The Testing Order applies to regions in Alert Level 3 only – this article does not apply at Alert Level 2.

As at 11.59pm today Tuesday 19 October this includes the Auckland region and parts of the Waikato region. This coverage may be subject to change pending Cabinet decisions in the future.

COVID-19 Public Health Response (Required Testing) Amendment Order (No 4) 2021 – NZ Legislation

The testing requirements are:

• provide evidence of an initial negative COVID-19 test that has been administered within the last five days prior to returning to work on site (regardless of vaccination status)
• after this initial test, provide a negative COVID-19 test every seven days (until they have received two injections of the vaccine).

The testing requirements apply to:

• every employee (including principals) of every school (including kura and private schools) (regardless of role) 
• every person performing any work or service on site at a school, kura or hostel that has not been operating during Alert Level 3, including volunteers or unpaid workers, who may have contact with students in the course of performing their work or service.

From Tuesday 26 October the requirements also apply to every employee of a hostel or an early childhood service who has been operating during Alert Level 3.

This order only applies to those who are physically on site. It does not apply to those who are performing services remotely.

Where a region moves from Alert Level 3 to Alert Level 2, the Testing Order will no longer be applicable.

For simplicity we are going to use the term “employee” throughout this guidance, but the guidance applies equally to contractors, volunteers and unpaid workers as described above.

We will use the term “employer” which may describe employers such as a school boards, board of proprietors, early learning centre owners, hostel owners, and the Ministry of Education.

Employers have a legal requirement to inform all their employees that:

• employees are required to provide evidence of a negative COVID-19 test that has been administered within the last five days prior to returning to work on site (schools) or before Tuesday 26 October (school hostels and early learning services), and
• after their initial test, employees are required to continue to be tested at least once every seven days, until they have had two vaccinations
• employees are encouraged to be tested outside of their normal working hours where possible to minimise further disruption to ākonga. However, employers must support their employees to be tested for COVID-19 during working hours. Specifically, employers must not prevent an employee from reporting for and undergoing testing and medical examination during their working hours. We recommend that no absence is recorded as being tested is now a normal part of an employee’s requirement to undertake their work.

We’ll provide you with a template for informing staff in the next bulletin.

Employers are required to confidentially collect and store details of the employee’s test. Detail of what must be recorded and how this is to be recorded were provided via our bulletin on Friday.

A reminder: 

• all information must be collected and stored in line with the Privacy Act 2020
• it is an offence to breach these employer requirements
• as noted, testing requirements also apply to every person performing any work or service at a school or in a school hostel, including a volunteer or unpaid worker, who may have contact with children or students while performing the work or service. The body responsible for informing these workers of their testing obligations and for keeping the appropriate records is the body that engages them. So, for example, if a speech language therapist employed by the Ministry comes into the school to work with a student, we are responsible for the record keeping of our employee.

Vaccine and testing register – School Bulletin 15 October

All employees working at a registered school in Alert Level 3 settings must present evidence of a negative COVID-19 test that has been administered within the last five days prior to working on site.

For employees in hostels the negative test result needs to be confirmed before Tuesday 26 October.

After this initial test all employees who will continue to perform work on site are required to be tested at least once every seven days until they have had two vaccinations. It is an offence for the employer and for the employee to breach these requirements.

All employees and workers must have received both vaccinations by 1 January 2022.

It is a requirement of the Testing Order that all employees share the following information with their employer:

• their legal full name and date of birth
• contact number and email address by which the employee may be reached
• the testing period that applies to them (that is, at least once every seven days if not fully vaccinated)
• the dates on which they have undergone testing in accordance with the testing period that applies to the person, and the results of those tests
• if they are exempt from testing, evidence of that exemption and the testing period to which the exemption relates.

Once an employee has received both vaccinations, they are no longer required to undergo this regular testing.

Some employees will be unable to be tested due to medical reasons. They must still go to a testing centre to obtain an exemption to present to their employer. A health practitioner at that testing centre will determine whether the employee has particular physical or other needs that make it inappropriate for the person to undergo testing. The employee may need to get a subsequent exemption if the original was time sensitive.

