Kia ora koutou SPS Whanau,

We’re coming back and we can’t wait! 
Following is the key information for you about our return to school. 

Checklist for parents to prepare for Alert Level 2

Children and young people will return to school during Alert Level 2. Talk to your children about what to expect as they go back to daily school life. Talk with your children about why it is important to play it safe while they’re at school.

• Children should be going to school. 
• Handwashing is the most important thing your children can do to keep everybody safe – try and make regular hand washing fun by using a favourite song they can wash their hands to. 
• Remind your children that we always wash our hands before eating, playing outside, after playing sports or with others, and after touching hard surfaces.
• If your child is sick, they should stay at home. Children who arrive at school sick will be sent home.
• Talk to your child’s teacher if you have any questions.

If your child needs to stay at home

• Your child should only stay at home if they are at greater risk of getting severe illness from Covid-19, in isolation, or awaiting test results.
• Contact your school to discuss ongoing support for home learning.

For school-aged children

• Remind them about sensible and safe distancing. Talk to your child about making sure they give others ‘breathing space’. Remind them not to be so close they can breathe on or touch other children.
• Explain to your child that if our own hands are not clean we can make ourselves sick. Make regular hand washing fun – use a favourite song or game.  
• Remind your child to always wash their hands before eating, playing outside, playing with others, after sporting activities, after playing on hard surfaces including outdoor play areas.
• Explain to your child that they should not share their lunch or any other food and drink.
• Let your child know that they will see more cleaning of their school and their classroom. 
• Explain to your child that some children may choose to wear face masks. It might be part of their cultural practice to do so or to support their hygiene needs. Encourage them to respect other people’s choices.

The most significant changes for us as schools are:
Mass gatherings – schools are not considered to be a mass gathering because they are managed environments. This means there are no restrictions on numbers of people indoors or outside other than what other public health or health and safety measures require. However, we will not be having whole school assemblies for the next few weeks while we adjust to our new circumstances. 
Sports and playgrounds – school playgrounds, sports equipment use and activities can resume.  Contact sports can resume.  This relies on being able to contact trace who is on site during school hours and at school team training and competitions.  There are no restrictions on groups of children and students mixing with others on site.  Teachers/staff are not restricted to one group.

Significant risks that we need to be watching out for: 

• Household transmission could be occurring
• Single or isolated cluster outbreaks

If we did discover that these had occurred we would immediately follow the public health recommendations.

It is important to remember that Level 2 means that the disease is contained, but the risk of community transmission remains. For more information on Alert Level 2 (Reduce) check out the following guidelines Managing Health and Safety in Schools at Alert Level 2