Board of Trustees 2020 Term 2 Newsletter

Kia ora tatou!

It has been a long and interesting term for all at Tawatawa-Ridgway School!

A warm welcome to all new families who have recently joined our school community, we look forward to getting to know you.

Our last newsletter came to you from L4 lockdown. It is lovely to see all our tamariki back at school now. The board would like to thank the staff for the tremendous effort they put in while we were learning from home, and their focus on student wellbeing now we are able to reconnect in person.

We look forward to catching up with you all in person and reconnecting as a community at our Premier Event on Thursday 13th August 5:00-7:30pm. As part of this event, the Board will introduce our new Kaupapa, which we have been developing together with you, our community, staff and tamariki.

Covid-19

The following advice from the School Trustees Association covers the current situation for our school.

The key changes for schools at Alert Level 1 are:

• Physical distancing is not a requirement but where possible or practicable is encouraged when you are around people you don't know.

• There are no specific public health requirements.

• There are no restrictions on personal movement so all students, children and staff continue to be safe to go to school / early learning, and all students must attend school.

• You are no longer required to keep a contact tracing register but will continue with the usual practice of having a visitor and an attendance register (and will need to work with local health authorities to identify close contacts, should there be a case connected with the school).

• There are no restrictions on numbers at gatherings or on physical activities including cultural and sporting activities, practices and events.

There are key public health measures - Golden Rules - for everyone in New Zealand to follow. For schools and early learning services this means:

• If people are sick, they should stay home (phone Healthline or their GP and get tested if they have cold or flu symptoms).

• Continue to regularly wash and dry hands, sneeze and cough into elbows.

• Soap, water and the ability to dry hands should be provided in bathrooms.

• Regularly disinfect shared surfaces.

• Support contact tracing efforts by displaying QR Code posters for the NZ COVID Tracer App (see item below for more information).

• Stringent self-isolation of those who display relevant symptoms of COVID-19, test positive for COVID-19, have been in close contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19, or have been overseas in the last 14 days - Ministry of Health information for self-isolation.

At all levels, upon advice from the local medical officer of health, any educational facilities connected to a confirmed or probable case of COVID-19 must close on an individual or group basis for 72 hours to allow contact tracing, and then potentially for a further 14 days.

Future enrolment zone

We've been making progress on developing an enrolment zone to help manage the growing enrolments at the school. We've planned an informal Community Meeting on the 22nd of July, where we'll outline and seek feedback on the proposed zone. Please come along if you'd like to hear more and provide feedback.

Property update

You will all have noticed the new portacom classrooms which have been installed on the field. An encouraging sign that we are getting ever closer to construction beginning on our new school buildings. For the latest information please see our Building Diary which is kept up to date with progress on this exciting project.

Traffic - keeping our tamariki safe

The board wishes to remind parents/caregivers that the yellow dash lines in front of the school gate on Mornington Road and either side of the pedestrian crossing mean no stopping or parking at any time. You are not permitted to stop here, even briefly, to drop your children off at school.

Drop off areas have been provided on both Mornington Road and The Ridgway. Please be patient and wait for a spot to be available in one of them or park a little further away and walk the short distance to school. Please respect the time limits in the 2 minute and 10 minute parks and the fact that there is a bus stop for school buses between 9am and 3pm - if a bus comes along you have to move your car.

Please do not use the school driveway (or the end of Mornington Road) to turn your vehicle around. Going "around the block" of Vennel Street adds 600m - a small distance for you, but a big difference to the safety of our Tamariki using the crossing, entrance and walking along Mornington Road.

Ngā mihi nui,

Ridgway School Board of Trustees

Contact:

Board Chairperson - Barbara Dean

ridgwaybot@gmail.com