Supervision can be provided - notify the school if your daughter will be attending onsite. Please continue to contact the office if your daughter tests positive, is isolating or is sick.

Dear ākonga/students and whānau,

Thank you for your support and patience in these challenging times. Our thoughts are with you if you are sick and or isolating.

It is our strong preference to keep the school open as much as possible, with all ākonga/students attending on-site. However, with a number of staff in isolation, including teacher aides and maintenance staff, we need to take steps to ensure that we can operate safely. This means that we are encouraging all students to learn at home from Wednesday 9th March through till Monday 14th of March. Meaning students can return to school on Tuesday the 15th of March. Students should work to their normal timetable and contact their teachers if they have any questions.

The move to online learning for 4 days is in response to over 25% of our staff isolating and over 40% of our College absent for various reasons that include; being a confirmed positive case, being a household contact, self-isolating, sick or choosing to stay home to take precautionary measures. With our reduced staff available onsite moving to online learning will enable all teaching staff to more easily make contact with students to continue their learning.

Please continue to contact the office if your daughter tests positive, is isolating or is sick. This helps our tracking and our planning moving forward. The school has an absence line (04) 939 8988 for your parents/caregivers to ring or email attendance@scc.school.nz or use the SKOOL LOOP APP to let us know that you are away and the reason for your absence.

What should I expect to see on Google Classroom when my young person is learning from home?

Work will be on Google Classroom for all classes. Some teachers post a weekly summary of activities for the week; others post each lesson. Ask your young person to show you the ‘Classwork’ and ‘Stream’ sections of Google Classroom for updates.

Please note that teachers will often not include a due date for assignments on Google Classroom, especially if it is not an assessment. If your daughter is sick then assessment dates do not apply, an arrangement will be made when they return to school.

In addition to individual subject teachers, there are a number of people you can contact if you have any questions about the work on Google Classroom:

• Whānau Teachers

• Deans

• Halina McDonald, Mandy Page or Katrina Kerr-Bell

Sophie Hamilton - sophie.hamilton@stcatherinescollege.school.nz, school counsellor

If your daughter attends classes at St Patrick's College we encourage them to attend.

What additional support is available?

There are a number of reasons why learning from home may be challenging for students and their whānau. If your daughter requires support or supervision, please contact the school office or Katrina Kerr-Bell and we can arrange for them to be supervised on-site for the whole week.

If your whānau do not have access to a learning device, please contact DP Curriculum Mandy Page mandy.page@scc.school.nz and we can provide assistance.

Mā te Atua e manaaki

Katrina Kerr-Bell

Tumuaki

St Catherine's College