Kia ora koutou - Our doors are opening tomorrow. At last! We have had 2 weeks of planning and preparation for schools to open under the Red level. And it’s now time to welcome all our students back to school. Here are some last minute reminders and updates before the 2022 school year officially opens for us tomorrow.

BE KIND IN CHALLENGING TIMES

We acknowledge that these are testing times for parents and students. While it's our (Board & staff) responsibility to implement Government/MOE policies and guidelines within our own context, we will endeavour to be as pragmatic as possible in meeting the very specific MOE guidelines, keeping our students and staff safe, while acknowledging and being responsive to the diverse needs of over 200 whanau and the wider community.

TRAFFIC LIGHT SYSTEM: A NEW SCHOOL WEBSITE:

We have added an extra page to our website where we will put all our updates, and other news relating to Covid for easy access. Please refer to this page regularly for the latest updates.

RED LEVEL GUIDELINES

We strongly urge all parents/caregivers to read our Red Level Guidelines.

Here are a few reminders (Please refer to the Red Level Guidelines for the full details)

• In general, schools are not open for “non-essentials”.
• However, if you do wish to see a staff member, please report to the school office wearing a mask.
• Please adhere to our “Drop & Drive” drive guideline - and remember to wear masks and keep 2m distance from other parents when waiting at the gate.
• Students are to please wear a mask when entering our premises in our effort to keep various Teams separated and safe. Once in class, students will be able to go to designated outdoor playing areas with or without their masks.
• We have broken our school day into 3 breaks - and teachers will take the learning outside where practical to minimise the wearing of masks.
• The wearing of masks is a government mandate. Please follow our guidelines should your child not be able to wear a mask.
• Please pre-arrange which exit point you will collect your child after school. Please note the following dismissal times at the end of the school day:
  • Moana & Whetu - 2:55 p.m.
  • Whenua & Marama - 3:00 p.m.

• 5 Year olds and any other students enrolling/starting school at NPS - please report to the school at 10:00 a.m. to avoid the “start of school year rush” at the office.

SCHOOL BUSES

School buses: Face covering is required for all 12+ year old students making use of the school bus services. This changes to Year 4 and up which will come into force at 11:59pm on Thursday, 3 February.

Please note the approximate pick-up and drop-off times for the following bus routes.

NPS COVID RESPONSE STAGES

We are currently drafting our response to various scenarios should Covid impact our school community. While a more detailed plan will be shared with our community, the following broad overview will give you an indication of our road map. Our flexible response to Covid will depend on the various scenarios that could play out within the school community. The movement between the stages need to be fluid considering the volatile conditions we are currently facing due to Covid:

• The overarching consideration will be given to the safety of students and staff, and whether the school will be able to function on limited staff, in extreme cases.
• Staff, in consultation with the board, will shift to Stage 2 due to high absences (students and staff).
• The board, in consultation with staff, will make the decision to switch over to homebased learning (Stage 3) should it no longer be possible to run school-based learning programmes.
• The Ministry of Education will instruct schools to shut down (Stage 4) in the event of a regional/local or national pandemic event.

Government Phases for response to Omicron

CHANNEL YOUR CONCERNS TO THE RIGHT PLACE, I.E. THE SCHOOL

• Our staff team has successfully managed the school through 2 rounds of lockdowns. And the current Red level will be no different.
• Our guidelines are developed from the information we receive from the MOH/MOE. It is our responsibility to understand them and apply them to our unique context.
• Social media is not the appropriate medium to answer your queries. It often causes panic and hysteria amongst our community. In most cases, the answer lies at school.
• If you do have any queries or concerns, please get in touch with me immediately (principal@ngatea.school.nz). Should we not be able to answer your query, we will take it further to the MOE/MOH.

Once again, with your individual and our community’s continued support to our school, staff and Board, we will be able to navigate our way through the challenges lying ahead. We’ve done this before.

Ngā mihi nui

Neil