Welcome back
By Beth Downie | Posted: Monday January 24, 2022
Nau mai haere mai ki Kaikorai! A special warm welcome back to Kaikorai School. I hope you all enjoyed your summer holiday and spent time with your whānau enjoying the glorious weather.
Day one information
We are excited to see all of our tamariki on Tuesday 1st February ready for a 9 am start in class.
Kristen Ferguson (Deputy Principal) and I will be at the gate welcoming from 8:30 am, and under the current red light system we will run a drop off approach at the Tyne Street entrance for our children. The syndicate leaders will be waiting in the playground to meet and greet also. More information below regarding the covid protection framework.
We welcome Miss Harriet Kinnaird (Room 3 teacher) Mrs. Bridget McDowall (Room 10 Rūma tekau teacher) and Amelia-Kate Keogh (teacher aide in Room 6A) to Kaikorai School and I know they will really enjoy being a part of the Kaikorai community. A special welcome also to our new Kaikorai students who are beginning their journey with us.
Stationery
The link to the stationery lists can be found here. Please do not worry if you are unable to fulfill the stationery order before the beginning of the term. A pencil case and an old book will do the trick for now!
Sunhats
Please ensure your child has their sunhat ready in their bag ready to go for day one.
Road patrol
Can you help with the Wright Street crossing to get our children safely across the road? We need helpers to be rostered on 8:30 am - 8:55 am and after school from 3 pm - 3:15 pm? Please email Kelly [email protected] or me if you can help. Thanks in advance for your offers of help.
Covid protection framework
Please note that if you need to come on-site you will need to wear a face-covering and sign in using the QR code as well as complete our contact tracing. Please go to the office to sign in. The office is now located in (the former) Room 8 Turn right at the top of the steps and head towards the school flag. Sharon and I will be working in this space until the new administration block is ready.
If you need to collect your child from the school gate at the end of the day please consider a meeting point surrounding school. The congestion on Tyne Street can be difficult for our road patrol crew to get children safely across the road.
We are unable to host a meet the teacher evening at this stage as well as class assemblies. Please don't hesitate to get in touch with your child's teacher (their email addresses are on the webpage) or through SeeSaw.
Mask wearing
Staff and children in Years 4 and up must wear face masks when inside at school when we are at Red. Therefore all staff and children in the senior syndicate will be wearing a mask while inside.
All of our middle syndicate classes are combined Year 3 and 4. Although we encourage mask wearing for Year 4s in the middles, the Ministry of Education's advice in this situation is to take a pragmatic approach. Therefore, in the middle syndicate only, it is at the discretion of the parents to decide whether their Year 4 child wears a mask.
Public health advice is that appropriate masks will fit snuggly and seal well around facial contours. This can include single-use, disposable masks (medical masks) and re-usable fabric masks with three layers.
Ventilation
We have used the Ministry of Education self-assessment
tool to review all our ventilation in readiness for the start of the year. Providing fresh air remains the most important thing we can do in our
learning spaces to minimise risk for ākonga/learners and kaiako/teachers. We have CO2 monitors in all the new classrooms, learning streets, and break-out spaces. Monitors are ordered for the middle block.
As the classes will be well ventilated, it is important that your child has warm clothes to put on as needed.
Water bottles
Please ensure your child has a named water bottle in their bag that can be used rather than using the water fountains.
Hygiene
We will continue to encourage thorough hand washing before eating and at points throughout the day. Hand sanitiser is available in all classes and the learning streets.
Lunch times
Middle and senior lunch times 12:15 - 1: 15pm
Juniors 1:00pm - 2:00pm
Shared spaces
While inside, the syndicates will be staying in their groups and not mixing between the syndicates. We will not be holding school wide assemblies until further notice.
Managing cases in our school
We have a good contact tracing system in place so that if there is a confirmed case who has been at school while infectious, we can quickly identify who was a close contact of that person. We will then quickly advise those contacts of what they need to do.
Only if the Ministry of Health or the Ministry of Education advises to do so, would we consider closing a physical onsite school and moving to distance learning for everyone. At Red, we will keep everyone learning onsite for as long as we can.
The information we receive is constantly evolving, we aim to keep you informed without overloading you with new updates.
Please make sure the contact details we have on file are up to date, so we can get in touch with you if needed. Email Sharon [email protected] to update your information. Please note the school office is open on Monday 31st January.
A positive home-school partnership alongside your child's happiness is the key to success. Please don't hesitate to get in touch at any time if I can help in any way and I thank you for your support in these changing times.
Ngā manaakitanga
Beth Downie
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