Dear Parents and Caregivers
As you will know from the Prime Minister’s announcement yesterday, we will re-open on Monday 18 May (Day 3) for teaching and learning onsite. All online lessons will continue for the remainder of this week.
From Monday 18 May, online, real-time or face to face video, lessons will stop. Students are expected to return to school but where they are unable to, lessons will continue to be available via the resources on Teams or email contact with teachers. It is not possible to offer real-time video lessons and physical lessons in class at the same time.
The hostel, Scinde House, will open for all boarders from Sunday 17 May. Hostel parents may wish to refer to the communication to follow from the Head of Boarding at this point.
Important information for your son’s return:
- Monday will be Day 3 of the timetable.
- All students who have school laptops must bring them in on Monday_18 May so they can be transitioned back into the school supply.
- If you purchased uniform online then it can be collected Friday 15 May. Further information will be sent out later in the week regarding winter uniform and uniform purchases in general.
- Water/hydration: all water fountains have been disabled, however, we have replaced them with bottle filling stations on a 1:1 basis. All students should have their own water bottle for the school day.
- Canteen:
- Payment by eftpos only. No cash sales
- Order lunch before school
- No sweets etc sold during interval and first half of lunch – nutritious items only
- Bus services:
- Buses are running to normal schedules but with no distancing regulations. The Ministry of Education does not require social distancing on school buses. If the Ministry were to keep with distancing rules, there would need to be 4 times as many buses in the country to be able to carry all students at 2m distance.
- There will be hand sanitiser on all buses for students to use.
- There will be extra bus cleaning.
- Passenger lists will be kept for contact tracing.
- No large items will be able to be carried on buses during this time, e.g.: scooters, as they take up the space of a person, and may restrict space further.
- Visitors including parents: you must come to the main reception and register. Where you can, schedule appointments in advance or communicate via phone or email
- Please refer to the COVID-19 update 16 (Friday 8 May) https://www.nbhs.school.nz/covid-19-update-16-return-to-school-under-level-2/ from the school regarding general principles and guidelines around attendance, health and hygiene.
We would remind you of the following from the Ministry:
The following are key points from the Ministry’s public health statement for education:
The two key public health principles that support our approach at Alert Level 2 are first to minimise the risk that someone gets infected in the first place, and second to ensure we can identify and contact anyone who has been in close contact with a person, if someone in a school or early learning centre is infected.
Any children, young people and staff should stay at home if they are sick or should be sent home immediately if they show any symptoms.
Physical distancing is a good precaution to prevent the spread of disease. In an Alert level 2 school environment, this means children, young people, and staff maintaining a physical distance so that they are not breathing on or touching each other, coupled with good hygiene practices (coughing into your elbow, handwashing and drying) and regular cleaning of commonly touched surfaces.
There are situations where physical distancing is not possible, such as some sporting activities. In these situations, extra emphasis on handwashing and drying (or cleansing with hand sanitiser) before and after activities and regular cleaning of equipment is recommended.
Ngā mihi
Matt Bertram
