LATEST NEWS AND VIEWS : 31 March 2022

Covid19 Traffic Light System : Phase 3

We all await the announcement next week regarding what may change with the Traffic Light Codes for Canterbury.

One thing is for sure if there is a change schools will have to individually consider what it means in their setting.  Rather than try to anticipate what the changes may be, we will wait for a clear message from the Government on this.

State of the 'Nation' Report

Covid has had a strong hold in the Christchurch community for some weeks now.  This has been reflected in our school cases as well.  Learning Spaces have only been notified if a Teacher has tested positive.  Some classes of students have been affect in a small way, others in a huge way.  Interestingly many of our cases start out as Household contacts then move to having a positive test.  It is important that when notifying us of the positive test (child or adult) you give us the Day 0 test date.  This is the date we will go by for their return to school.  We have had a number of families who have tried to return their children before their Day 8.  We will ring and get you to come and pick them up if they are not eligible to attend yet.

Continuous mask wearing has made a difference for out staff, and our number of staff testing positive is small.  We are lucky the Ministry of Education has supplied staff with compliant masks and RAT kits.  The RAT kits have given reassurance to some staff that they have a cold rather than Covid.  Some of the symptoms are very similar.  Also all staff are fully vaccinated, and I think this has meant their symptoms have not been so great.

Keep safe out in the community and keep an eye on your child.

Arriving at School  

Trying to find a balance between arriving too early, or after the bell.

Please note the entrances to the school are open from 8:30am.  Before then there is no supervision or monitoring of student behaviour.

Arriving after the bell can be a disruption for both the student and the class.  Children feel very self conscious arriving into the rooms once everyone has started for the day and they have missed their group instruction.

Both of these issues cannot be solely managed by the child and we need parents to be more proactive in supporting their child/ren to arrive on time.

Heather Walkinshaw

Principal