Dear Parents/Caregivers
I hope all families are safe and well in their bubbles. For the beginning of term 4 a special welcome to all the children and their families who are starting at MBS. Hopefully we can see you all in school soon. Mrs Julie-Anne Howard and Mrs Rebekah Gundesen will be teaching our latest new entrant class, Room 2.
Staff are now busy preparing their distance learning programmes and we are also preparing the school site for the very small number of children who will be returning. Schools are essentially closed at Alert Level 3 with the exception of those few children whose parents and carers must go to work and there is no appropriate caregiver at home and there are no alternative care options available. For those of you with no other option, we will look forward to seeing your child at school on Monday 18 October. If your child needs to physically attend school please fill in this google form by 4pm today, Thursday 14 October. Last minute enrolments cannot be accepted as staffing school bubbles need to be arranged and teachers must produce a negative COVID-19 test result prior to returning next Monday.
If you require a hard pack of learning for the first weeks of term 4 please fill in this google form. Hard packs can be picked up this Monday morning between 9am-9:30am. Please social distance and wear a mask.
As mentioned previously, we will continue to support all students, including those at school, through our distance learning programme. The schedule for learning remains the same as that for last term. While we know how difficult it can be trying to work from home, as well as support your child’s learning, please keep supporting their learning as best you can. We are now desperate to have everyone back at school and thank you for your support in helping us to operate safely.
Due to the uncertainty of the timeline for returning to school we have had to review our term 4 calendar. The difficult decision has been made to cancel our school production. The staff were very understanding but upset when told about this yesterday as I know the children will be. Our Athletics days have also been cancelled as has the inter school competition that was scheduled. At this stage all other events will go ahead however we are looking at different formats for both Year 8 graduation and school prize giving dependent on alert level settings.
Due to the lockdown and the uncertainty of when we will return to school our normal end of year reporting procedures cannot take place. All students will still receive an end of year report which will focus on our school values and work ethic. We are unable to provide levels of achievement across the curriculum due to the lack of time available back at school for teachers to assess and moderate children’s learning to ensure judgements are reliable, valid and fair. On our return to school our number one focus and priority as a staff is on the re-engagement of students and our teaching and learning programmes to make the most of our time back at school with the students.
The Government has now mandated that all those working in the school environment need to be vaccinated and there are stipulated timelines in place. All those working onsite will be required to have a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by 15 November and be fully vaccinated by 1 January 2022. This means vaccinations are mandatory for all those working onsite including teachers, relief teachers, casual staff, administration staff, caretakers, cleaners and OSCAR providers. It also applies to unpaid workers, such as volunteers (including parent volunteers) and any members of the community who are on site at the school, as they are likely to come into contact with students. The vaccination requirement does not apply to parents or whānau undertaking student pick-ups and drop-offs, but these will be conducted in an outdoor environment where face coverings must be worn, and physical distancing measures retained. Everyone working in a school or kura in Auckland and other Alert Level 3 regions will be required to return a negative COVID-19 result ahead of returning physically to a school, regardless of vaccination status. When a region is at Alert Level 3, follow-up tests will be required on a weekly basis for all staff who are not fully vaccinated. Once a staff member becomes fully vaccinated, regular testing will no longer be required for them to continue to work onsite.
We are very proud of how our staff have responded to the call to be vaccinated and all will have the required COVID test before returning to school. We will play our part to keep the community safe. A staff vaccination register is in place however a person’s vaccine status remains private information.
Kind Regards
Mark Keenan
Principal
