Coronavirus Update

Newsletter, Term 2 2022 Update emailed and on fB 28 April 2022

COVID update: 10th March emailed and on fB 10 March 2022

As per yesterday's announcement, as of this Friday, 11th March at 11:59 pm, the isolation time for positive cases and household contacts changes to 7 days (instead of 10).

If your children are well and have been symptom free for 24 hours, they will be able to return to school on the 8th day. Positive cases do not need to do any further tests after their initial one.

If they are a household contact only, they also need to have produced a negative Day 7 test before returning. If positive, their 7 days begins again from the test day.

Please let us know if this is the case: kerryc@tekowhai.school.nz

Positive cases are now considered 'immune' for 3 months (instead of just 1 month) from this Friday. Therefore if another member of their household becomes positive in the future, they don't have to isolate alongside them if this falls within a 3 month timeframe.

Please report all test results on the My Covid Record site and to school.

Support here

THIS SITE

As at Wednesday afternoon 23rd February LC4 & LC1 are treated as Close Contact and families have been communicated with directly.

As at Wednesday midday 23rd February LC2 are treated as Close Contact and families have been communicated with directly.

As of Sunday 20^th February, the following Learning Communities are isolating:

LC3

LC5

LC6

We will communicate early this week regarding the possible return date to school once the tests start coming back.

Notification notice posted to fB 18th February 2022

IMPORTANT UPDATE - 18th February
Tonight I received confirmation of a positive Covid case at our school.  A sincere thanks to the family for being so proactive in alerting us as soon as they heard.
We have worked through our processes as quickly as we can. By now, you should all have received an email with more details.  If you have not yet received it please email nikki@tekowhai.school.nz. Please check your spam folders first. 
Students in Learning Community 6 have been identified as CLOSE CONTACTS and we have already contacted these families via text and email.
All of LC6 will shift across to remote learning next week, and the teachers will be in touch on Monday.
Apart from LC6, all other classes remain open for onsite learning at this stage. 
We want to thank you for your understanding and support whilst we work through having COVID-19 within our school and community.
We will continue to do what we do best, and that is to work together as a community and support all of our families.  

Kia Kaha 
Juliet and the Te Kōwhai team

Letter to LC1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 sent 18 February to advise that they are not close contacts

Letter to LC6 Close Contact students sent 18 February 2022

Letter to All Community, not affected by first case of Positive result - emailed 16th February 2022

Kia ora koutou,

We’re sending this letter to confirm that there is a confirmed case of COVID-19 in our community. It is important to note that those that tested positive were NOT at Te Kōwhai School during the period they were infectious, however they did have interactions with a small number of other students over the weekend.

These other students will be close contacts, and will be isolating at home for 7 days, which means all other staff and students are still able to come to school as they are NOT identified as contacts. These close contacts have already been notified.

If you have not already had communication from us, your child has not been identified as a close contact so they can still attend school as usual. I would like to reassure you that we have a wide range of measures in place to operate safely under the Red setting, and also plans for if/when there are cases within our school community.

What you need to do:

You and your whānau should watch for symptoms
If any develop, get tested immediately
Then, stay at home until you receive the result
Vaccinations for students are recommended

What we’re doing

Te Kowhai School will stay open
We have appropriate public health measures and cleaning procedures in place

Symptoms of COVID-19

A new or worsening cough
Sneezing and runny nose
A fever
Temporary loss of smell or altered sense of taste
Sore throat
Shortness of breath

Less common symptoms include diarrhoea, headache, muscle aches, nausea, vomiting, malaise, chest pain, abdominal pain, joint pain, or confusion/irritability.

For more information, go to covid19.govt.nz/health-and-wellbeing/about-covid-19/covid-19-symptoms/

If you have questions, you can contact Juliet Dickinson (Principal):

julietd@tekowhai.school.nz (07) 829 7860 (021) 246 1404

Noho ora mai

Juliet Dickinson

School Tomorrow - emailed 31st January 2022

We are really looking forward to seeing everyone back tomorrow and hearing about all of the holiday adventures.

Regarding our return to school, we have gone through all Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education safety guidelines and have responded to this to ensure we are creating a safe place for your children, whilst also trying to have school as 'normal' as possible. We are receiving almost daily updates and changes from the Ministries of Health and Education. I will communicate any changes that are relevant to your and your families via email as and when needed.

Following the detailed email you received last week, here are some updates to include:

1. When students arrive at school, they are to go straight to their classes where they will remain until school starts. We have to treat each of our Learning Communities as 'bubbles' when they are onsite. Each space has its own defined area outside that they can also use at these times before school. This is a great opportunity for your children to reconnect with their peers and staff.

We have also allocated varied play spaces for each Learning Community.

2. MASKS FOR YEAR 4-8:

As all students in Year 4 and above have been mandated to wear masks when indoors, we will be providing as much outside learning time as we can. We will endeavor to limit the amount of time for each student indoors to give them regular breaks from mask-wearing.
Any appropriate mask is fine - it is only staff who have been mandated to wear a medical-grade mask at this stage. (name or initials on masks if possible please)
It would be great if your child could bring two masks in a small named plastic bag (i.e. zip-lock bag). When they aren't wearing them they will go back in the bag.
Learning Community 3: Due to being a mix of Y3 and Y4 students, mask-wearing is recommended, but optional.
If your child comes without a mask, we have a limited supply at school to give out.

3. If Self-isolating:

A change since last week is that 'If you are a household member of a Close Contact (including children) you must stay at home until the Close Contact receives a negative day 5 test. If the close contact develops symptoms, household members should stay home until the Close Contact receives an additional negative test.' If this is the case for your child, please contact the school to communicate your child's absence.

4. Below is a link to last week's information.

LINK to Red Light information on school website

Other reminders:

What your children need to bring with them on Day 1:

Packed morning tea and lunch
Water bottle
A hat for outside play
A mask (two) for students (Y4 -Y8) in named plastic bag
Togs and towel (swimming)
Stationery named
Their own hand sanitiser and sun block if they want it (we will also provide it here).

No devices (or headphones) are required on the first day. Teachers will let you know when these can be brought to school.

Term 1, 2022 Return to School Plan emailed 26 January 2022

Click the link to read the Return Plan