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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION UPDATES: Thursday 9 April
Planning for changing COVID-19 alert levels
Planning for changing COVID-19 alert levels
It is the Government’s intention that on the 20th of April, two days before the current period of Alert Level 4 is due to finish, Cabinet will make a decision on whether or not the Alert Level will change.
Level 4 has come with some heavy restrictions and next week, the Government will give some guidance on what life at Level 3 looks like.
In Select Committee today, Minister Hipkins also spoke to the change of alert levels and the implications for education providers and their communities. The Minister noted it would be wrong to assume that all schools and early learning services will reopen at Level 3.
We are looking at various scenarios and they will be based on health considerations and requirements under Level 3, particularly managing physical distancing. A hybrid model of both distance learning and on-site learning is very likely at least in the early stages of Level 3. The Public Health requirements will affect each school differently.
We want to reassure you that following any announcement, you will have some time to prepare for physically re-opening your school or early learning service to welcome back on site your staff and some, but not all, of your children/students.
Assuming the alert level does change, current planning assumptions are that you will have
Thursday 23 and Friday 24 April to fully access your site and undertake a property inspection and necessary maintenance and cleaning.
Monday 27 April is a public holiday (ANZAC Day observed)
Tuesday 28 April will be a staff-only day. We therefore anticipate
Wednesday 29 April would be your first day with some of your students/children able to attend in person. Early Learning Centres might not need all of this time.
We are developing detailed guidance to support you through this process. This will be ready in time for any decision announced on 20 April. Our staff will then work with you to support you to develop a detailed plan for your school and communication to your parents.
The Prime Minister reiterated that we will not be moving out of Level 4 early so our intention is to help you to be ready when the time comes.
Working from home and maintaining good cyber security practices
Working from home and maintaining good cyber security practices
During COVID-19 Alert Level 4, please maintain good cyber security practices at home to help keep school and student information safe and secure.
The Ministry of Education, Netsafe and N4L (which provides internet access for schools) has developed a free filtering service that can be installed on student devices. Detailed information and instructions on setting up the service are available from Switch on safety
Device and information security
Only use approved devices (laptop, tablet, or phone) to access systems on your school network, unless your school has a BYOD policy.
Take the same precautions with your laptop, tablet, or phone as you would at school:
Lock the screen when away from the device
Take steps to secure the device when not in use eg lock your house if you go out and don’t leave it unattended in your car
Maintain confidentiality of student information eg do not discuss student information with family members or where they can hear it
Avoid using personal hard drives and USB sticks. These can introduce malware onto laptops.
Ensure that printed matter containing sensitive information is kept secure and is taken with you when you return to school.
Only dispose of printed matter containing sensitive or student information in secure document destruction bins at your school. Do not dispose of sensitive documents in your residential rubbish.
The use of unsecured public Wi-Fi hotspots poses a cyber security risk and should be avoided. Sensitive data transmitted via these Wi-Fi networks may be intercepted and stolen.
Increase in phishing scams during heightened COVID-19 Alert Level
Expect more phishing emails and COVID-19-themed cyber-attacks. Criminals have increased attempts to use the COVID-19 pandemic to trick people to download malware from COVID-19 maps, or enter their details into phishing websites. CERT has issued an advisory on this, which you can read here.
Avoid clicking on any links in unsolicited emails and be very cautious of email attachments.
Do not provide personal or financial information in emails, texts, or instant messages and do not respond to requests for this information
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