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He Pitopito Kōrero
COVID-19 update - 27 October 2021

27 October 2021
Home
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he pitopito kōrero

He Pitopito Kōrero

COVID-19 update - 27 October 2021
FOREWORD

Kia ora koutou,

It has been great hearing the positive feedback from you as many of your Year 11, 12 and 13 students returned to school yesterday.

In today’s bulletin we provide you with further details on this afternoon’s indication from the Minister of Education that children in Years 0 to 8 could return to face-to-face learning from Monday 15 November. We'll work with you on whether this is feasible and what you would need if that were to happen. As Minister Hipkins said, nothing is set in stone yet and we want to hear from you first.  

For students in Years 9 and 10 we will take a bit more time so that we can allow secondary schools to work closely with their students sitting NCEA before bringing more students back on site. We will come back to you in the coming weeks.

Ngā manaakitanga,
Iona

Public Health Order on vaccinations

As at 11.59pm on Monday 25 October the COVID-19 Public Health Response Order for mandatory vaccinations for education came into effect.

COVID-19 Public Health Response (Vaccinations) Amendment Order – New Zealand Legislation

Thank you for your patience in receiving guidance about what information to provide to your staff. We will have full information on the order and how it should be applied tomorrow.

Planning for Years 0 to 8 to return to on site learning

Minister Hipkins has asked us to work with representatives of schools and kura over the coming week or so to provide him with advice about how children in Years 0 to 8 in Alert Level 3 areas could return to school for face-to-face teaching, in line with public health advice, with an indicative start date of Monday 15 November.

We will work on this through your peak body organisations in Auckland and Waikato over the next week.

While not wanting to prescribe in too much detail how this will best work for your communities, it is likely that the options will involve cohorts or groups of students attending on different days with flexibility for schools to arrange this in the way that works for their communities.

Alert Level 3 Letter template

Here is a letter template you may use with your school community if you choose.

Alert Level 3 areas: Letter template for whānau with children in Years 1 to 8 [DOCX, 16 KB]

Existing Alert Level 3 requirements that will continue

There are an extensive range of health requirements and measures at Alert Level 3 that will remain in place:

  • staff and children who are unwell must stay at home and get tested for COVID-19
  • children at higher risk of severe illness must remain home where possible
  • staff who are not fully vaccinated and at higher risk of severe illness must remain home
  • mandatory face coverings for staff and students in Years 9 to 13
  • only essential visitors will be permitted on site and all visitors on site will need to wear a face covering
  • good hand hygiene and cough and sneeze etiquette should be followed
  • classrooms must be well ventilated
  • high-touch surfaces must be cleaned and disinfected each day
  • physical distancing should be adhered to wherever practicable, particularly between adults, and physical distancing of two metres will be in place from people you don’t know
  • QR code posters for the COVID app will be displayed
  • a contact tracing register in place for everyone coming onsite including students and staff, through the attendance register, timetable and visitor register.

Additional public health measures

In recent weeks, we’ve worked with the Ministry of Health to refine public health measures that would need to be in place when children and young people return to school.

These additional public health measures were agreed by Cabinet on Monday 11 October:

  • face coverings are now required on school transport for anyone aged 12 and over and recommended for all others
  • time outdoors for students and staff will be maximised, including breaks, lunchtime, before and after school (unless the weather does not allow), and rooms will be aired during breaks
  • exercising and singing will take place outdoors
  • groups meeting indoors, including assemblies or staff meetings, will be avoided
  • exams can go ahead, but physical distancing will be maximised within the space available with a minimum of 1.5 metres between desks.

As you know, all staff must return one negative test before they return on site and staff who are not fully vaccinated will need to be tested weekly with mandatory full vaccination of all staff by 1 January 2022. See our bulletin on 19 October for further details.

Information about the COVID-19 Required Testing Order – School Bulletin 19 October

Parts of Waikato in Alert Level 3

The parts of Waikato currently at Alert Level 3 will remain at this level, however from 11.59pm tonight will move to the same stepped down alert level settings for Auckland (Alert Level 3, Step 1). This allows school playgrounds to open.

The strict boundary requirements for Auckland and Waikato remain in place.

For Waikato, Minister Hipkins noted that Government is still aiming to stamp out this outbreak, but currently case numbers continue to creep up and the outbreak is not yet fully contained.

Cabinet will therefore review Waikato and Auckland alert level settings on Monday. Northland remains at Alert Level 2.

Please continue to remain vigilant, look out for locations of interest, if showing any symptoms please get tested, and support those in your whānau and community to get vaccinated.

