Distance Learning Implementation Plan

Dear KingsWay Community,

With yesterday’s announcement by Government, we are finalising our Distance Learning Implementation Plan with urgency to support your child’s learning from home. We appreciate this is a sudden and significant change and will be profoundly disruptive to many people in our community. Please refer to the following information to guide you through the next few days:

1. Second Online Learning Trial

Scheduled for 5.30-6.00 pm tonight for all Middle and Senior School students. Please ensure all students are ready to connect with their homeroom teacher at 5.30 pm tonight. This test allows the school a final opportunity to iron out any glitches before the mandatory self-isolation.

2. Teaching and Learning for the Remainder of the Week

KingsWay will be wrapping up learning for this term. There will be a further email to parents (specific to each part of the school) outlining some learning options for Thursday and Friday this week. Our advice is that parents take this time to help their child establish a functional space for teaching and learning to occur from home and to chat through some expectations of working from home. Senior Students need to use this time for units of work already in progress.

SCHOOL HOLIDAYS will run from 30 March to 14 April.

TERM 2 COMMENCES on Wednesday 15 April and distance learning will begin.

3. Collection of Essential Belongings from School

Feel free to collect your child’s essential belongings from school between 9am and 1.30 pm on Wednesday. Please sign in and out and maintain social distancing at all times. The site won’t be accessible after 1.30 pm on Wednesday, 25 March.

4. Supervision of Students at School for Wednesday 25 March

For children of essential workers, we continue to offer support at school. You may wish to check if you are considered an essential worker - https://covid19.govt.nz/government-actions/covid-19-alert-system/ However, those roles include doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers and police. We continue to ask that children who are not well, do not attend school.

5. Resuming Learning on Wednesday, 15 April (the start of Term 20

We aim to support your child:

• through online learning for Middle and Senior School.
• provision of a learning plan for Primary School
• by including how teachers will engage with them at home
• by detailing how parents and caregivers can contact the school if there are any issues for their child.

6. Additional Information from the Ministry of Education before you go into Self-isolation:

If you need to have your child cared for by someone else you will need to identify that person or people as part of your self-isolated group. This decision will need to be done by midnight Wednesday 25 March, and the group must remain the same for the whole four-week period. The caregiver’s group (e.g., their partner and children), your child and your group (eg, your parents and other children) become one group. This group needs to be limited to minimise any risk of spread and should be no more than 20 people.

Your child will be looking to you for guidance about this decision. Parents, caregivers, whānau and teachers will have a particularly important part to play in reassuring children at this time. If you haven’t already done so, you may wish to read the information put together by the Ministry of Education to support your conversations with your children – Talking to children about COVID-19

As noted by the Prime Minister, these restrictions are our best chance to slow the virus in New Zealand and to save lives. We all have a clear role here in slowing the spread of COVID-19.

7. Parent/Teacher Conferences

PTCs are postponed until further notice.

8. Uniform Shop

The uniform shop is closed until further notice. The arrangements for the pickup for all online orders will be communicated in due course.

9. Parent Reimbursements

We realise many parents have paid for trips, etc. Some activities are cancelled, and some postponed. We are continuously assessing and will be reconciling these items over the next while. We will remain in contact and refunds will be processed once we have a clearer picture of all the events involved and whether they have been cancelled or postponed.

10. Member of Family Tests Positive for Covid-19

If a member of your household tests positive in the next two weeks, please email principal@kingsway.school.nz to allow us to communicate this information.

Regards

Graeme Budler
Executive Principal