All school staff who work in schools and kura in Auckland and other Alert Level 3 regions are required to have returned a negative COVID-19 test result before they can return to working on site. This is regardless of their vaccination status. 

This testing requirement applies to direct employees working on site including relief teachers, casual staff, administration staff, caretakers, and cleaners.  

Additionally, in the period leading up to 1 January 2022, staff members, workers who may have contact with children and students when delivering an education service, and those that provide other onsite services during opening hours, such as volunteers, ITE students on practicum, contractors like builders, bus drivers and hostel staff, will be required to undergo weekly COVID-19 testing.  

Once staff have returned a negative test, those that are fully vaccinated are not required to undergo weekly testing. 

All registered schools and other education services, including hostels, are required to maintain a register of the vaccination status of their staff. Secondary schools and wharekura will need to keep a vaccination register for students. This information will support public health authorities in their rapid risk assessment if there was a confirmed case of COVID-19 in your school. A highly vaccinated staff and student population could support the school to remain open, limit the duration of any closure, or limit the numbers of students and staff asked to self-isolate. 

We will provide more information tomorrow about the evidence and recording requirements for this. 

All staff members who work in schools and kura  and workers who may have contact with children and students will be required to have a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by 15 November 2021 and be fully vaccinated by 1 January 2022.   

Where possible, staff are encouraged to be tested and book vaccinations outside of regular working hours, including the current school holidays. If this is not possible, you should provide adequate time during working hours for staff to be vaccinated. No leave of absence should be recorded.   

This applies to all those that may have contact with children and students when delivering an education service, including principals, teachers, relief teachers, casual staff, administration staff, maintenance staff, OSCAR providers and hostel staff. 

If this is not possible, you should provide adequate paid time during working hours for staff to be vaccinated. No leave of absence should be recorded.   

You will need to provide a clear instruction to your employees, advising them of the need to be vaccinated, and to be tested if you are in an Alert Level 3 area. We have attached an example notice for this.

In addition, from 1 January 2022, education services must only allow those that are fully vaccinated to provide onsite services. This includes volunteers, learning support specialists, and initial teacher education (ITE) students on practicum. 

We will provide more information before the end of the week, about the process for evidence and recording of vaccinations.   

Not everyone is able to be vaccinated, tested, or make use of PPE like face coverings. Where this is not possible, employees should provide appropriate medical evidence for an exemption to these and identify how they can reasonably assure you that they are not at risk of transmitting COVID-19.  

We will be working with unions and others to consider the implications for those people who cannot or will not be vaccinated.  

Our objective will be to retain as many people in employment while ensuring public health. 

For parents conducting student pick-ups and drop-offs, these should occur in an outdoor environment where face coverings must be worn, and physical distancing measures retained. 

Parents, whānau and caregivers are not required to be vaccinated or tested in order to pick up or drop off children. 

A number of jurisdictions overseas have already adopted mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations in education settings, such as Victoria, New South Wales, Washington, the Northern Territory and New York City.

• Victoria requires that all staff in government and non-government schools and all types of early childhood and care settings to be vaccinated against COVID-19. 
• Washington requires all teachers and school personnel including, sports coaches, bus drivers and volunteers to be fully vaccinated as a condition of their employment. 
• In New South Wales all people working at a school or early education and care facility must be vaccinated. This includes, teachers, support staff, contractors, volunteers and students on student placement. 
• The Northern Territory mandates vaccinations for workers in high-risk settings which includes those who work (or come into contact with) people who cannot get vaccinated and includes all teachers and child-care workers.  
• New York City requires educators alongside other school staff (including custodians, school lunch helpers and safety agents) in public schools to be vaccinated. 

1.  Schools are open for children who need to attend

At Alert Level 3, more businesses and services are open (not just essential services) and some parents and caregivers will have to leave home in order to go to work. In these cases, any child who can’t be supervised at home by an appropriate person, needs to be able to attend school. Schools must be open for these children to attend. 

Distance learning will need to be provided for all students who are off site, including those required to self-isolate and those individuals who health authorities have asked to stay away while waiting for a test result. 

2.  Face coverings are required to be worn in some circumstances

At Alert Level 3, students and staff who are in registered schools that provide secondary education (state, state-integrated and private) are required to wear face coverings when indoors. This will include middle and area schools. 