Vaccination remains the best way to keep our communities safe and allow us to expand our opportunities over the summer ahead.

Face coverings in school at Alert Level 3

Under the COVID-19 Public Health Response (Alert Level Requirements) Health Order, it’s a legal requirement for all students in Years 9 to 13 wear a face covering in an Alert Level 3 area when they are inside at school unless they have an exemption.

Face coverings are not required to be worn outside. However, as is the case for all New Zealanders, face coverings continue to be strongly recommended, especially when not able to physically distance from people you don’t know.

If any student is reluctant to wear a face covering, we would recommend that you work with the parents or caregivers to understand what the problem is and come up with solutions.

These could include:

  • making clear why it’s important to wear a face covering
  • helping them understand how face coverings protect them and others
  • helping them to wear the mask comfortably, or
  • providing a mask if the student doesn’t have one.

In the instance the student continues to refuse to wear a face covering, we would encourage you to consider whether the student can continue to learn from home through distance learning.

Serious disciplinary action (such as detention or a stand-down period) should only ever be a last resort.

COVID-19 Public Health Response (Alert Level Requirements) Health Order – NZ Legislation

Face coverings on school transport at all alert levels

Further to yesterday’s brief message, below are the detailed requirements for face coverings on school transport.

Students of all ages are encouraged to wear a face covering on all school transport services under all alert levels.

We encourage you to convey the following information on face coverings to your students and their parents or caregivers.

Students aged 12 and over

The exemption from wearing face coverings for students on school transport has been revoked under the COVID-19 Public Health Response (Alert Level Requirements) Health Order.

This means that from 11.59pm Friday 22 October, everyone 12 years and older legally must wear a face covering on school transport services (both Ministry and regional council-operated) at all alert levels unless they have an exemption.

This includes SESTA, daily, technology, direct resourced, and Māori-medium school transport services. It also includes charter buses hired by schools to transport students and staff. 

Please note, while the school transport drivers are not required to enforce the wearing of face coverings, they will report any non-compliance to your school’s bus controller (noting that some students may be exempt from face covering requirements for health and safety reasons). Schools are expected to manage any non-compliance just as they currently manage behavioural issues of school transport users.

Students under 12

While we encourage all students to wear face coverings on school transport, students aged under 12 are not required to wear face coverings.

This includes SESTA, daily, technology, direct resourced, and Māori-medium school transport services. It also includes charter buses hired by schools to transport students and staff. 

SESTA students

SESTA students are included in the above face covering requirements, but we understand that for some SESTA students this will not be possible, and that they will have an exemption.

While we expect SESTA drivers to wear face coverings wherever possible, we also expect that there will be some situations where a SESTA student’s caregiver requests that the driver not wear a face covering due to safety considerations. 

We have asked our SESTA drivers to contact caregivers about the new face covering requirement for both drivers and students.

Exemptions from wearing face coverings

Information on face covering exemptions can be found on the Unite Against COVID-19 website.

Wear a face covering – Unite Against COVID-19

Alert Level 3 attendance data collection for Years 11 to 13

Tomorrow Thursday 28 October at 9.30am, we’ll use Mataara to send those of you in Auckland and some parts of Waikato areas a text message to collect information on attendance.

Collecting information on how many students in Years 11 to 13 are attending on site for schools and early learning services at Alert Level 3 is a helpful way for us to ensure we’re providing the support you need.

The number this message will come from is 8707.

What we need from you:

  • a text response of the number (in digits not words) of how many Year 11 to 13 students you have on site (and no other words or messages if you can avoid it please).

Please reply to the text message by 12 noon if you are able to and, as always, please contact your education advisor if you need any assistance.

Testing for education staff in Alert Level 3

Types of testing required for COVID-19

Testing required to return to school

Staff will need to have a received negative COVID-19 test no more than five days prior to returning to school. This can be either a nasal swab (nasopharyneal) or throat swab (oropharyngeal anterior nares).

These test results are usually received no more than 48 hours after having been tested.

Testing required for workers who are unvaccinated or partly vaccinated

You will need to undertake weekly surveillance testing until you are fully vaccinated. This can be:

  • a nasal or throat swab once a week
  • a saliva test twice a week, with at least two days between tests.

Testing locations – Healthpoint

Progress on saliva testing

The Ministry of Health is currently finalising its procurement process to appoint a provider for saliva testing and expects to have saliva testing available for the education workforce by the end of this week.

Reminder to use testing codes

When being tested, please remember to ask that the health professional doing the test notes down your education SURV code.

The Ministry of Health will use these codes to determine if there will be a need for prioritisation testing of the teaching workforce in the future (and the capacity to deliver that testing).

