Kia ora e te Whānau,

We have had yet another great week of learning. Our tamariki are happy, settled and adjusting well to our School Zones and the rolling timetable for morning tea and lunch. I find that our learners are so good at adapting to the changing landscape we are currently in. We are very proud of them all.

On behalf of the Ilam School Board of Trustees and Community, I would like to extend our thoughts and Aroha to our Muslim whānau.

Next week some of our Muslim whānau will be involved in a coronial inquiry regarding the Mosque Attack in March 2019.

We acknowledge that this will be a very difficult time for you. Please reach out if you need support in any way, or you feel that your child has concerns or is worried.

As you are probably aware, COVID case numbers are on the rise across the country and we now have a number of cases in the Canterbury region. On Tuesday 16th February at 11.59 pm, the Government moved the whole country to Phase 2 of the Covid Protection Framework.

In phase 2 very few changes will need to be made around how we operate in our School Zones. We have clear safety protocols in place to mitigate the risk of the virus spreading at school, they are outlined below.

Ngā mihi nui,

Belinda Kennedy and the Ilam School Team

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In this Update you will find information on the following

• Safety protocols at Ilam

• Managing cases in our school

• Learning Conferences - Via Zoom

• Dogs at School

• Some cool learning @ Ilam

We are pleased to present our 2022 leaders at Ilam School. We are excited to work with them throughout the year.

We have clear systems in place to keep our tamariki, whānau and staff safe at the Red Setting of the CPF.

Here is a reminder of what we are doing to mitigate risk:

Schooltime:

• We have 3 School Zones: Senior, Middle and Junior.

• If you are onsite for pick up and drop off, please wait in the zone appropriate for your child and keep your distance from others.

• Our playtimes and playgrounds are rostered to minimise the mixing of teams.

• We ask that children DO NOT play at school after 3:15 pm.

• All tamariki need their own labelled drink bottle as water fountains are turned off.

• Tamariki and Teachers Year 4 and above will wear masks when indoors

• We maintain safe, healthy hygiene practices such as hand sanitiser and regular cleaning of classrooms.

• We ask that if your child is sick or showing symptoms of COVID-19 they stay home and get tested. We ask this of our staff as well.

Entering the school grounds:

• All adults must be wearing a suitable face mask and sign in using our QRCode when coming on site.

• If you want your child to wear a mask and they are in Year 1-3, we will support you in this, however, it is not expected. We will leave that decision to you.

• If you need to come to school during the school day, again, scan in, mask up and come directly to the office and we will help you out. Please do not go directly to your child’s classroom.

• We have a good contact tracing system in place so that if there is a confirmed case who has been at school while infectious, we can quickly identify the close contacts of that person.

We want to reiterate that our collective goal is to remain open for learning onsite and ensure as little disruption to your children’s learning as possible. It is important for you, our staff and your children’s wellbeing that they physically attend School, and enjoy social interaction and learning with their peers and colleagues.

As outlined in our Update last week, there are different phases of the Red Setting. On Monday the Government announced that on Tuesday 16th February at 11.59 pm the whole country would move into Phase 2. This means that Omicron is having a greater impact on the workforce.

Due to the nature of Omicron, we will need to be responsive when the need arises. At school, we have been organising what staffing and learning will look like at different phases. While we can try to plan for every scenario, there will be times when we will need to respond to the situation as it arises. In the event of a confirmed positive case, we will be guided by the Ministries of Education and Health to identify contacts and inform you as soon as practicable. We wanted you to know that this could be at any time of the day. If it were to be once School had started we would ask that you collect your children from School as soon as possible.

We also ask that you plan and consider what you need as a family to ensure a seamless transition from onsite to distance learning:

• Do you have a device your child can access at home, especially if they are in Year 5 or 6?

• Do you have a workbook or blank paper they can use to record their learning on etc?

• Do we have your current contact information? Please let the office know if your details have changed.

• WEDNESDAY 23 FEBRUARY 2022 3.15 pm – 6.00 pm

• THURSDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2022 3.15 pm – 6:15 pm & 6:45 pm - 8.00 pm

Thank you to those families who have already made a time to meet with your child’s class teacher via Zoom next week. These start of the year conferences are really valuable to the class teacher. A reminder that Sharing Papers were sent home last week and are due back tomorrow so that teachers can spend time reading your comments in preparation for the Learning Conferences next week.

To book your Learning Conference, go to www.schoolinterviews.co.nz

• Enter the school code yxwtm and press ‘GO’.

• You will be guided through three steps. A few moments later you will get an email confirming your Learning Conference time. You can return to the site and change your conference time whenever you wish.

• Bookings will close tomorrow at 9 am Friday 18th February.

Your child’s class teacher will then be in touch via email over the next few days with a Zoom link for you to access once bookings have been finalised.

Skite is Ilam School's friendly local greyhound based in Room 2 with his owner Tanya Kenworthy. Skite’s lovely social nature and relaxed outlook on life means he is at home napping in the classroom or out and about in the playground getting lots of love from the children. One of his jobs at school is to encourage children to interact mindfully with dogs, encouraging respect, while also letting those who don't have a dog relax around K9s. Getting up close to Skite will always be optional for the children but he has lots of success turning non-dog people into confident dog lovers.

We have noticed a number of dogs coming with whānau for drop-off and pick-up, this is something we love to see and many tamariki enjoy.

However, please do note that not everyone is comfortable with dogs so we request the following when bringing your dog onsite:

• All dogs must be on a lead, close by their owners and under control at all times.

• If your dog is barking, please work at calming them down so they are relaxed and not giving children any cause for concern. We want our tamariki’s interactions with dogs to be positive.

• Please clean up after your dog.

Thank you for your cooperation with this matter.

Some great pictures of learning from across the school