Tēnā koutou e te Whānau
It is hard to believe that this will be the last newsletter of Term 1! This term has certainly had its share of unique challenges, but I am very proud of how our staff, students, parents and Board have responded to what has been an ever-evolving situation.
In terms of the impact of COVID-19, to date, approximately 25% of our students have contracted the virus, along with 27% of our staff. The positive cases have been spread throughout the Learning Centres. This is actually on the lower end of the continuum for schools in our local area. We believe that our community's high vaccination rates, coupled with the controls we have maintained, have helped keep the number of cases manageable and have allowed us (as you will see from the movie above) to keep our programmes running with minimal disruptions to learning.
We are hopeful that we have reached the peak of the outbreak in our school community, with the number of daily confirmed cases steadily dropping this week.
On that note, this afternoon, the Prime Minister announced that the country will move to the Orange setting of the Covid-19 Protection Framework (CPF) at 11.59 pm tonight. This will mean that Halswell School will start Term 2 in the Orange setting.
The Board of Trustees has considered the latest advice from the Ministries of Health and Education in deciding what risk mitigation will be retained when school returns on Monday, 2 May.
A summary of the changes is below:
Gates will be open before school and after 3pm
Parents and visitors can come onto the grounds but not into Learning Centres. (Please drop your children outside their Learning Centre and avoid congregating in the bag bays)
All parents and visitors are required to sign in at the Office between 9am - 3pm.
Masks are required for parents and visitors on-site at all times
Physical activity can take place inside with a maximum of 100 students, provided that they come from the same Learning Centre
Break times will remain staggered but organised, so Learning Teams will be able to play outside together
Sports events (e.,g., cross country and Years 7&8 Hagley Sports) can take place with additional mitigations in place
Itinerant music tutors and kapa haka lessons will return on-site with additional controls in place
Learning Team assemblies can take place in the Stadium
Drinking fountains will be turned on
Sausage Sizzle and Tuckshop will recommence
The school grounds will be open to the public outside school hours, and the Stadium will be available for hire
As always, if children are showing any signs of sickness, they must stay at home.
We are excited to be able to reduce some of the COVID-19 controls that have been in place over the last few months. These new controls will be reviewed regularly as the situation evolves, and we will keep you updated with any developments.
Finally, I wish you all the best for a safe and relaxing holiday break and look forward to seeing you when the new term begins on Monday, 2 May.
Ngā mihi nui
Stuart Cameron
Principal