Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Ngā mihi nui.

I would like again warmly welcome everyone back to the KingsWay School community and trust that despite COVID disruptions, this year will be a rich blessing to your family.

COVID Update

We continue to record positive cases of COVID at KingsWay. The three current cases are in Years 5 and 6 and all mild. All three students wore their masks. Their mask status means I could regard all students and staff as casual contacts according to the Ministry of Education’s criteria. At this point, if a reported case does not wear a mask, all students and their teachers could be regarded as close contacts and will be required to self-isolate for 7 days.

The leadership is prepared for all eventualities related to COVID, including growing case numbers. I want to encourage wearing masks to avoid unnecessary disruption to the school and families. I also want to reiterate that the best learning happens in front of teachers and in person. One of our key messages related to COVID is ‘Caution without Fear’. While distance learning is available for students required to self-isolate, we remain committed to keeping our students at school and operating our brilliant programme wherever practical, lawful and possible. Hopefully, this will be easier when rapid antigen tests are freely available.

Meanwhile, please attend to the following:

• To receive COVID and other emergency alerts, please ensure you subscribe to the KingsWay App. Please follow THIS LINK and click on the KingsWay School App tab.
• Refresh your child and your understanding of KingsWay’s 2022 COVID Protocols. These are regularly updated when new information comes to light and this information can be found on the pop-up notice of our school website. CLICK HERE.
  
• Encourage your child to wear a mask.
• Monitor your child for symptoms.
• Update your child's Kamar information. CLICK HERE for the parent login to Kamar (also found on our website called 'Parent Login').
  NOTE: To add bus details to your child's Kamar information, please email the bus route and your child's name to notices@kingsway.school.nz
  
• Encourage your child with messages that include vigilance and reassurance that nearly all children who contract COVID have mild symptoms.
• Please keep us informed of COVID cases in your household by completing the following COVID Notification Form. This form is found on the pop-up notice of our school website.
  

Meetings to Diarise

Please diarise the whole school parent meeting where you get the opportunity to meet your child’s homeroom teacher. I am aware from my experience that new families find it challenging to assimilate into a new school environment and how intimidating all the new jargon and systems can appear. The management has scheduled an online parent meeting on 3 March (please diarise this date) to assist with your induction into the KingsWay community.

New Parent Induction Meeting | 6:30 – 7:00 pm – CLICK HERE to join the meeting

This is a time to meet the Executive Principal, the Associate Principals, the Board Chair and the Parent-Teacher Association, representative. View the programme below:

Whole School Parent Meeting: Meet the Teacher | 7:00 – 9:00 pm – CLICK HERE to join the meeting

This meeting is a requirement for all parents to attend and provides you with the opportunity to meet your child’s homeroom/form teacher as there are three repeated sessions, allowing you the opportunity to participate in multiple slots for different children if needed. View the programme below:

We will publish the links again via our KingsWay School App closer to the time.

Other Information and Timely Reminders

Partner With Us

We would also love to encourage you to renew your commitment to partner with us, so please take a few minutes to complete this Getting Stuck-In Form to indicate your expression of interest in getting involved at KingsWay School.

Essential Reminders

Please also read the following essential housekeeping reminders:

• Communication: Please read the Communication at KingsWay School information on our website to ensure you are ‘connected’ to all our forms of communication. Particularly download the KingsWay School App and set your correct alerts eg Emergency, Full School, Middle School etc.
• Reporting an Absence: Kingsway School has a responsibility every day to account for all enrolled students. We ask for students and parents to support us in achieving this, preferably in advance of attendance checks. Please read the Reporting Absence information found on our website. Please avoid non-essential travel arrangements for students, especially for Senior School, during the term time as this impacts your child’s learning and socialisation. 
• Travel and Parking: Restricted parking at school during peak hour pickup and drop-off time is experienced by all schools, as confirmed with Auckland Council. Unfortunately, the school has no jurisdiction and receives no special dispensation from the Traffic Department. In the interests of maintaining a good relationship with our community, keeping our students safe, and on the right side of the law, the school leadership has reviewed and updated our visual KingsWay School Travel Plan. This will help you to know how to drop off and pick up your children safe from both our Campuses. This plan is found on our website under Transport Regulations.  
• Other documents that will assist you with your orientation to KingsWay School is on the KingsWay School website: www.kingsway.school.nz, however, if you have any additional queries, please don’t hesitate to contact the school office at 09-427 0900, who will contact a helpful person.

I look forward to meeting you in the new year and getting to know you better.

Yours sincerely,

Graeme Büdler
Executive Principal