Kia ora koutou – hello everyone Like me you probably looked at the emerging cases from this outbreak and thought that some further time at Alert Level 4 was very likely, and the best thing for our community.

That thinking was confirmed when the Prime Minister advised that we will remain at Alert Level 4 until 11.59pm on 24 August. We will learn more on Monday about what will happen next.

I wanted to reassure you that our school staff and board will continue to be available to support your child’s learning and wellbeing in the coming days. Our Learning from Home programmes are all ready for Monday. Your children’s teachers will have made contact with you about Meet times and the range of activities that are available. Many of our staff, like you, are managing their own children’s learning at home, as well as their own work. We understand that there will be demands on your time, so do what you can rather than feeling pressured to achieve huge amounts with the children.

We also hope you are doing OK at the moment – but it is also OK if you aren’t. As the Mental Health Foundation of NZ says, “it’s all right to feel a range of emotions right now. Going into a Level 4 lockdown is a big deal and it brings all sorts of different feelings to the surface, including frustration, worry and even gratitude. However you are feeling, know that you’re not alone – we’re all going through this together.”

You will also understand the importance of routine for your family. If your routine has been shaken up, it is good to structure your time. Routines are reassuring and promote health and physical wellbeing.

For our Pacific families, if you are not aware the Ministry for Pacific Peoples’ has been working to ensure useful information is available to Pacific peoples in nine different languages.

A big thank you to all of you for taking the lockdown so seriously – we’ve seen before that staying at home will break the chain of transmission and save lives. Breaking the rules could risk someone close to you and if the rules are not complied with, this could risk the lock down period being extended or could risk the virus being spread to thousands.

Please keep checking the locations of interest and get tested if you were at a location at the specified time, or if you have symptoms which could be COVID-19.

And just a quick point – please don’t use our playground during lockdown. Playgrounds cannot be used at Alert Level 4.

As always, please let us know if there is anything you need to support you and your tamariki during this time.

Ngā mihi, noho ora mai – thank you and stay well.

Sue Elley

Tumuaki – Principal