Employees who refuse to meet testing requirements cannot return to work onsite and will be committing an infringement offence if they do so. That person may be liable to a fee or fine under the order. You should manage this situation in line with your existing health and safety policies and good faith employment practices.

Employees should also be requested to provide evidence of the negative COVID-19 test (before returning on site for school employees and by 26 October for hostel employees) and be advised that a failure to provide this will result in a presumption the testing requirements have not been met.

If an employee has not met the requirements for testing, employers should consider the employee’s reasons for this and work through the options available without delay.

The requirements of an employer under the Employment Relations Act 2000 remain in the COVID-19 environment.

In essence, this means:

• decisions and process must be fair and reasonable
• the obligation of good faith still applies, which requires employees to be provided with relevant information and an opportunity to comment before decisions about the continuation of their employment are made, and
• consideration must be given to alternatives for those who do not meet the requirements of the order. If no alternatives are possible, an outcome may be termination of employment.

Appropriate employment relations advice should be sought before any disciplinary action is taken by the school, kura or early learning service. NZSTA is available to provide specific employment advice for schools and kura.

Employment advice and support – NZSTA

The Testing Order only applies to regions in Alert Level 3, including as at 11.59pm today Tuesday 19 October the Auckland region and parts of the Waikato region.

This coverage may be subject to change pending Cabinet decisions in the future.

The Testing Order legally requires the following staff to provide evidence of negative COVID-19 test that has been administered within the five days prior to returning to work on site and after this initial test, every seven days until they have had two vaccinations:

• every employee (including principals) of every school (including kura and private schools) and school hostel (regardless of role)
• every person performing any work or service onsite at the school or hostel, including volunteers or unpaid workers, who may have contact with students in the course of performing work or service.

If you’re not going to be physically on site, you do not need to be tested. However, employees and workers who are not fully vaccinated will still be required to have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccination by 15 November and be fully vaccinated by 1 January 2022.

All employees and workers working at a school or kura in Alert Level 3 settings must present evidence of a negative COVID-19 test that has been administered within the last five days prior to working on site.

All employees and workers at school hostels under Alert Level 3 must present evidence of a negative COVID-19 test that has been administered within the last five days, prior to Tuesday 26 October. It is an offence to breach these requirements.

After this initial test, all employees and workers who are going to be onsite are also required to be tested at least once every seven days, until they have had two vaccinations. It is an offence to breach this requirement.

Once employees and workers have had two vaccinations, they are no longer required to undergo this regular testing.

All employees and workers must tell their employer the dates they are tested and the result of the test.

Schools, kura, early learning services and hostels are legally required to inform all employees and workers that they are required to:

• provide evidence of a negative COVID-19 test that has been administered within the last five days prior to returning to work on site (schools and kura) or Tuesday 26 October (hostels), and
• after their initial test continue to be tested at least once every seven days until they have had two vaccinations.

All employers must not prevent their employees and workers from being tested for COVID-19 during working hours, however employees and workers are encouraged to be tested outside of their normal working hours where possible to minimise further disruption to ākonga.

The employer is required to confidentially collect and store the following records:

• employees’ and workers’ legal full name and date of birth
• contact number and email address by which the person may be reached
• the testing period that applies to the person (that is, at least once every seven days if not fully vaccinated)
• the dates on which the person has undergone testing in according with the testing period that applies to the person and the results of those tests. 

Schools are already likely to have some of this information but should check that details are up to date. All information must be collected and stored in line with the Privacy Act 2020. It is offence for the employer not to meet these requirements, including collecting and storing these records.

The testing requirements also apply to every person performing any work or service at a school or in a school hostel, including a volunteer or unpaid worker, who may have contact with children or students while performing the work or service.

The body responsible for informing these workers of their testing obligations and for keeping the appropriate records is the body that engages them.

So, for example, if a speech language therapist employed by the Ministry comes into the school to work with a student, we are responsible for the record keeping of our employee.

Similarly, a relief teacher sourced from an agency will have this information provided by the agency, and a canteen worker or cleaner (if the cleaner may have contact with children or students) who is part of a contract for services will have this information provided by the contracting company.

