Back to School - but not as we know it
Kia ora koutou
It is more than a month since Tahuna Normal Intermediate and the rest of the country went into lockdown COVID-19 Alert Level 4 and it has been a remarkable thing. It is with a mixture of relief and trepidation that we move to Level 3.
At this time I would like to express our gratitude to those of you who are in healthcare or essential services, a big thank you for your work in challenging circumstances.
I would also like to congratulate our students, families and teachers for stepping up to the challenges of learning at home - preparing and doing distance learning is no easy task but all in all it has been very well received by all. Well done.
When Tahuna Normal Intermediate School restarts for some students on Wednesday 29th April it will look and feel very different under Alert Level 3 and we have been hard at work preparing for it.
Below are some of the things that we have put in place for the returning students.
Tahuna Processes and Protocols during Alert Level 3 to be shared to TNIS community
TNIS will establish an Alert Level 3 school roll of students who will regularly attend the school site for learning.
This means TNIS will supervise students who have parents working as an essential worker or are required to be at work by their employer and alternative supervision of their child’s home learning is not available to them.
Teaching on-site will not be the ‘normal’ type of teaching programme due to social distancing and other requirements. The learning done at school will be exactly the same as our ‘Learning from Home’ curriculum. Students who attend will be working individually on these programmes.
Our school office will remain closed to the public and parents will not be allowed on-site unless a pre-arranged requirement is established. All students will be required to access Tahuna via Victoria Road
Children who are unwell, have compromised immunity, an underlying health condition, or someone in their immediate whānau bubble who does, must stay at home.
The following Protocols and Processes will be in place inside the school:
Students attending school will be placed in “bubbles” of up to 10 students.
This bubble will not change throughout Alert Level 3.
Siblings will be placed in the same school bubbles
Each bubble will be separate. No bubble will interact with another bubble. These students must work in the same room, at the same desk for their time at school; in the same bubble for all of Level 3. They must stay only with those within their bubble during break times. In the classroom, there must be a one-metre distance between all and in the playground 2 metres. This will mean close supervision for the entire time they are on site. There is to be no sharing of equipment between bubbles.
Each bubble will have its own designated learning space, hand washing, sanitising and toilet facilities.
Learning spaces will need to be adapted for teaching taking into account the need for 1m distancing at all times inside and 10 students per ‘bubble’
Start times, finish times, break and lunch times will be staggered to avoid any bubble mixing.
Contact tracing registers will be set up to identify the children in each teaching space and to record if they have contact with any other people during the day. This includes recording who staff are in contact with as well as recording any visitors to the site, including parents.
Physical education classes and break time activities cannot include sports with <2m physical distance or where the same equipment is touched by different students (balls, ropes, sticks, etc).
Breaks/play require 2m outside distancing and no equipment use.
Surfaces will be cleaned and disinfected daily.
I hope this message finds you and your family safe and well.
Regards
Tony Hunter
Principal