Covid-19 continues to disrupt education, but perhaps there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Dear parents and caregivers

It has been a while since I have updated our community on how Nayland College is progressing with the pandemic.  As per government guidelines we are no longer contact tracing, and it is the responsibility of the individuals concerned to inform people they may have had close contact with.  We currently have over 220 students that have tested positive (85 active), another 250 that have been isolating as household contacts and close to 40 staff impacted.  

As I shared with our community on Wednesday, our staff have been significantly impacted by the current Covid-19 outbreak, with a large number either unwell or isolating with family members. With a dwindling pool of relief teachers, it has become increasingly difficult, and now impossible to ensure all classes are supervised. Therefore, we have made the difficult decision to move Year 12 and 13 students to online learning for three school days, starting on Friday 18 March, with these students returning on Wednesday 23 March.  We will review the decision early next week.

Trades Academy will continue to operate and some Outdoor Education programmes may continue (the teachers concerned will be in touch).  Any assessments missed will be rescheduled. 

With the Omicron peak fast approaching, we are very hopeful that the government will soon announce further easing of restrictions for schools.

Vaccinations

The government has announced that all children and young people enrolled at school are now able to participate in all school-organised teams and groups regardless of their vaccination status (for example sports teams, music groups and kapa haka).

This change will also apply to any individuals representing their school at an event or competition – for example, an individual representing Nayland College at an individual sport competition (think of them as a team/group of one).

For education outside the classroom (EOTC), this will mean that an offsite provider will not be able to ask children and young people participating in school-organised curriculum-related activities for evidence of vaccination.

Social events, fund-raising events or other activities where student participants are not in a school-organised team or group are not included in this exemption from vaccine pass requirements – for example, school balls, school fairs, quiz nights.

Rapid Antigen Testing (RATs)

We now have a limited number of RAT tests available for students that become unwell during the school day.  If they present as symptomatic, students will be given a RAT to take home and we will contact parents/caregivers for them to be collected.

Debating Competition

Recently 21 students competed in the Kahurangi-Marlborough Regional Debating Championships organised and judged by New Zealand Schools Debating Association. We had students from Years 9-13 competing.  Following our amazing results in 2021, our 2022 results were also outstanding with Nayland College winning the junior championship and also taking out the runner-up places for both the junior and senior competitions. Congratulations to all involved.  See the article in this newsletter for more information.

Ngā mihi

Daniel Wilson
Principal