A Note from Graeme Budler, Executive Principal

Dear KingsWay Community,

The government has signalled that Auckland will stay at Alert Level 3 for a bit longer and announced a raft of other covid related measures to address the increase of cases. I acknowledge that this is not the news we hoped for, but we now need to respond and plan accordingly. The school’s leadership is preparing protocols that incorporate the new measures announced yesterday. Currently, we are waiting on the Ministry of Education’s guidance, so we plan to publish further detail on the KingsWay website as scheduled before Thursday, 14 October at 6 pm.

Meanwhile, the following information needs your attention:

1. At full Alert Level 3, you legally must stay within your household bubble unless for essential personal movement, including going to work and school. Therefore, we are open once more on Monday 18 October for only the small number of children who need to attend. All our usual safety precautions for Alert Level 3 will be in place, which includes all the recommendations from the public health experts. This measure means students will be kept in bubbles of no more than 10. While we know how difficult it is trying to work from home and support your child’s learning, please keep your child at home if there is an appropriate carer available. For those of you with no other option, we are preparing to support your child at school next week. Action: To allow the management time to prepare appropriately, please complete this FORM before 11 am on Friday 15 October if you are an essential worker. We cannot accommodate unregistered students without at least 12 hours notice during weekdays.
2. It is now legally required that schools hold a COVID-19 vaccination register for all eligible students and staff. KingsWay is required to know if your 12–18-year-old child has had their first or second vaccine dose or is exempt from vaccination. We will hold this information following the Privacy Act and will only share it with public health authorities. Therefore, we will send out a link to a form on Thursday, 14 October for you to complete. Please do not send us any information until requested.
3. Please note that it is now a requirement for Year 9-13 students to wear face coverings while on school transport and at school.
4. Our staff are tested for COVID-19 before they get back to work, and we are supporting our staff to be vaccinated before 1 January according to the requirement announced yesterday.
5. You can also assist everyone’s safety by keeping your child at home if they are feeling unwell, and please get in touch with your GP or Healthline, to seek advice about getting tested.
6. We will continue to support all students at home through our distance learning programme. Senior students continue with learning on Teams and Middle School students on Zoom. Primary staff are preparing additional home learning packs. We are also adding another level of teacher feedback using the Seesaw platform. Home Learning packs can be collected on Friday via contactless pickup. More detail to follow in Thursday’s Community update.

I realise that there are strong opinions related to many issues around Covid-19, in particular vaccinations. As a state-integrated school, the government requires KingsWay to adhere to all Ministry of Education directives. While I respect your right to hold a different view, I wish to remind you not to use KingsWay’s social media platforms or communication channels to share your opinion or other information. 

God bless,

Graeme Budler
Executive Principal