about COVID-19, it is so important during this challenging time to keep calm and I can not reiterate this enough. PLEASE ensure you make decisions based on FACT, not hearsay or posts you read on social media. There continues to be NO confirmed or suspected cases of Covid-19 within our school community.
I wanted to share with you what will happen if we were to have a case in our school community. We have been planning for this and are in a position to respond quickly.
- As soon as a case is confirmed in our immediate school community (eg. a student, staff member, or member of their household), the Medical Officer of Health and Ministry of Education will inform me about this, and we will work together to get quick and clear messaging out to you.
- If there was a case confirmed of someone in our school, we will likely be asked to close temporarily by the Medical Officer of Health. This will allow time for close contacts to be traced, appropriate testing to be undertaken, and a careful clean of the school to be undertaken.
- If our school does need to close temporarily, we have a plan in place to support student’s learning.
We know COVID-19 feels scary and of course, people are concerned for the wellbeing of our children. Please be assured that with no case confirmed in our school, your children are safe here.
Good hygiene is a priority at our school, and we are reinforcing this regularly with all students and staff. We know that practicing good hygiene is still the best thing we can all do to prevent illness.
If you feel your child’s health is vulnerable please carefully consider whether they should attend school e.g. compromised immune system.
Self Isolation
The Government announced during the weekend that all arrivals from overseas are required to self-isolate for 14 days. This will strongly contribute to “smoothing the curve” in regard to the number of cases we do get in New Zealand. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is advising anyone who has been overseas in the last two weeks to self-isolate, even if they got back before the official deadline. If you or your family have arrived back into NZ from overseas and please contact the school office to let us know and ensure self isolation occurs. This isolation period is critical and the Ministry of Health guidelines around self isolation need to be followed. They can be found at
Click on this link Ministry of Health COVID-19 Self-isolation
https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-novel-coronavirus-health-advice-general-public/covid-19-self-isolation
There is a lot of misinformation in regards to Covid-19 on social media sites. To ensure you have the latest, accurate information, please visit:
Ministy of Health website – Click here
If your child presents as unwell at school, we will contact you to come and take them home. We are getting the most up to date advice and guidance so that we can confidently make informed decisions about the safety and well-being of our school community.
Attached is a symptoms poster check it out.
Ngā mihi,
James White
Principal
