Vaccinations in

Staff vaccinations

All staff are fully vaccinated and compliant with the Public Health Order.

Vaccinations for Students

The board and staff fully support the vaccination programme for 5 to 11 year olds and strongly encourage all parents to get their children vaccinated as soon as possible. The school is not required to gather the Covid vaccination status of students unless the students are visiting a venue that requires the Covid Vaccine Pass to be shown. While we are in Red the school won't be undertaking any EOTC.

There is some helpful information available to support you on the Unite Against COVID-19 website including How to book a vaccine for your five – 11 year old and some great videos on the Kids Health page that can support you to talk to your tamariki about the COVID-19 vaccine.

Application of mandatory vaccination requirements for various roles

To reassure parents and staff, the list below details the types of roles in the education sector that will be covered by the Public Health Order requirement to get vaccinated.

The general principles for the application of the Order are:

all workers who carry out work at or for an early learning service, registered school, or hostel fall under the requirements of the Order if:
- they may have contact with children or students when carrying out their work, or
- they are present at the early learning service, registered school or hostel where children or students are also present
the worker has a duty under the Order to ensure they meet the vaccination requirements.

Where the worker is a staff member of a service contracted to the registered school or hostel, the service provider is responsible for ensuring the worker meets the requirements of the Order.

Teachers, teacher aides, principals, administration staff, caretakers, cooks

Yes. These staff are required to be vaccinated as they may have contact with children or students and/or will be present at a time when children and students are also present.

Learning support staff and other education agency staff (for example, Ministry of Education and ERO staff)

Yes. These staff are required to be vaccinated if they are visiting early learning services or schools to deliver a service that means they may have contact with children and students and/or will be present at a time when children and students are also present.

School board members. Te Hihi Trustees are happy to share that they are all fully vaccinated

The board member is required to be vaccinated if they may have contact with children or students or will be present at a time when children and students are also present. Otherwise, they are not required to be vaccinated. The board may want to consider a working arrangement that enables an unvaccinated board member to conduct business online and/or at a time that students will not be present (such as evening board meetings).

Bus drivers (e.g. Murphys Buses)

No. General transport workers such as public bus drivers (including dedicated school services funded by regional councils) or train conductors are not required to be vaccinated as they are not employed or engaged by a school or hostel. All Murphy Bus drivers are compliant with the Public Health Order around vaccines.

Employees/volunteers of a contracted service attending onsite during times children or students are also present, including planned events and activities that may take place before or after normal hours (for example, cleaners, tradespeople, nurses and health workers, staff engaged to deliver a programme or for a school event)

Yes. Employees of a contracted service physically attending a school or hostel site when children or students are also present are required to be vaccinated. This is because these people are carrying out work at or for a school or hostel and they may have contact with children or students or will be present at a time when children and students are also present.

Employees/volunteers of organisations who provide a service on an education site (for example, the Life Education caravans, dental care, PLD providers, external Ka Ora, Ka Ako programme providers, lawyers for child, social workers in schools)

After-school care services/out-of-hours music contracted by the school

Yes. Employees of a contracted service physically attending a school site when children or students are also present are required to be vaccinated.

After-school care services/out-of-hours music run by a private company on site (SKIDS)

No. These workers are not required to be vaccinated under this Health Order as they are not employed or engaged by a school. These after-school care providers may be covered by other requirements.

Parents, caregivers or volunteers at an education outside the classroom (EOTC), learning experiences outside the classroom (LEOTC) programme or excursion

Yes. These people are required to be vaccinated because these people are carrying out work (unpaid) at or for a school or hostel and they may have contact with children or students or will be present at a time when children and students are also present.

Employees or volunteers for providers of EOTC, LEOTC services or excursions which are offsite (for example, library, school camp, museum staff)

No. These workers (paid and unpaid) are not required to be vaccinated as they are not working “at” an education service or employed or engaged by the education service. However, schools and kura are encouraged to check on the vaccination status of offsite activity providers as part of their COVID-19 health and safety assessments.

Parents/caregivers dropping off or picking up children at a school or kura

No. As the Order only applies to workers and volunteers, not people who are visiting the school.

Parents, caregivers and members of the community who are volunteers at the school, kura, or hostel

Yes. These people onsite are required to be vaccinated as they may have contact with children or students or will be present at a time when children and students are also present. If the volunteer is working offsite and will not have any contact with children or students as part of their role, then they are not required to be vaccinated.

Parents or caregivers attending meetings or events on site (for example, parent-teacher interviews)

No. As the Order only applies to workers and volunteers, not people who are visiting the school or hostel.

People who provide an educational service off site at a marae (or another significant cultural site) and are not directly employed/contracted by the school or hostel

No. People who work or volunteer at the marae but are not employed or engaged by the school or hostel are not required to be vaccinated as they are not working “at or for” the school or hostel.

Attendance advisors/kaiāwhina who work with young people to support them back into learning

Yes. These people are required to be vaccinated if they may have contact with children or students in the course of their work.

Student Teachers on placement

Yes. Student teachers are required to be vaccinated if they may have contact with children or students or will be present at a time when children and students are also present.

Union representatives

Yes. These people are required to be vaccinated if they may have contact with children or students or will be present at a time when children and students are also present.

General public using school facilities after hours (for example, playground, school pool)

No. The requirement to be vaccinated only applies to workers and volunteers.

Residential therapeutic and respite facilities that deliver onsite education for school aged children (for example, Oranga Tamariki youth justice and care and protection residences, remand homes and community-based homes)

Yes. These people carrying out work at or for an early learning service, school or hostel are required to be vaccinated as they may have contact with children or students or will be present at a time when children and students are also present.

Unvaccinated person responding to an emergency on site (for example, burst water pipe, windows blown out)

We encourage schools to proactively engage with their regular tradespeople about their vaccination status to mitigate any possibility of unvaccinated peoples coming on to the school site in the case of an emergency.

Whānau who provide homestay accommodation for international or domestic students

Yes. The people the school contracts to provide the homestay accommodation service or boarding are required to be vaccinated. Otherwise, no.

Vaccination requirements for contractors, tradespeople and consultants

Everyone who works on a school or kura site who may have contact with children or students or will be present at a time when children and students are also present must have been fully vaccinated by 1 January 2022.

The term ‘works’ includes all contractors, tradespeople and consultants (and all their staff and subcontractors).

Obligations of contractors, tradespeople and consultants as PCBU

Contractors, tradespeople and consultants on site are PCBU of their own workforce, and must:

assess what workers are affected persons under the Order
notify (if they have not already done so) which workers are covered by the Order of the requirements of the Order and their duty to be vaccinated
collect and maintain a record of the contact and vaccination information for all workers affected by the Order
ensure their workers are advised that both the Ministry and our school may seek confirmation from them of their compliance with the Order and the aggregate vaccination status of their workforce.

As a school, we are not required by the Order to record vaccination status of contractors, tradespeople and consultants but we are required to check the Covid Vaccine Certificate for all contractors, tradespeople and consultants. Our health and safety processes require all visitors entering the school to sign in on our VisTab device in the front office and this records this information.

The vaccination requirements do not apply to those workers who are performing services remotely, or who are onsite only when children and students are not present (such as a contractor who is performing maintenance during the weekend or over a term break).