The requirement will only apply to students receiving secondary education (Year 9 and above) and any staff member working to provide, or support the provision of, that education. 

To assist in managing this requirement in area or middle schools, it is recommended that Year 9 to 13 students are grouped together in bubbles, with all students and staff wearing face coverings. 

Face coverings are also required to be worn on school transport for students in Years 9 to 13. 

3.  School bubbles will need to be put in place for those attending on site

For those who are on site, school bubbles of no more than 10 children/students will need to be formed and keep a two-metre distance from other school bubbles.  

Where possible, it is recommended that teachers stay with the same school bubble of students. 

4.  Schools are not classified as gatherings

Schools are permitted to open at Alert Level 3, as are a range of businesses and services.  

In order to do so, they must meet a range of requirements as specified in the COVID-19 Public Health Response orders. 

5. Schools will close for cleaning and contact tracing if there is a confirmed case who was infectious when at school

Your Director of Education will work closely with you and health authorities should this occur.

Please contact your Ministry regional office if you hear of a confirmed case in your school community but have not been advised about it by health officials.

6. Testing remains a crucial component in preventing an outbreak

If a child or staff member is sick, they should stay home. 

If they have COVID-like symptoms, they should call their doctor or Healthline on 0800 358 5453 for advice about getting tested. If recommended to get tested, they should do so. 

7. Sick people must stay at home

Anyone who has COVID-like symptoms should seek medical advice and get tested if advised to do so. 

If that person displays relevant symptoms of COVID-19, tests positive for COVID-19, or has been in close contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19, they must self-isolate.

8. You must have a contact tracing system in place

This includes displaying QR code posters at your entrances, your timetable, attendance register and visitor register. 

9. Fundamental public health measures continue to apply

• Physical distancing of one metre inside and two metres outside at Alert Level 3. 
• Hand hygiene. 
• Cough and sneeze etiquette. 
• Regularly cleaning and disinfecting high touch surfaces (daily at Alert Level 3). 

10. Your Ministry regional office team is available to provide support

Contact details for local offices – Ministry of Education

For more detailed information for Alert Level 3, please refer to our health and safety guidance. 

Guidance for schools in Alert Level 3 – Ministry of Education

The key changes to guidance for school hostels for Alert Level 3 settings (currently Auckland, Waikato and Northland) are: 

• the requirement for staff to be tested before they return to the hostel 
• hostel workers (paid and unpaid) will need to be fully vaccinated no later than 1 January 2022 
• hostel management will need to maintain a vaccine register. 

School bubbles will remain in place for school hostels operating in an Alert Level 3 region.  

Guidance for school hostels – Ministry of Education

Please refer to the Unite Against COVID-19 for details about what is permitted regarding social gatherings when outside the hostel – for example, some gatherings are allowed outside in Auckland, which were previously forbidden while remaining at Alert Level 3.

Advice for Auckland – Unite Against COVID-19

Advice for Northland – Unite Against COVID-19

Advice for Waikato – Unite Against COVID-19

In the same way that workers in schools (paid and unpaid) will be required to be vaccinated, hostel management will need to ensure only vaccinated staff and support personnel have contact with boarders from 1 January 2022.  

These staff will need to have their first dose by 15 November 2021 in order to meet this timeframe. 

Hostel management are also required to keep a COVID-19 vaccination register for boarders and staff. Where your hostel is directly connected with a school, the school will already be collecting this information for students and staff. 

The hostel will therefore only need to collect vaccination information for other workers (paid and unpaid) who are directly employed to work in the hostel, and not in the school. 

We will provide more information before the end of the week, about the process for evidence and recording of vaccinations. 

All staff members who work in schools and kura in Alert Level 3 regions are required to have been tested for COVID-19 up to seven days prior to all boarders returning to the hostel (date to be confirmed) and have returned a negative result before they can return working on site.  

We will provide further advice regarding testing requirements for staff currently on site. 

For further details on all these requirements, please see the relevant information for schools in this bulletin. 

We’ve translated some key messaging for families and whānau regarding Alert Level 3 in schools. 

You should be able to cut and paste the relevant text into your own communications as needed. You can see we’ve also added links to some relevant translated information on the Unite Against COVID-19 website. 

There is also a range of alternate format content on their website including New Zealand Sign Language and Easy Read. 

