Dear Parents, Caregivers and Whanau
Psalm 46 has been a go-to passage of scripture for me during this time of uncertainty. As we read in verse 1: “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” I hope and pray this has been true for you also.
I am sure many of you have followed with interest the announcements made by the Prime Minister over recent weeks. It has been reassuring to hear how well our country has done at minimising the health impacts of COVID-19. Alert Levels 4 and 3 have not been easy and I thank you for your ongoing support for the work we are doing.
Yesterday, the Prime Minister advised that in Alert Level 2 schools are safe environments for children, young people and staff and that additional public health control measures are in place to prevent the spread of disease and to support contact tracing.
The good news is that when we are able to, we will be ready to welcome ALL students and staff back to our school site. If the Prime Minister announces on Monday, 11 May 2020 that we will be moving to Alert Level 2 during next week, this will mean that our school will be fully open from Monday, 18 May 2020 for ALL students to resume on-site learning.
The key Public Health approach is 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 is infected.
As we have done in Alert Level 3, you can be assured that in Alert Level 2 we will know who is at school, who our staff and students have been in close contact with and take appropriate measures to keep everyone safe.
Physical distancing is a good precaution to prevent the spread of disease. We do however know it is challenging in schools, so good hygiene practices and regular cleaning are even more important here. This includes staff and students coughing into their elbows, handwashing and drying, and regular cleaning of commonly touched surfaces.
Under Alert Level 2, we will insist that any students and staff are to stay at home if they are sick or unwell, and we will send anyone home immediately if they show any symptoms.
As described by Dr Payinda in his recent NZ Herald article, “Covid-19 is not measles or chickenpox, it doesn’t hang in the air for hours waiting to infect passers-by. It travels on invisible drops of spit. You just need to avoid getting in their ‘moist breath’ zone”.
It is important however that not just at school but at home, safe hygiene habits are practised by everyone, as this is essential to minimise the risk that someone gets infected with Covid-19. For more information about the Public Health measures at Alert Level 2, you can visit the covid19.govt.nz website: https://covid19.govt.nz/
Our school has safe and sensible practices to maintain the health and safety of everyone on the school site. If you have any questions about our health and safety plan or have a child who might be vulnerable to serious illness and would like to discuss a plan for them, please contact me via email at office@middleton.school.nz
I will be emailing you again following Monday’s announcement by the Prime Minister to update you on our next steps and plans for re-opening our school, Lord willing, on Monday, 18 May 2020 (still to be confirmed).
Blessings
Mike Vannoort
Principal