  • Secondary school faculty: SURV-SEC
  • Primary school faculty: SURV-PRIM
  • Education providers who work outside the above categories: SURV-EDU

Exams in Alert Levels 1 to 3

Based on current public health advice, exams are able to go ahead at Alert Levels 1 to 3.

Revised guidance has been sent out by NZQA to their exam centre managers which aligns with the public health measures needed at each alert level. The same requirements apply to school-run exams and mock exams.

Should this information or the public health requirements change, we will notify you through a bulletin and NZQA will send out notifications through their usual channels.

Exams for any region at Alert Level 1

  • There are no restrictions on the number of students in an exam room as gathering limits do not apply in schools and kura.
  • In all exam rooms there must be a gap of 1.5 metres between students in all directions. This distance is measured from head-to-head, not from desk edge to desk edge. This gap provides enough distance between students to ensure they aren’t touching or breathing directly on each other and exam supervisors can safely walk between desks.
  • All teachers and other school staff (this extends to NZQA’s examination workforce) must have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by Monday 15 November unless a medical exemption is provided.

Exams for any region at Alert Level 2

  • All protocols under Alert Level 1 apply.
  • Schools will need to establish a cleaning regime before, between, and after exam sessions.
  • Rooms must be sufficiently ventilated.
  • Additional supervision protocols apply – supervisors should limit themselves to supervising a section of a hall, limit movement between desks, and only attend to candidates with raised hands.
  • Wearing a face mask is strongly encouraged, but not required, at Alert Level 2.

Exams for any region at Alert Level 3

  • All protocols under Alert Levels 1 and 2 apply.
  • Staff, including NZQA’s examination workforce, who are not fully vaccinated will need to complete weekly COVID-19 tests.
  • All exam centre staff, even if fully vaccinated, must receive a negative COVID-19 test the week before entering school property for the first time.
  • All students and exam supervisors are required to wear face masks while inside the exam room unless they are exempted from doing so.
  • NCEA candidates will be eligible for an unexpected event grade (UEG) if their region is in Alert Level 3 any time from the beginning of Term 4.

Reminder: Financial assistance for duplicate relief teaching costs

We’re offering financial assistance to schools for duplicate relief teaching costs incurred through Alert Level 3 and 4 restrictions.

COVID-19 regional support scheme – Ministry of Education

We understand schools will be impacted by the regional Alert Level 3 restrictions where staff are unable to cross the Alert Level 3 borders or get exemptions to travel. Schools operating under Alert Level 2 restrictions that face this situation will be eligible to access the regional support scheme where relief teaching resources are required to ensure the school is able to operate.

This scheme covers any duplicate relief teaching costs incurred as a direct result of the COVID-19 regional and national Alert Level 3 and 4 restrictions. This includes:

  • repeated bookings in relation to classroom release time (CRT)
  • repeated bookings for relief teachers when re-organising professional development, school camps or curriculum trips
  • repeated bookings for part-time staff when re-organising specific learning programmes
  • schools that have teachers that are unable to travel to work due to regional border restrictions.

Please note that applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis and eligibility cannot be confirmed prior to an application being submitted.

If you have any questions or concerns relating to this, contact resourcing@education.govt.nz for further assistance.

Triennial school board elections

Triennial elections for school boards are being moved from May 2022 to later next year and will include provision for electronic voting.

The elections will now be held between 5 September and 23 September 2022.

The Minister of Education will post a notice of the date changes in the Gazette.

Moving the elections through to later in the year will reduce pressure in the early part of 2022 and help to increase participation in the elections. It also may make it easier to conduct elections as changes will be made to the regulations to enable an electronic option. The existing paper-based voting papers will continue to be available.

Consultation took place earlier this year on a range of proposed changes to the regulations and there was strong support to allow elections to be conducted through electronic channels. The aim of enabling an electronic election option is to increase voter participation and improved accessibility.

Moving the election date to September will also affect the term of office for some board members who may be asked to stay on for longer.

The New Zealand School Trustees Association (NZSTA) will continue to be available to support school boards and returning officers, with governance matters and in the lead up to the 2022 triennial elections.

If you have a question or concern about any election process at your school, contact the New Zealand School Trustees Association (NZSTA) for support on electionsadvice@nzsta.org.nz.

Triennial school board elections – Ministry of Education

Auckland out-of-zone ballots for 2022 places

A reminder that under the Education and Training Act, the date for pre-enrolment ballots to be held is 30 October.

Any school that will not complete its pre-enrolment ballot by 30 October should contact their local education office for advice.

Enrolment schemes – Ministry of Education