Moving to CV19 Alert Level 2, whenever that happens!

Andy England —

We don’t know the date yet, but we do know we’ll be starting back on the first Monday after the move to Alert Level 2 happens. In this article, I'll outline some key conditions you can expect under CV19 Alert Level 2.

Our health and safety plan for Alert Level 2 is linked here: basically, we’re planning to run things close to normal, including buses, but with lots of extra hygiene measures. 

The main reason we're running close to normal is the health advice that young people (except those with severe risk factors) are at low risk from Covid-19 and are unlikely to pass it to adults. This means we can reduce the physical distancing requirements we're now used to in supermarkets etc. Hygiene measures, especially handwashing, are the biggest thing schools need to manage.

So, unless your child is severely at risk from Covid-19 you should be sending your child back to school....unless they’re sick, in which case they should stay home! No person will be allowed onsite with a contagious respiratory illness and anyone breaking this will be sent home. 

Students should attend in uniform, as this helps create a sense of normality which is good for mental health, but we will be understanding where there is a genuine problem - we just ask that you try your best and communicate with us.

Buses will run as normal but they will have some rules for safety and if anyone doesn't take them seriously they can lose their place on the bus. 

We'll start with a lesson for all students on new hygiene routines: hand sanitise on entry to and exit from the school, on entry to and exit from each teaching space; wash hands with soap and dry hands before leaving toilets; contactless greetings; sneeze into elbow; maintain as much physical distance as is practical; walk to left and no running in corridors; water fountains not to be used; no sharing of bottles or other touch items which go close to the mouth/nose eg phones.

Teachers will adapt their learning plans, including our teaching spaces, to reduce potential transmission of CV19 eg avoiding close face to face exposure, increased distance for singing, adapted sports, increased washing. We'll also be checking in with where students are at with their learning to get extra help to the ones who've struggled with learning from home.

There are other details in our H&S Plan and I recommend you to read it if you're concerned. Please do let us know if you have any worries or if you intend to keep your child at home.

Thank you for your ongoing work with learning from home, and thanks to our staff team for their ongoing support. Kia kaha.

Andy England, Principal