The safety and wellbeing of your staff should remain a top priority, especially given the effects of recent events in Tāmaki Makaurau. 

While schools and kura are closed due to the state of emergency, all employees – including teachers, principals, teacher aides and non-teaching staff – should continue to be paid as normal. You will have advised these employees of their hours (and weeks) of work for 2023 in line with their employment agreement and these continue to apply. 
 

This includes day-to-day relievers and non-teaching casual staff who were booked in or otherwise engaged on the day/s the school is closed.

Where it is deemed safe, some non-teaching staff such as caretakers, cleaners or ground staff may be required onsite to perform duties that involve assisting with the clean-up of the flood damage before students return. Where this happens, these staff should continue to be paid as normal for the hours they work (in line with their relevant employment agreement).

We have prepared these frequently asked questions about staffing and pay to support you:

Staffing frequently asked questions [DOCX, 63 KB]
 

Some affected Auckland secondary and area schools and kura will have PPTA members who are engaged in planned industrial action which involves imposing a ban on all internal relief cover during timetabled non-contact time from the start of Term 1, 2023.

On Monday, NZSTA sent all school boards joint Ministry of Education and NZSTA advice via email about this industrial action for their school community.

If you have specific questions in your situation, please contact NZSTA for advice.

With schools closed in the Auckland region there are questions around how to code attendance during this time. 

Here is a reminder about the use of attendance codes in distance learning situations:

• If a student is engaged in distance learning because the school site is closed, we recommended schools use code ‘F’ (off-site course or learning from home).
• If your school or a student is not set up for distance learning during this time, please remove the timetable for the week of 30-Jan-2023 to 3-Feb-2023.
• In the event a student’s absence is unexplained or they are unwell, principals can continue to use their own professional judgement in using codes ‘J’ (justified absence – the reason is within school policy), ‘M’ (student absent due to short-term illness/medical reasons), ‘T’ (truant) or ‘E’ (explained, but unjustified).

If you have any questions, please refer to our attendance code resources on our website, or email everydaymatters@education.govt.nz

Attendance Code Resources – Ministry of Education
 

Making sure indoor spaces are well ventilated and have lots of fresh air is recommended for services. Good ventilation helps slow the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19.

The best way to achieve good ventilation is to open windows and doors, either fully or partially, whenever you can. The exception to this is spaces that are fitted with ducted air conditioning systems which do not rely on opening windows to bring in fresh air. 

Follow our guidance to fine-tune your service’s ventilation strategies to maintain comfortable indoor temperatures while achieving good ventilation. 

You will find a range of guidance including naturally ventilated in different weather conditions, portable air cleaners and ducted, mechanically ventilated space.
 

Ventilation guidance for schools – Te Mahau
 

The Secretary for Education lifted the 30 January Direction to keep schools, early learning services and tertiary closed from physical instruction was based on situational analysis from Waka Kotahi who provided input to the Auckland Emergency Management Situational Report. That took effect from Wednesday 1 February.

You can find updated information on weather issues in the regions, and contacts for civil defence and MSD our website:

Severe weather event education update – Ministry of Education