‘E ako ana, ā, e tipu tahi ana tātou’ - Learning and growing together.

Kia ora koutou

Congratulations to families for taking on the challenge of distance learning over the past few weeks, working alongside teachers, supporting children's learning and making the most of a special time together. Thank you.

It has been amazing to see how adaptable teachers and students have been transitioning to such a different way of teaching and learning and seeing the great efforts and accomplishments of children during the past few weeks. 

This newsletter is a celebration of home learning over the past few weeks. Enjoy!

As I have said, we are really looking forward to seeing everyone back at East Taieri on Monday. We have talked at length about how we can best transition children back to school. We realise that some families and children may be anxious about returning to school and you can be assured that children's wellbeing will be our priority. It will take time for everyone to reconnect and reintegrate back into school life, so we will be focusing on welcoming our children back and ensuring that they feel safe and secure before we get back into our normal teaching and learning programmes. Teachers have a wealth of resources to support children's transition back to school.

The following information outlines some of our guidelines as we head back to school on Monday:

PUPIL ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE

• Unwell children and adults are not to enter the school.

• Parents are encouraged to drop their children at the main gates - Cemetery Road entrances and school carpark gate entrance. There will be a staff member monitoring entry at each gate. Gates from the field will be locked.

• The name of any parent who comes onto the school site will be recorded - to enable contact tracing.

• Children are NOT to arrive at school BEFORE 8:30am (unless they are attending Kelly Club). If bus children arrive before 8:30am they will head straight to their classroom.

• Children must go to their classroom upon arriving at school. They can then stay in class, or play in a designated before school play area - teachers will inform children of where these are.

• Some children may be anxious or reluctant to leave parents at the gate. If this is the case, parents may bring their child to the classroom door, do the hand over, and then leave the school promptly.

• Children who show signs of sickness will be sent home.

• Latecomers are to head straight to the office

• The bus bell will be rung at 2.40pm and the bus will be leaving school at 2.45pm

• To avoid congestion at the gates children from the Junior School will be taken to the school carpark gate with their teacher at 2.40pm. Older siblings will leave at this time as well. Could parents please let us know if they cannot collect children at that time. Those who cannot be collected early will stay with their teacher until 3pm.

• Middle and senior school students will leave at the normal time of 3pm.

• Kelly Club staff will notify you of their safe arrival and departure process
  

CLASSROOM PRACTICE

• It is unreasonable to expect children to maintain a safe distance from each other and from the teachers 24/7.

• We will do our best to educate the children that for the time being, closeness could spread sickness but we will not police this unreasonably.

• The classroom should operate as normal with the following exceptions:

• Children will line up outside the classroom after interval and break times and after being anywhere else in the school - e.g. library, CRT, etc

• Hand sanitising or washing at the beginning and end of each session is essential. Such practices should also happen when the children use other areas in the school such as the Owhiro Centre, the playground and the library.

• Teachers will ensure there is a supply of hand sanitiser, soap, tissues available in their classroom. Surface will be cleaned with disinfectant regularly during the day.

• We will be having staggered intervals and lunchtimes to limit interaction between different areas of the school.

• Each child will need a named drink bottle - no drinking fountains to be used

• No sharing of stationery - each child needs to have named pens, pencils, glue sticks
  

• Children are to use hand sanitiser as they enter their classroom

• There will be no reading books sent home during the first two weeks back at school

DISTANCE LEARNING

Distance learning is for Level 3 and 4.

• Teaching and learning will be available at Level 2 via a reduced number of distance learning options.

• Once school restarts, all general use devices lent out must be returned and put back to use in the classrooms. They should be cleaned upon return.

VISITORS

• We need to keep a record of all we come in contact with.

• Visitors will be discouraged to visit school until we settle down. They will be asked if possible to use the phone or email to communicate with school staff.

BUSES

• School buses will be running as normal in the mornings

• When bus children arrive at school they will go straight to their classrooms

• Afternoon buses will be leaving school at 2.45pm

• If there are any changes to bus arrangements for your child please contact the office

WELLBEING

• We need to work together to alleviate anxiety.

• Some of the children will be anxious to return to school. It is important for the school staff to acknowledge this and provide opportunities in the first few days for children to share their fears and concerns.

• I have attached a pamphlet on Tips for Getting Kids Ready for School after Lockdown.

Covid 19 has been a major event in all of our lives. We do not know what the short term or long term future will be so we need to continually review and refine our approach. Please let us know of any concerns you may have as we move along this path together so that we can keep ourselves and our children safe. I am happy to receive your views and guidance.

Ngā mihi nui

Jennifer Horgan