CoVID19: Omicron Phase 3 Update

New Zealand’s COVID-19 response continues amid much larger numbers of daily cases. You may well have seen the headlines in the media about the number of cases being seen in schools.  Please don’t be alarmed by this.  It is only natural that as cases in our community increase, they will appear in our school. 

Phase 3 of the Omicron Response – What does this mean for you and your whanau?

• If your child has been asked to self isolate due to a positive case in the class, he/she can now return to school if they are not sick or you don’t have a positive covid-19 case in your home.
• The key change is that it is only confirmed cases and their household contacts who need to self-isolate.
• Everyone else, including those who may have had close contact with the case but aren’t in the household, must continue to monitor very closely for any symptoms of COVID-19.
• This is really good news for us as a school for children’s wellbeing and learning to be at school with their friends and school staff, and we have good systems in place to keep everyone as safe as possible. 
• Parents’/ Whānau job remains the same, too: please continue to keep a really close watch of your whānau for anyone with symptoms.  If unwell, please stay at home and get advice about getting a COVID-19 test.
• Rapid antigen tests (RATs) are now being used to diagnose COVID-19 as well as PCR tests. This means that you will get an almost immediate test result back if a RAT is used.
• The management of cases is being left with whanau, which means that If anyone in your family is confirmed as having COVID-19, you will be asked to notify your close contacts yourself.
• Please get in touch with us as soon as you can if your child has tested positive for COVID-19.
• Our Office Team and teaching staff act in the very best interests of your child and their well-being is most important. When children arrive at the School Office, and depending on the situation, most of the children are offered a rest in our Wellbeing Area and re-assessed by our Team, before a phone call home.