Please read all the information provided (including pdf links).

Dear KingsWay Community,

The Prime Minister announced on Monday that New Zealand would move to Alert Level 2 on Thursday, and school sites will fully reopen from Monday, 18 May.

KingsWay welcomes and anticipates all staff and students to return under Alert Level 2. The staff and leadership are committed to providing measures to protect the health and safety of the KingsWay community. The leadership have produced new specific COVID-19 procedures to minimise the risk of the transmission of COVID-19 at school. Please familiarise yourself and child with these procedures before returning on Monday (please see KWS Procedures at Alert Level 2 pdf attached).

New Zealand is in a fortunate position to be currently one of the countries best placed to reopen schools. I realise that many in the KingsWay community may be experiencing a range of emotions following this announcement. However, I encourage you to consider all the information carefully and not be guided by scaremongering or emotion. This pandemic looks like it is going to be with us for a while longer, so I believe we will need to be cautiously responsive to the ever-changing landscape. At this stage, the evidence strongly supports students return to school.

The staff have been impressed and reassured with the resilience of our students while learning at home. Please spend the remaining days emotionally and logistically preparing your children to return to onsite learning again. You might wish to refer to another resource prepared by the KingsWay Counselling Department to assist you (please see Parent Guide 2 attached as a pdf).

The KingsWay staff are eagerly anticipating the return of their students to school, and have commenced with preparations for onsite learning. Please complete this SHORT FORM if your child will not be attending school on Monday, 18 May.

Please refer to the Return to Alert Level 2 implementation timeline to ensure we have a seamless return to school on Monday.

Return to Alert Level 2 Implementation Timeline

• 11 May:
  • The Prime Minister announced a decision on return to Alert Level 2. Distance learning continues for students who have not registered to attend school onsite for the whole week.
• 12 May:
  • KingsWay’s leadership releases COVID-19 Level 2 procedures for maintaining the health and safety of students and staff.
  • Preparation and sanitisation of school sites commence.
  • Survey parents to ascertain possible attendance levels under Alert Level 2.
• 13 May:
  • Limited access to both sites for staff so they can prepare for onsite learning.
• 14 May:
  • The student attendance survey is due at 9.a.m
  • Collate numbers of the survey and advise staff.
  • The uniform shop opens under strict distancing guidelines.
  • Leadership site inspection.
• 15 May:
  • Staff may return to school, if needed, to prepare for a return on 18 May. No requirement for face-to-face online learning between staff and students. However, students should continue with distance learning.
• 18 May:
  • All students and staff return to KingsWay, under the guidance of new procedures.
  • Buses operate as usual.
  • The tuckshop opens.

School Specific Information

Middle School

Please ensure your child brings all of the items they took home for lockdown. This request includes their schoolbooks, stationery and school resources such as borrowed laptops, textbooks and novels. We have adjusted the timetable for the initial transition back to school by ensuring classes have more time with their form teacher, allowing for reconnection, reflection and organisation.

Senior School

Assessments—NZQA’s current position

It is essential to confirm that there is no current plan from NZQA to reduce the number of credits required for NCEA at Level 1, 2 or 3. Nor is there any current plan to reduce the requirements for University Entrance. Therefore, our advice is that students continue to work to the best of their ability towards these qualifications, both in their online classes and once they are back on site. As a Senior School, please be assured that we are working hard to look at many options to meet student’s needs in this setting.

Assessments—Catchup for Practical Subjects

Over the last several weeks, many subjects including Hospitality, Outdoor Education, Arts-based subjects and Hard Materials, have been severely limited in the way they could conduct assessments. The leadership are working towards a solution for this and will communicate when finalised. It will likely involve catchup days scheduled into the timetable at the end of this term initially and potentially other times throughout the year as well.

Calendar/ trip changes

Likewise, as several assessments rely on trips to gather data or complete practical activities, we are working on alternative dates for a number of these and will communicate them shortly.

Assessments—Authenticity

During this period of remote learning, we have had more flexibility concerning how we assess, under guidance from NZQA. For instance, some assessments usually done under test conditions may have been conducted online. This means, however, there are potential issues with authenticity. We have been encouraging students to act with integrity in this regard.

Kind regards,

Graeme Budler
Executive Principal