COVID-19 Update - School Closure & Essential Businesses

With today’s announcement by Government, we are implementing with urgency our plan to support your child’s learning from home. We appreciate this is a sudden and significant change, and will be heavily disruptive to many people in our community.

Essential Workers

For children of essential workers, we look forward to seeing your child here at school tomorrow morning at 8:45 until 2:45. Please email me at kevinb@tehihi.school.nz or text or phone me on 09 292 7706 if you fall into this category and your child will be attending school. You may wish to check if you are considered an essential worker - https://covid19.govt.nz/government-actions/covid-19-alert-system/  however those roles include doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers and police. We continue to ask that children who are not well, do not attend school.

Isolation Groups

If you need to have your child cared for by someone else you will need to identify that person or people as part of your self-isolated group. This will need to be done by midnight Wednesday and the group must remain the same for the whole 4 week period. The caregiver’s own group (eg, their partner and children), your child and your own group (eg, your parents and other children) become one group. This group needs to be limited to minimise any risk of spread and should be no more than 20 people.

Supporting Your Child 

Your child will be looking to you for guidance about this decision. Parents, caregivers, whānau and teachers will have a particularly important part to play in reassuring children at this time. If you haven’t already done so, you may wish to read the information put together by the Ministry of Education to support your conversations with your children – Talking to children about COVID-19

School Holidays Brought Forward

School holidays are being brought forward so that they are completed within the 4 week period. Holidays will now begin from Monday 30 March to Tuesday 14 April inclusive (a reminder that the Tuesday after Easter Monday is always a closed day for schools).
 
At the end of the school holidays, schools will be open for distance learning but not physically open for staff to work at the schools. From Wednesday 15 April, we will be supporting student learning from your home through distance learning. On Wednesday, I will send out details of what the distance learning will look like including how teachers will engage with students at home and how you can contact the school if there are any issues for their child.

If you are unable to access online learning, please email me by Tuesday night. We will do our best to get a pack to you on Wednesday.
 
Please note the instruction to stay home (Alert Level 4) will continue beyond the new school holiday period but schools will be technically open for distance instruction. Teachers will be working offsite.

As noted by the Prime Minister these restrictions are our best chance to slow the virus in New Zealand and to save lives. We all have a clear role here to slow the spread of COVID-19.
 
We will continue to communicate with you over the coming days. Thank you for your ongoing support of our school staff and school community. 

Noho ora mai, stay well, look after yourself, 

Kevin Bush
Principal