14th February 2021.

Following the announcement today about the changes to alert levels, we would like to share some important information.

Alert Level 2 – All of New Zealand excluding Auckland region.

Alert Level 2 applies from midnight tonight for 72 hours.

1. Schools are open to everyone, and all children must attend unless advised otherwise by a health professional and/or is showing signs of sickness.

2. Learning will be onsite with distance learning offered in some circumstances. Please contact us in this case.

3. Schools are not classified as gatherings and a range of events and activities can go ahead, however, for safety reasons, we will not hold school assemblies this week.

4. Schools will close for cleaning and contact tracing if there is a confirmed case who was infectious when at school. This is not the case for our school at this point.

5. Face coverings are not required at school or on any school transport, however, you have the option to wear a mask if you choose.

6. Sick people must stay at home and contact the health line https://www.health.govt.nz/…/health-care…/healthline

7. Our school contact tracing system will be in place – please scan or sign at the office if you need to visit school. For this week, we are asking whānau and students from other schools not to enter classrooms – there will be exceptions for transitioning tamariki who still need some whānau awhi – you must however sign in at the office.

8. We will ensure regular cleaning and continue to encourage good coughing and sneezing etiquette, please discuss this with your tamariki.

We go back to using all of our previous Golden Rules (attached) in all situations for this week and will go over these with all tamariki tomorrow. We also encourage all tamariki to bring their own water bottles to school – we will discourage the use of shared drinking fountains.

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact our principal and/or associate principals. We are happy to kōrero with you. Remember to let us know if you’re tamaiti/tamariki are staying home for medical (or other) reasons.

Office contact: (07) 345 6051.

Ministry of Health Link: https://www.health.govt.nz/

Ngā mihi and stay safe,

Team Ōwhata.