Kia ora e te Whānau,

You will all be aware that COVID-19 cases continue to rise across the country and within our Canterbury region. Yesterday I sent home an email informing you of our first positive COVID-19 case in our Ilam School Community. Our thoughts are with those affected and we wish them a speedy recovery.

In phase 3, contact tracing requirements change. Only household members are deemed close contacts. This means we will only inform you we have cases. At this stage, this will be via email, so please ensure we have your updated contact information.

I can assure you that we have planned well and have robust systems in place to mitigate the spread. Our systems have served us well to date and we will continue with all practices as guided by the Ministries of Health and Education in phase 3 of the Red Setting.

We want to assure you that it is safe for your child to attend school.

We have had a wonderful week of learning. I really enjoy chatting with the tamariki about what is happening in their classes. So far this week we have talked about soccer, playing musical instruments, 3-dimensional shapes, and reading great stories with their teacher.

See our cool learning @Ilam for some great photos of Room 8 participating in a football skills session with Kirsten.

Noho ora mai/Stay safe

Belinda Kennedy and the Ilam School Team

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In this Update, you will find information on the following

• Covid-19 Phase 3

• Cultural Week information

• Upcoming Events

• Some cool learning @ Ilam

• Term Dates

Many of the Health and Safety protocols remain the same. What does change significantly is Contact Tracing, and who is identified as a Close Contact. Only household contacts will now be considered Close Contacts of a positive case. We no longer need to identify close contacts at school, even for children who do not wear masks.

What to do if your child tests Positive for Covid-19

Under Phase 3 you need to:

• Report your child’s Positive PCR or RA Test through My Health Record.

• Complete the survey that you will be sent via text, identifying your Close contacts.

• Inform the school that your child has returned a positive result.

• Isolate your child and all of your household contacts for 10 days.

• Note, different rules apply for Critical Workers who can test and return to work.

Flow chart: Do I need to keep my child at home?

Please click this link to find an Updated flow chart designed to help our families understand what is required if your child or someone in your household feels unwell.

If you need to let us know that you or a family member has tested positive for COVID-19 you can contact us at admin@ilam.school.nz or phone us on (03) 3484 792. If your test comes back negative and it is after 4.30pm or on the weekend we have a designated COVID phone. This number is 021 0271 6844.

We will then contact all families via email with further information under the guidance of the Ministries of Health and Education.

The MOE informed us yesterday that Covid-19 symptoms in children are showing up as:

• Runny nose

• Scratchy throat

• Headache

• Upset Stomach

A reminder of the general symptoms of Covid-19:

• A new or worsening cough

• Sneezing and runny nose

• A fever

• Temporary loss of smell or altered sense of taste

• Sore throat

• Shortness of breath

Our Contingency Plan

We have a group of trusted Relievers ready to support us when teachers are sick or may need to isolate, and we have further within School cover solutions that we can activate should our reliever supply run out. Our school website has our distance learning site. You can find it under Learning on our website. I have also linked it here.

We have outlined the threshold level of staff required to remain open safely for all our School Zones. This will guide our decision making.

In the event that we do not have;

• sufficient staff to safely supervise all the children/students attending onsite.

• qualified first-aid staff onsite

• sufficient staff to respond to an emergency

• sufficient cleaning to meet minimum health and safety and COVID-19 requirements,

we will inform you if specific classes or School Zones need to go online for a period of time. This decision will be made alongside the Ilam School Board of Trustees. We will inform you of this via email so please ensure your contact details are up to date.

14th - 18th March

We are so excited to be announcing the Ilam School Cultural Week has returned….but not as we know it!

We have a number of activities that each School Zone will participate in. However, one special date for the calendar is always our Cultural Day. While it will look different this year, we intend it to be a wonderful event.

Cultural Day will be held on Tuesday 15th March. Children are encouraged to wear clothes that represent their cultural heritage.

During the week of 14th-18th March, all the classes will be involved in a wide range of cultural activities.

If you would like your child to present a cultural item for their class i.e. dance, song, music or poem please let the teacher know.

Usually, on this day we would have a shared lunch, but due to Covid restrictions, we cannot do this. We suggest that your child has items in their lunch that may hold cultural significance that they can discuss with their classmates.

Although parents are unable to attend this day, we will be sharing photos and clips via class seesaw and the Ilam School website.

Room 8 had a great Football skills session with Kirsten and Mr Marsh. We saw some great skills and competition.