Yesterday the Prime Minister announced changes to the COVID-19 Protection Framework which will take effect from 11.59pm this Friday 25 March, and to vaccine mandates and My Vaccine Pass, which will take effect from 11.59pm Monday 4 April.

This means that New Zealand and Woodstock School will remain in the Red Setting. Cabinet will review the framework colour level on Monday 4 April. From 11.59pm Monday, 4 April, the vaccine mandate covering staff in the education sector will be removed. 

So what does this mean for Woodstock School at this time?

• Isolation for COVID-19 positive people and their household contacts remains at seven days.
• Vaccine passes, scanning and contact tracing will not be required at school for visitors from this weekend.
• Medical-grade masks remain a requirement for staff working indoors with children and young people in Years 4-13. For all New Zealanders, including school settings, masks will not be required outdoors. We will continue to encourage all to wear masks as long as Omicron is present.
• Parents will still be asked to drop children at school gates until the beginning of Term 2. We are mindful that a second wave is still possible and do want to limit the spread as much as possible.
  
• Parents are asked to wear masks to next week's parent-teacher meetings. Again, this is to limit the spread of the virus. 
• Our remaining Term 1 Assemblies will be live streamed. While gatherings of up to 200 are now allowed, we will not have large gatherings until the Omicron peak has well and truly passed.

As mentioned we will continue as we have up until the end of Term 1 because:

• The safety and well being of our students and staff remains our primary concern.
• We only have 3 weeks of school until term ends.
• We still have active cases of COVID in our school community and there are still high levels of anxiety across our community.
• We still have several staff members who are either household contacts or COVID positive.
• We are likely to be well through the COVID peak in early to mid April.
• This is consistent practice with our neighbouring schools.
• We are very mindful that there has been significant pressure on our staff this term and teachers are continuing to provide hybrid learning, in class teaching and cover for absent colleagues.

Your ongoing support, patience and understanding would be valued.