Ngā mihi ki a koutou,

As I shared with you on Tuesday, Mount Maunganui College will be open for all students from Monday 18 May.

Regular timetabled lessons will resume on Monday. School operations and health and safety expectations will be shared with students on arrival to their period one lesson. The update we sent out on Tuesday outlined a number of steps we are taking to ensure the school remains a safe place for staff and students.

While there may be some unease about sending students to school, both the Ministries of Health and Education have made it very clear that school is safe for students. Having students return to a regular school routine will support their educational development and help teachers support students with any issues that may have arisen through distance learning in a timely manner. The Ministry of Education website is a great place to see what precautions we will be taking and will provide answers to many questions you may have.

https://www.education.govt.nz/covid-19/

I would like to remind families how they can support us in keeping our school community safe:

• Keep your child at home if they are unwell. If your child presents as unwell at school you will be notified and asked to come and collect them;

• Get your child to prepare their own lunch to reduce movement around our school canteen;

• Bring their own appropriate device to school to limit sharing of school devices;

• All community members must sign in at the front office on arrival, including parents;

• If you are signing your child out of school during the day, follow normal procedures.

There are some other measures we hope you can consider also:

• It is likely there will be an increased number of students being transported to school by parents. This may lead to congestion in and around our front car park, so I encourage you to use the surrounding streets for drop-offs and pick-ups before and after school;

• The school bus service is operational under Level 2 with some restrictions that may alter the service. To support Bay Bus we have asked students to register which school service bus they catch to and from school. Can you please ask your child to check their school email and complete this if they have not already done so. For all updates, please check https://www.baybus.co.nz/ and if you have specific questions please contact them directly.

We are looking forward to welcoming our students back to school on Monday, and I want to again thank you for the amazing support the college has received from our school community.

Noho ora mai,

Alastair Sinton
Principal