Changes for Term 2
We look forward to seeing everyone back next week!
Action Points
- Keep sending your child with a mask. We will be encouraging but not mandating
- Fill out the Covid 19 form below
- The canteen is closed until Thursday
- Consider if your child would benefit from doing the Relax Kids programme.
We hope your child has had an enjoyable break and that you got a chance to spend some time together as a family doing something fun.
The big change for Term 2 will be that masks will be encouraged to be worn rather than mandated. We will be watching the numbers closely and if we are seeing significant transmission in the classrooms or in the community we will review our health and safety policies and return to a mask mandate.
Public health advice is that masks continue to be strongly encouraged when indoors. Wearing a mask is a key health measure that slows the spread of COVID-19 in indoor settings. For that reason, we ask that visitors to the school, including parents and whānau, wear a mask whenever they are indoors on school grounds.
We also ask that your child continues to bring a mask to school every day. There may be times that we’ll ask them to wear a mask – for example, when we are having an assembly in the hall.
At Orange, students aged 12 and above are still required to wear a face mask on school or public transport.
We will continue to keep all the other health measures in place at school that we know slow the spread of COVID-19. These include ensuring our indoor spaces are well-ventilated, maintaining good hand hygiene and cough and sneeze etiquette, appropriate physical distancing whenever we can and, most importantly, staying home if we are sick.
We are looking forward to a few less restrictions and returning to school life that is a bit closer to normal.
Please fill out this form to update our Covid 19 records.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdGLd9DWdciLtntT3J-vEgNbR32Uz8mPAy9DMyEf02nVDSwyA/viewform
At the last Board of Trustees meeting, the Board agreed to put a significant amount of money into supporting mental health programmes in the school.
The role of the teacher as the first point of call should not be underestimated and children are always welcome to talk to their teacher about anything that is concerning them. Teachers are in class from 8:30 each morning and this is the perfect time to let them know if something is worrying them. As a staff we are also exploring a school wide system of mental health support that we are looking to introduce in 2023.
Starting this Friday as one of the electives we have employed a facilitator from the Relax Kids organisation to work with children. This is perfect for children who worry, are stressed or are anxious a lot and will give them a range of techniques and strategies to deal with this. We still have spaces available for your child to take part in this programme. Please contact me if you would like your child to take part in this programme. simonclarke@tahuna.school.nz
One of the issues that we have identified as a staff is the lack of resilience in some children. This term Mr Scoles will be working with a small group of students developing their resilience and using the great outdoors to help facilitate their resilience development. More information will come soon.
Finally, we have sourced a new fully qualified counsellor for the school. It will work differently to the chatbus with referrals coming from staff and parents and it will largely be a triage system. Dunedin is actually well served for mental health programmes but the hard part is often knowing what is available and what is best for your son or daughter. Once again please contact me if you think your child would benefit from some greater support.
Have a great weekend and we look forward to seeing everyone again on Monday.
Kind regards
Simon Clarke