Employees who refuse to meet testing requirements cannot return to work on site. They will be committing an infringement offence if they do so, and employers will be in breach if they allow it.

Employees should also be requested to provide evidence of the negative COVID-19 test by the required dates and be advised that a failure to provide this will result in a presumption the testing requirements have not been met.

If an employee has not met the requirements for testing, schools should consider the employee’s reasons for this and work through the options available without delay, including the feasibility of offsite duties. 

The requirements of an employer under the Employment Relations Act 2000 remain in the COVID-19 environment.

In essence, this means:

• decisions and process must be fair and reasonable
• the obligation of good faith still applies which requires employees to be provided with relevant information and an opportunity to comment before decisions about the continuation of their employment are made
• consideration must be given to alternatives for those who do not meet the requirements of the order. If no alternatives are possible, an outcome may be termination of employment.

Appropriate employment relations advice should be sought before any disciplinary action is taken by the school.

No. This order only applies to those who are physically on site.

It does not apply to those who are performing services remotely. If services are partially on site and partially remote, then the testing requirements apply.

Employees are not required to undergo testing to the extent that they have particular physical or other needs that would make it medically inappropriate to be tested.

Employees will still have to go to a testing centre to obtain an exemption to present to their employer. A health practitioner at that testing centre will determine whether the employee has particular physical or other needs that make it inappropriate for the person to undergo testing. The employee may need to get a subsequent exemption if the original was time sensitive.

A person is fully vaccinated as soon as they have received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccination.

See our bulletin on Friday for more information.

Being fully vaccinated – School Bulletin 15 October

No. However, employees and workers who are not fully vaccinated will still be required to have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccination by 15 November and be fully vaccinated by 1 January 2022.

While school bus drivers do have contact with children or students while they are transporting them to and from school, the testing requirements are only triggered if they enter the school site where they may have contact with children or students.

It is the responsibility of the transport service provider to ensure they are meeting rules and regulations, including the Public Health Order. 

The Public Health Order is now in place to allow students who are at home for the holidays in an Alert Level 3 region and board in hostels on the other side of the boundary to travel to their hostel in an Alert Level 2 region.

This change took effect from 11.59pm Friday 15 October.

Students over 12 years are required to have a negative COVID-19 test no more than 72 hours before the journey begins. They will also need to carry evidence of the negative COVID-19 test and documentation (for example, a letter from the boarding hostel/school to show they are returning for the stated purpose). Students can be accompanied by one family member or caregiver who are subject to the same testing requirements.

Boarders would then be required to stay at their hostel for the remainder of the term. Travel back and forth between family home and hostel will not be permitted until travel restrictions are withdrawn (for example, the Alert Level 3 region moves to Alert Level 2).

We’re currently collecting attendance, absence and truancy data for Term 3 from all state and state-integrated schools with an electronic attendance register (eAR).

Instructions have been emailed to your administrator. This data is due by Friday 29 October.

This is an important aspect of our work on absenteeism and truancy by using evidence from schools to monitor trends, understand drivers and target resources. To achieve the best results, we need data from as many schools as possible, including schools who have good attendance records.

Thank you to all schools who have already sent their Term 3 attendance data. By now you should have received an attendance (Every Day Matters) report tailored to your school, which can be helpful in identifying students and groups who might benefit from targeted interventions to improve attendance.

If you have not yet submitted your attendance, please create the attendance file from your student management system (SMS) for all of Term 3 and send it to us via your SMS.

This is a reminder that your school board can apply for a review of the provisional roll we have used to calculate your provisional staffing entitlement.

Roll reviews must be submitted by 26 November 2021.

You can find full details about how to submit a review on our website.

Provisional roll review – Ministry of Education

You’re invited to apply to be part of subject expert groups that will be established to develop NCEA Level 2 achievement standards and accompanying materials for new subjects in The New Zealand Curriculum as part of the review of achievement standards.

If you’re interested, send your CV and cover letter and an indication of the subject(s) you are interested in to ras.review@education.govt.nz by Tuesday 26 October.

Expressions of interest for subject expert groups – NCEA Education