School under COVID-19 Alert Level 2

Dear Parents, under COVID-19 Alert Level 2, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education have decided that, based on current scientific evidence, schools are safe places for children and their teachers. School will therefore reopen for face-to-face classes on Monday 18 May, 8.50 am, following strict Health and Safety Guidelines. Unfortunately, there is inaccurate information being circulated in New Zealand society at the moment. The purpose of this newsletter is to communicate our Health and Safety approach to you as parents so that you can be confident about sending your child(ren) to school.

Please note: this is a long and detailed document with very important health and safety information and I want to urge you to set aside time to read through it carefully.

Main Principles

The main principles for Alert Level 2 are:

• to minimise the risk that someone gets infected in the first place
• 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
• understand that Level 2 is not business as usual

Main Strategies

1. Hygiene

Parents are asked to keep any sick children at home. If a sick child comes to school, we will send them home right away.

Children will be strongly encouraged not to breathe on and touch each other, to avoid touching their face, to cough into your elbow and wash their hands regularly. The school will appreciate parents reinforcing these basic hygiene practices at home as well, please.

Hand sanitiser will be available on entry to classrooms and in shared spaces. Students will have to sanitise their hands every time they enter a classroom and every time before they use the school playground equipment.

Students are not allowed to use water fountains – they have to bring their own water bottle to school.

Students need to bring a personal hand towel (with their name) to school to dry their hands after handwashing.

Shared sports equipment will be cleaned every time after being used.

Commonly touched surfaces will be cleaned daily.

2. Physical distancing

Children will be strongly encouraged not to breathe on and touch each other.

Parents are asked not to visit the school property in person.

Dropping students off

If you come to school by car to drop off your child(ren), please stay in your vehicle at all times – no exception! The moment you leave your vehicle, Public Health measures require you to sign a contact tracing register in the front office or to use the contact tracing register in our school app (make sure your app has been updated to the current version). If a staff member asks you to comply, please be patient – you are doing it for our community’s safety.

Vehicles need to be brought to a standstill at the designated marker at the turning circle and students have to disembark on the left hand side of the vehicle and enter the school property.

On rainy days, staff members / senior students will aim to give students shelter using an umbrella to help them reach the covered area without getting wet.

Parents are strongly urged not to park and walk students to the classroom. If you do walk your child to his/her classroom, Public Health measures require you to sign a contact tracing register in the front office or to use the contact tracing register in our school app (make sure your app has been updated to the current version). If a staff member asks you to comply, please be patient – you are doing it for our community’s safety.

If you walk your child(ren) to school, you are strongly urged not to come past the turning circle at the Puriri tree at the top of the driveway and you have to keep a distance of 2 m from all other adults and children while you are on the driveway. If you have to come past the Puriri tree at the top of the driveway, Public Health measures require you to sign a contact tracing register in the front office or to use the contact tracing register in our school app (make sure your app has been updated to the current version) – no exceptions! If a staff member asks you to comply, please be patient – you are doing it for our community’s safety.

Parents who want to discuss an issue with teachers are strongly urged to make a telephone or video conferencing appointment. We want to keep our school property as safe as possible.

If you need to pick your child up for an appointment, or drop off an item your child has forgotten at home, you are strongly urged not to exit your vehicle. You need to call the office and wait inside your vehicle for a staff member to attend to you.

Picking students up after school

Do not leave your vehicle while you wait for your child(ren). Wait for your child to be brought to your vehicle. Teachers will be on duty and will try to get your child(ren) to your vehicle as quickly as possible. The moment you leave your vehicle, Public Health measures require you to sign a contact tracing register in the front office or to use the contact tracing register in our school app (make sure your app has been updated to the current version). If a staff member asks you to comply, please be patient – you are doing it for our community’s safety.

Parents who pick students up by foot, need to wait at the turning circle, maintaining physical distancing. Once you come past the Puriri tree at the top of the driveway, you will be asked to complete the school’s contact tracing register. If a staff member asks you to comply, please be patient – you are doing it for our community’s safety.

Parents are strongly encouraged to pick students up in waves, i.e.

• families with children in room 8 (Mrs Fowlie) and room 7 (Mr Burgess) will be asked to pick their child(ren) up between 3.00 pm and 3.05 pm,
• room 4 (Mrs Grootboom) and room 3 (Mrs Barnes) between 3.05 pm and 3.10 pm, and
• all other students from 3.10 pm onwards.

Students will not be able to play on the basketball court or playground after school - teachers will supervise students until 3.15 pm. Please do not be late – it will put a strain on the limited resources we have to keep our community safe under the present Alert Level 2 health and safety guidelines.

On rainy days, students will wait under the covered area in front of the principal and secretary’s offices during their designated pick up times.

3. Grouping

For breaks, students will be divided into two groups to minimise the number of students on the playground at a specific time.

There will be no assembly or morning line up under the present Alert Level 2 health and safety guidelines. Students will go straight to their classrooms in the morning. Teachers will be in their classrooms from 8.30 am to receive arriving students.

4. Contact tracing

I have already mentioned multiple times that, under the present Alert Level 2 health and safety guidelines, parents need to refrain from physically coming onto the school property since Public Health measures require adult visitors to sign a contact tracing register in the front office or to use the contact tracing register in our school app. Please do not you go to your child(ren)’s classroom at any time!

Parents who want to discuss an issue with teachers are strongly urged to make a telephone or video conferencing appointment. We want to keep our school property as safe as possible.

If you have no choice but to come onto the school property, please go directly to the reception and be patient and complete the contact tracing register. Staff members have been instructed to check that visiting adults are complying with this procedure.

Conclusion

I want to reiterate that, under COVID-19 Alert Level 2, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education have decided that schools are safe places for children and their teachers. Hopefully you can see from the outline above that Tyndale Park Christian School is making a serious effort to keep our staff and students safe. Please support us by:

1. Keeping sick children at home;
2. Practising the hygiene guidelines at home, i.e. do not breathe on and touch each other, avoid touching your face, cough into your elbow and wash your hands regularly;
3. Complying to our request to refrain from personally entering the school property, or, if you have no choice to enter our property, to complete the contact tracing register.

May I encourage and remind you with Paul’s words to Timothy, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).

Blesssings,

Barend Blom

Principal