6th September 2021

All children are welcome to rejoin our learning community on Thursday 9th September. We are expecting everyone to be here. The “bubble school” that has run for the last week and a half will continue for Tuesday and Wednesday. We will be hosting a Teacher Only Day for Teachers to thoroughly prepare for the return of our students. 

The focus for the first two weeks will be on the safety and wellbeing of the Waipukurau School learning community. We know that everyone will have experienced the last three weeks in different ways. People will react and respond to returning to school and life at Level 2 in different ways and we need to be respectful and supportive of this. There may be some staff and students who choose to wear face masks during Level 2 and we will support these decisions. 

School will look and feel a little different as we do need to change some of our practices as a learning community to encourage social distancing inside and outside. Our teaching staff are on site on Wednesday this week to prepare their classrooms ready for Thursday.

We thank you in advance for your patience as we develop and adjust our procedures for working in a Delta Level 2 environment. As we work through the next fortnight we will reflect daily on how the system is working. We naturally expect that we will need to make changes and improvements based on our experiences and will be basing these decisions on the guidance from the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education. 

What to do on Thursday

Arriving at School – From 8.30am students please enter the school grounds through the front or the back entrance and make sure to sanitize before entering their classrooms. From 8.30am students are to go directly to their classrooms.

Our road patrollers will be on duty for those children walking to school without an adult. 

We understand that for some children, especially in Years 1 and 2, coming back to school after such a long period away could be a challenge. If you or your child are feeling especially anxious about this transition back to school then please do call your child's teacher or the office so that we can arrange for you to be signed in to enter the classroom briefly to help to ease this anxiety so that you and your child can feel confident and comfortable about their return to school. Classroom teachers, Whaea Skerman and Mrs Norris will be there to help if you need any support with the transition. 

With the protocols we are required to follow at Level 2, if parents do go into the classrooms you will need to sign in and out of the individual classrooms using the register situated in the office.  You will also need to apply hand sanitizer as you enter and exit the classroom spaces. 

Please let your child’s teacher know if you have any concerns about the transition back to school so we can be ready to support both of you. 

At 2.55pm If you are collecting your child at the end of the day please arrive before 2.55pm and wait in your vehicle or just outside of the school grounds keeping to your 2m social distance. Your tamariki will come to meet you when their class is released. 

Children will need their own water bottle as the school drinking fountains are not to be used. 

Keeping your distance and keeping safe 

Our young people will be reminded to wash hands thoroughly after using the toilets and before morning tea and lunchtime as well as after they have been in the playground. 

They will use hand sanitiser provided by the school when entering the classroom bubbles at the start of the day, after break times and after using the toilets. Students are welcome to bring their own sanitizer from home if they would like. Please make sure this is clearly labelled. 

We will remind our young people about good hygiene practices (coughing into your elbow, regular hand washing and drying) 

 All surfaces will be cleaned at regular intervals including morning tea, lunchtime and at the end of the day 

 The school playgrounds are open and able to be used between 9.00am and 3.00pm. We ask that the playground equipment is not used before school nor straight after school as we would like families to go straight home. 

If your child is unwell 

Do not send your child to school if unwell. Please notify the school office via Skool Loop, email (office@waipukurau.school.nz) or phone (06) (858 9348) so we know your child is absent. 

If your child becomes unwell during the day we will contact you immediately to collect them. 

Other Information 

Music Lessons - We are waiting to hear how these lessons will operate in an Alert Level 2 environment. The music teacher will contact families with further information. 

Ngati whai  - has been postponed at this stage. We will keep you up to date with any other events that we hear about as soon as we do.

Cross  country - we are working on an alternative date for this so our kids do not miss out on this event. Please watch this space. 

Mathletics Year ⅞ Competition - has been postponed until Thursday 30th September 2021, we are working on a date for the Year ⅚ mathletics so that hopefully this can still go ahead. 

Thank you 

Thank you for your patience as we work through the demands and expectations of Alert Level 2 again and what this means with the new Delta variant. We are really looking forward to welcoming you all back to school and I bet our learners are looking forward to seeing their friends again! Please ensure that you do keep your tamariki home if they are at all sick during this time, as you would in normal circumstances. Take care, and we will see you all on Thursday!

Ngā mihi 

Bex Skerman

Principal