Covid Update 8/5/2020

By Simon Clarke | Posted: Thursday May 7, 2020

Schooling under Level 2.

Action Points

1. School officially opens on Monday 18th of May if we move to Level Two next week.

2. A survey will be sent out early next week should you need to send your child to school during level 2 but before the official start date of the 18th.

3. Parents will need to stay off the school grounds in the short term when dropping off and collecting students.

4. As we restart the school, our focus will be on mental health and well being.

The Prime Minister gave us an indication on Thursday what life, including schooling will look like under Level 2. 

If the Government moves to Level 2 on Monday the 11th, school officially opens to all students on Monday the 18th of May.  This means that we will have a few days where a lot of parents are working at level 2 but school is not officially open to all students.  We will be sending out (hopefully!) a final survey when we know what date level 2 starts to ascertain whether you need to send your child back earlier than the 18th, early next week. We look forward to being reunited, all together again on Monday the 18th.

Restarting school is not like flicking a light switch and we instantly reset to March 20th when we were last all at school. 

Experts from the University of Auckland and consultants Cognition Education said the Christchurch earthquakes and Australian bushfires showed that teachers should resist the temptation to launch straight back into normal lessons after a major event. 

Professor Peter O'Connor,  explains that "Racing back to catch up is about the worst thing that you can do. The research, the evidence, tells us that spending time there and then on children's wellbeing pays dividends much later and further down the track in terms of re-engaging children with learning."

We have talked as a team about not using phrases like "we have a lot of work to catch up on" as this just applies pressure on a child through no fault of their own.  We will begin our testing and support programmes for students in the near future and when the time is right. 

Because of the lockdown and the fact that we do not want to add extra pressure to your child, we are currently reviewing our mid-year reporting and the most likely option we will take is an extended parent-teacher meeting with some key points in writing to take away.  This will take place at either the end of this term or the start of the next.

The other big difference at school will be that we won't be having traditional assemblies in the near future.  Also, we would ask parents to stay out of the school grounds in the short term as we are unable to contact trace if we don't know who is in the school.  Please see this as a chance for your child to develop one of our school's values of independence. 

The good news is that although we will take some time to get everything going, the restrictions are more favourable than we were expecting.  Start and lunchtimes can return to normal, the full playground can be used with no restrictions and most importantly teachers are able to get close enough to students to help them effectively with their learning.

Kelly Club will provide before and after school care from the 18th.

We are looking forward to welcoming your children back and providing a new level of normality in the very near future.

Kind regards

Simon Clarke