Coronavirus Update - 17 March 2020

Dear Parents/Caregivers

You will have heard that the Government has provided advice on mass gatherings. We are reviewing all our calendared events for the next few weeks as to whether they should proceed or not. This will be done on a case by case basis depending on the type of activity, the number of people involved, if it is an inside or outside event and whether it involves other school or community providers.

Some sports events may well be cancelled and we will endeavour to notify you as soon as we are aware. Events we can confirm that have been cancelled include the WeetBix TRYathlon, Central Districts Field Days, and the Manawatu Inter-Secondary School Athletics.

We are postponing school assemblies until further notice. This means the Academic Badge assembly scheduled for this Friday will happen at a later date.

The Prime Minister has also advised that we should stop handshakes, hongi and hugging.

As a school community, our role continues to be about prevention:
• Awareness - know the symptoms and where to get good information.
• Vigilance - stay away if you are ill or showing flu-like symptoms. If any student presents to school with these symptoms they may be asked to return home.
• Good hygiene - hand washing and drying, good cough and sneeze etiquette, and not sharing drinks/food will help prevent the spread of a virus.
• Self-isolation following overseas travel - if students have returned from any country except those listed on the countries and areas of concern under Category 2 after 1am 16 March 2020 they will need to self-isolate for 14 days.

At this stage, schools are open but we are considering how we would continue to deliver our curriculum if the school were required to close. In reality this may not be possible for all curriculum areas and/or levels. This might be a conversation you could have with your child on what work is currently being undertaken and how best to carry on with it at home.

As always, we appreciate your co-operation and ask you to respect any decisions we make.

Yours sincerely,
Gary Yeatman
Principal