On Tuesday we remembered the Christchurch earthquake anniversary. I know many of you would have been thinking about those you know who lost their lives and the impact on your own lives.

Together we have looked after and led our young people through a decade of earthquake impact, a tragic massacre and now a pandemic. Many of you will have faced home repairs or rebuilds and other dislocation.

Whatever the nation feels about the experience of a pandemic, the entire decade has normalised operating in crisis for Christchurch people.

You will now be aware that the government has announced the country’s move to phase 3 from 11.59pm 24/02/2022.

New Zealand’s COVID-19 response continues amid much larger numbers of daily cases. You may well have seen the headlines in the media about the numbers of cases being seen in schools. Please do not be alarmed by this. It is only natural that as cases in our community increase, they will appear in our school. We have really good systems in place to respond to this and to keep any spread of the virus – should it appear – to a minimum.

You may have seen Dr Jin Russell in the media noting research from New South Wales about their recent Omicron outbreak showing that spread within the school setting is very low (less than 4% of cases at school infected someone else when at school). We have seen that in New Zealand too. This is why we remain open at Red. It is important for our young people’s wellbeing and learning to be at school with their friends and school staff and we have very good systems in place to keep everyone as safe as possible.

Your job remains the same, too: please continue to keep a really close watch of your whānau for anyone with symptoms. If unwell, please stay at home and get advice about getting a COVID-19 test.

With Phase 3 of the Omicron response, the key change is that it is only confirmed cases and their household contacts who need to self-isolate. Everyone else, including those who may have had close contact with the case but are not in the household, do not need to isolate but must continue to monitor really closely for any symptoms of COVID-19.

At Phase 3, the focus is on safely managing COVID-19 at home.

Phase 3 will mean changes to how we manage cases within our school and community and how we support you.

Please do continue to advise us as soon as you are aware your child or a member of your household is a positive case on the covid@cghs.school.nz email address. Use the attendance@cghs.school.nz email address for usual sickness and absence notifications. If your child is not already deemed a household contact or a positive case and is at home  waiting for a test result please continue to log the absence into the attendance email until you receive your results.

So from midnight last night those students who have been previously advised that they are close contacts no longer need to isolate, provided that 

• They are symptom free and 
• They do not have a positive test and
• They are not in a household of a positive case.

However, those who are household contacts of a positive case and/or have symptoms, are still required to fulfil their period of isolation. School feels very settled and productive. Staff and students are already working hard on learning, undertaking formative assessments and preparing well in the event we might be online learning for a short period in the peak of the outbreak. Our students continue their strong mask wearing culture and are enjoying a break from masks and time outside at breaks enjoying each other’s company. Our focus is on staying open for as long as possible and providing continuous learning and care for our students through the remainder of the term.

Ngā mihi

Christine O’Neill