COVID Preparations for the start of 2022
Kia ora Whanau
COVID Preparations
Late on Tuesday afternoon schools received advice from the Ministry of Education regarding COVID preparations. In this message I will summarise the key points for you and your family.
1. Linton Camp School will be open at all alert levels.
2. All students in Year 4 and above (Kauri, Mātai & Tōtara) and the staff involved with these students must wear masks while indoors. The mask needs to be a medical grade mask.
Students in junior classes (Kōwhai, Miro, Mānuka & Rāta) and the staff who work with them are not required to wear masks while indoors. They may wear a mask if they want to. Our expectation is that the masks will be worn correctly.
3. All visitors to school must wear a mask while on school grounds. They must sign in or use the COVID Tracer App.
4. Apart from the parents of New Entrant students, pick up and drop off should take place outside the school gate. New Entrant parents can pick up and drop off their children in the classroom, but must wear a mask while at school.
5. We will be carefully considering all large gatherings we hold and will most likely cancel them or hold them outdoors (if possible and practical). We will exercise an abundance of caution in our decision making process.
6. In 2022 our classes are well spread out across the school campus. We therefore believe it is unnecessary to have staggered start times or break times.
7. All classes will be working on teaching and reinforcing COVID health messages, including hand washing, sneezing into elbows, distancing and using hand sanitiser.
8. If your children are unwell please do not send them to school. We encourage you to seek advice and keep them safe. If children become unwell during the school day we will be contacting you and sending them home.
When COVID arrives here
When a COVID case is identified in our community we will follow the directions of the Ministries of Health and Education. We will communicate with you all regularly. If someone in your family becomes infected they will be supported by the Ministry of Health. Families should follow the advice they are given.
When COVID is in our community we expect that it will cause significant disruption to school. This may go on for some time. We expect that we will need to use a variety of strategies to manage. They could include merging classes, utilising distance learning or working groups of students together. Our response will be influenced by who gets sick and when they get sick. We have developed a range of plans and need to be flexible and adaptable.
I want to assure you we are taking COVID seriously and have plans in place to manage any outbreak in our community. We regularly get great advice from the Ministry of Education and we follow it. If you have any questions or concerns please do contact us.
Kind regards
Geoff Franks - Principal