Alert Level 3 translations – Ministry of Education

Wear a face covering – Unite Against COVID-19

Alternate formats – Unite Against COVID-19

We’ve had a number of teaching staff and principals asking what they can (and cannot) say to their school community about vaccination. 

School leaders and teachers have a strong influence on learners and their understanding of the world because of the trusted position they hold. 

Public health advice cannot be clearer: vaccinations are the most significant tool we have to reduce the risk of serious illness in our communities. If most of us are vaccinated, we can also reduce the risk of outbreaks which can lead to alert level restrictions and put our health system under pressure. 

As members of the public service, school leaders and school staff should promote to learners' public health advice about the need for vaccinations, but they should not put pressure on individuals to get vaccinated or not get vaccinated.  

Staff are welcome to share their own vaccination status at any time, however employers cannot do so without the individual’s permission. 

Vaccination information for New Zealand [DOCX, 71 KB]

We’re partnering with Nanogirl Labs to deliver a series of webinars hosted by Dr Michelle Dickinson focused on vaccine science and debunking vaccine myths. 

The aim is to support the education workforce get answers to vaccine questions from a trusted source of information.   

The webinars will be open to all education workforce through a registration process from today. 

Webinars will take place: 

• Wednesday 13 to Friday 15 October at 10am  
• Thursday 21 to Friday 22 October at 4pm.  

Please register your interest here: 

Q&A for educators – Eventbrite

Additional webinars will be offered if there is ongoing interest. 

Dr Dickinson is encouraging the education workforce to submit questions in advance of the webinars, which is possible as part of the registration process. Questions will be answered as part of the webinar, which will be 45-60 minutes. A live Q&A will also be possible. 

Travel for workers across an Alert Level 3 boundary is permitted for some businesses and services. School hostel staff are included in this permission, but not boarders. 

School staff who are required to support distance or online learning for primary or secondary education, can also travel across the regional boundary (but not for teaching students on-site). An example of this would be your IT specialist who needs to access servers to ensure distance learning can continue. 

Employers are expected to ensure any such travel is kept to an absolute minimum. 

Anyone travelling through these permissions must carry evidence of their purpose of travel and destination. Unless they are exempt, they must also carry evidence that they have had a COVID-19 test (they do not need evidence of a negative result – they just need evidence you have been tested) or a medical certificate.  

Go to Unite Against COVID-19 for further information, including testing requirements. 

Travel across an alert level boundary – Unite Against COVID-19

There are a range of reasons why someone is able to travel across an Alert Level 3 boundary for personal reasons – for example, children can travel to visit or stay at the home of a shared caregiver. This includes travelling to maintain a whāngai arrangement. 

We will provide information as soon as we can, about the ability for boarders in hostels to return to an Alert Level 2 region from an Alert Level 3 region in order to resume learning on site at their school. 

Personal travel across an alert level boundary – Unite Against COVID-19

For travel that is not permitted by the COVID-19 Public Health Order, the person will need an individual personal travel exemption. The threshold for approvals will be extremely high.  

Apply for a personal travel exemption– Unite Against COVID-19

Returning to normal routines as much as possible will be important for the wellbeing of ākonga. 

For schools and kura using an external supplier, your supplier will contact you to confirm lunch orders. It is important to keep in regular contact so that orders can be adjusted if required. If do not hear from them, please contact them directly to confirm arrangements. We are also contacting suppliers to inform them of our requirements. 

Where lunches are prepared on school premises, lunch staff should follow the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) guidelines for food safety in Alert Level 3.

Food safety in Alert Level 3 – MPI

This may mean there are changes to the usual lunch menu. As well as wearing face coverings, it is strongly recommended staff keep physically distanced from one another by at least one metre wherever practicable. 

We also recommend you consider how lunches are served and where ākonga eat lunch. Here are some examples: 

• public health advice is that if practicable, eat lunch outside where there is good ventilation. If this is not possible, ensure your indoor areas are well ventilated 
• provide hand sanitiser in dining areas and other common areas 
• remind ākonga about the importance of not sharing food or drinks 
• explore other ways to avoid ākonga congregating such as staggered mealtimes.

Contact your Ka Ora, Ka Ako senior advisor if there are any issues. 

Here are letter templates for your school community that can be edited as needed. 

Vaccination: Letter template for schools at Alert Level 2 [DOCX, 18 KB]

Vaccination: Letter template for schools at Alert Level 3 [DOCX, 18 KB]