On Tuesday evening this week the Prime Minister advised that as of midday Wednesday August 12, the Auckland region (Auckland Council area) will move to Alert Level 3 for 3 days until midnight on Friday 14 August. The rest of New Zealand will move to Alert Level 2.
Obviously, this decision was the last thing we all want to hear and has had a big impact on us all here at Cornerstone Christian School. First of all, let me emphasise that it is safe for our school to remain open. People do not need to return to bubbles at Alert Level 2 and can meet with friends and family. But people need to play it safe and continue to take sensible health and safety precautions. The only exceptions re attendance at school are children or young people who are sick, have any COVID-19 symptoms, are in isolation, or are awaiting the result of a test. Safe and sensible practices for hygiene and contact tracing will be the norm.
We have a number of school families who visited Auckland last weekend. The advice from the Ministry of Education is that unless any family members are exhibiting COVID-like symptoms, these students may attend school. If any family members are showing COVID symptoms please self-isolate and ring Healthline on 0800 611 116 to arrange a COVID test.
Parents may come on site at Cornerstone during level 2 to drop off and pick up their child(ren), however they must sign in using the COVID-19 app (scanned Q-code) at the school gates. We will be asking parents to not linger and to exercise sensible physical distancing measures. All other school visitors must sign in at the school office using our Vistab system and the COVID-19 tracing app.
What we are doing:
We do recognise that physical distancing is challenging in schools.
To counter this, we will be ensuring:
- Children, young people and staff are maintaining enough distance so that they are not breathing on or touching each other.
- Separate seating arrangements in class as much as is feasible.
- No hugs, handshakes, high fives etc.
- Good hygiene practices amongst staff and students, including coughing into your elbow, regular hand-washing and drying, and regular cleaning of commonly touched surfaces with appropriate cleaning products.
- Hand sanitizer stations will be set up in every room in the school and we will go back to cleaning high contact surfaces such as desks, daily.
- We will also require students to maintain the same separate school zones that were required last time the school was at Alert Level 2.
At this stage (again until we hear otherwise) we will be continuing with our plan to have School photos tomorrow. Yes this contravenes physical distancing measures but the practicality of rebooking this event at a later date is difficult.
Under Alert Level 2, can we please emphasise that students and staff must stay at home if they are sick. We will send anyone home immediately if they show any symptoms.
Planning Ahead:
- Teachers will be gearing up for distance learning if required.
- Playground, sports equipment use, and sports, including contact sports, can continue. Basketball and Netball competitions have been cancelled until further notice as the gathering size is 100+.
- The Feilding and Ashhurst Buses will remain running
- Kelvin Kids After School Care will remain running
- If our school has a confirmed or probable case of COVID-19, we are required to close for 72 hours, to allow contact tracing, and then potentially for a further 14 days.
Let me end with an awesome Bible verse that has been going through my head this morning on repeat!:
Philippians 4:6-8: 6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honourable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
Blessings,
Chris Mitchell
Principal
