Week 2 NEWSLETTER

So what will happen?

If/When we are notified of a case inside our school community a process gets kicked off. Firstly, the Ministries of Health and Education work alongside the school to inform the community of a case, and to identify the close contacts of the case. The way we have organised the school into 4 bubbles means that close contacts will be limited to just some of the staff and students inside that bubble. At this stage, the parents of close contacts will be notified and these children/staff will have to self isolate for 10 days from the exposure event. The rest of the staff/students will be notified that they are casual contacts (or haven’t had contact) and they are fine to come to school. School will remain open for instruction as long as we have staff available.

• We will notify our school community of a case via HERO and Facebook

• We will contact close contacts by phone, HERO and email. These children/staff have to self-isolate for 10 days, and testing will be required.

• We will notify casual contacts by HERO and email. These children/staff are fine to return to school, but are encouraged to monitor for symptoms and get a test if symptomatic.

• The rest of the school will be made aware via HERO and Facebook that they are OK to attend school

While this may seem daunting, especially as the Wairarapa has dodged COVID for so long…be reassured that all of the processes are robust, have been tested many times now in Auckland, and that Douglas Park has done a mountain of work to prepare.

So what have we done?

You’ll know about our measures inside the school grounds (and they are repeated further down in the newsletter) but we have also prepared for when students are unable to attend school due to COVID. In preparation for students needing to isolate due to COVID-19, we have created an approach to home learning that includes home learning pack materials, self paced learning applications and specific online lessons delivered by Douglas Park teachers.

Hard Packs

Today all of our DPS Kids will be getting a ‘hard copy pack’ to bring home. The pack is designed to be stored away until needed…eg. until your child needs to stay home to self isolate due to COVID. It has some basic gear to help at home (pen, books) as well as a range of learning prompts, reading material, numeracy activities and other more independent tasks that could be completed. A lot is similar to what we have sent home in past Level 4 lockdowns. The pack will also have information about online learning programs/apps that we have purchased licences for, as well as the relevant usernames/passwords that you will need to access them. All of this is DPS being prepared and ready. When we get notified of a case it will be too late to get this sort of thing ready…so we are doing it now while we have a window of time. Please stash this away until needed…we won’t be putting together a new version when you need to isolate!

Online Learning

Part of our readiness plan is getting all of our online systems in place. As a school we have purchased licences for a few programs that we think will be useful if children have to isolate in the coming months. At school we are starting to use these and get the children familiar…some of the programs the kids will be comfortable with, some are brand new to them:

• Rimu/Kōwhai: Maths Buddy, Reading Eggs and PM eReaders will be the self paced online learning platforms available to use

• Rātā/Kahikatea: Maths Buddy & Lexia Core 5 Reading will be your main self paced online learning platforms available to use

When numbers of children absent (or staff absent) are high we will start delivering learning at home as well as at school. More information on that will come as the time nears…but the platforms below are what we are going to use

• Communication: HERO will be our main method of parent communication, but the teams will also use Seesaw (Rimu/Kōwhai) and Google Classroom (Rātā/Kahikatea) to pass on the teacher created learning lessons when the time comes for this.

DPS Uniform

Douglas Park School does have a uniform that the parent community wanted, pushed for and voted in some years ago. We do have a uniform policy in place and expect children to be in the correct uniform while at school.

We are having a push on the correct DPS Hat being worn at the moment. We noticed in Term 4 a significant part of the school not adhering to this part of the uniform, and after some investigating, found that some children were choosing to wear a different non-uniform hat even if they actually owned the correct one. As of this week, we expect children to be in the correct uniform hat. We have some well named, brand new spares that we will give to children who do not have the correct hat so they can still be outside with their class (mask breaks, PE, class games etc). During play times if children do not have the right hat, they will be outside on the deck to play in the shade.

COVID-19 Information

We’ve communicated a bit now around how DPS will operate under the ‘Red’ setting of the COVID Protection Framework. The main changes are:

• Year 4 - 6 children are wearing masks while inside, or in close contact outside

• Staff are wearing masks, except in Year 1 - 3, while they teach. All staff are fully vaccinated.

• Teaching teams are now bubbles. Staggered break times, assigned play areas, and staff not crossing bubbles…all done to maintain the integrity of the bubble

• Parents are now required to drop off children outside our gates, the exception being for new students/Rimu team parents. All parents and visitors to school are required to wear a mask

• Staggered exit times: Each team has a separate exit time and gate to exit. Parents are to wait outside the gates and we will bring the students out.

The operational changes we have made are in line with the latest guidance from the Ministries of Education & Health, and are designed to both keep the school functioning when cases in the community start to climb and provide a safe place to be. Like the cheese model shows…each action is an additional layer of protection for us, the children and our community.

The things we have in place may seem a bit ‘over the top’ at the moment when we have no cases around us…but in 6 months time I’d rather my community say ‘I told you so’, rather than say to me…’why didn’t you do more’???

Please use the following link to register for sports this term.

All pupils playing sport for DPS must wear the correct DPS sports uniform, this is available from the NZ Uniform shop or some may be available at our 2nd hand uniform shop at DPS.

Under the Red Traffic Light, there will be no practices. There will likely be other restrictions, such as no or limited spectators, mask wearing, social distancing etc.

Please note:

Kiwi Volley and Kiwi Hoops are managed by YMCA. Sign up here.

Int Softball and touch have been cancelled this term.

We ask that you think very carefully before you commit your child to a team. It is not fair to the team, coach and opposition if players are continually late to games or do not turn up.

Please complete the form by 3pm Tuesday 15th February. Fees are to be paid to the office by Friday 25th February.

Email with any questions/issues - hayleysinton@douglaspark.school.nz