Until yesterday we were full of hope that we would get to the holidays and keep the school running as per normal, BUT on Monday the number of covid-positive student cases suddenly spiked to 17 cases.
Several children became suddenly unwell at school and all tested positive once they got home. Our huge thanks to all parents who moved so quickly to collect their children from school – you were amazing. The main symptoms we are noticing in those who test positive are combinations of overwhelming tiredness, sore tummy, headache, sometimes a cough and sore throat, as well as runny nose (which can be very slight or just snuffly). We advise you keep alert for these signs in your own families and keep testing – even if symptoms are very mild.
As from today we are now moving to HIGH ALERT. As such, we ask that every family reads our DAILY email notifications. We remain committed to keeping school open, but where health and safety may be compromised, working onsite may change with very short notice i.e. within 12 – 24 hours.
Keeping our school site open will be very dependent on the number of “well” staff we have available to safely manage the number of students onsite. At the moment, our class teachers are all at school, however, this could change within 24 hours as the likelihood of them becoming infected increases.
Currently each day we continue to closely monitor the number of students at home from each class versus the number the number of students onsite. Changes in these numbers may require us to move towards delivering either online + onsite options or total off-site online learning for all students.
The decisions that our Covid Response Team make for our school will be based on the best information that we have at the time. We remain committed to supporting all of our families as much as possible throughout this sticky patch.
DAILY NOTIFICATIONS
We ask that until the end of term you check your emails twice EACH day – every morning at 11.30 am for the Daily Update which will give you the main news and in the evening at 7 pm for any emergency last minute updates. These notifications will update you about any changes for the day ahead and may include information such as:
- A class/classes being asked to stay at home on the following day due to the lack of adult supervision being available
- Different class groups being grouped together due to reduced student/adult numbers onsite
- The whole school being asked to stay at home e.g. for 24–48 hours.
If we get to the point where #3 happens, we will then also be considering:
- When/if we activate online options for those families who would like to access this.
- When/if ‘Face to Face’ Zoom sessions and/or live teaching lessons will be activated. This service will be highly dependent on how individual class teachers are affected by the virus. At the moment we have a plan to cover each other, but this may not be realistic.
Thank you for the amazing feedback we are getting from our families. We know you are all working SO hard to keep things calm in your households and we are very proud of you! Together, we will get through this. Reach out if you need a hand.
My late husband’s favourite saying when things were tough was, “In a year’s time you’ll look back and laugh about this.” It was a great way of realising that although things might feel as if they were full on at that moment in time, that things would get easier, and they did. We just need to look for the things to celebrate, the little moments that bring us joy and keep remembering to be there for each other.
Nga mihi from Jan & the Team at Rewa Rewa School
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