Star Board Term Two Week Four

Principal's Message

Kia Ora Koutou

COVID-19 scenarios as we head into winter

In case you missed the recent briefing from Dr Ashley Bloomfield in which he talked through potential scenarios and COVID-19 modelling heading into winter (discussed approximately eight minutes into the briefing), it is linked here: COVID-19 update 13 May – Ministry of Health

A quick reminder of what we as a school can do to prevent COVID-19

• To respond to rising COVID-19 cases and winter illnesses, we have a number of reliable mitigations available including good cough and sneeze etiquette, regular cleaning and staying away if unwell.
• We will consider the case numbers and winter illnesses in our community. Reviewing our health and safety plan ahead may identify further measures needed including: increased mask wearing when indoors; increased monitoring and actions to support good ventilation.
• A reminder that transmission is more likely to occur between adults and from adults to children, and the risk of child-to-child or child-to-adult transmission is considerably less. Therefore, closely review your health and safety policies for staff meetings, shared spaces such as staff rooms and offices.

Staffing

• MoE know that the numbers of staff absent with COVID-19 is high in a number of areas and that we want to keep kanohi ki te kanohi available wherever possible.
• Even with careful planning and with every health mitigation in place, we may experience staff shortages that require us to change our normal operations and we may have to return to hybrid learning or learning from home for a short period of time.
• We will continue to prioritise face-to-face learning as much as we can. However, if our staff are heavily impacted as a result of being a case, winter illness or isolating as a household contact or we do not have sufficient staff on site to meet minimum health and safety requirements, we will need to move to learning from home/hybrid learning for a short period of time.
• Sufficient staff for onsite learning will include: qualified first aid staff; staff to respond to an emergency; cleaning to meet minimum health and safety and COVID-19 requirements; staff to safely supervise all the children/students attending on site.
• Decisions will continue to be made locally our board and myself based on our school’s particular circumstances – the important thing will be that we give our community as much information as soon as possible about those decisions.

Portable air cleaners: Additional units now available

In addition to the 5,000 portable air cleaners already being distributed, MoE now have an additional 7,500 air cleaners available for all state and state-integrated schools to support them with ventilation this winter; we have received two.

Reinfection or continued infection

Anecdotally MoE are receiving a number of reports of reinfection with COVID-19.

Public health advice is that:

• current evidence shows the chance of having COVID-19 again within 90 days of a first infection is low, especially if it is the same variant – but it can happen
• reinfection within 28 days is considered exceptionally unlikely
• COVID-19 like symptoms may be caused by other infections like the common cold, flu or a chest infection
• reinfection does not generally cause serious illness for most people but a diagnosis of reinfection with COVID-19 can be important for older people, people who have high risk conditions, or people who have frequent close contact with vulnerable people
• people who are low health risk and have symptoms consistent with COVID-19 within 90 days of a COVID-19 diagnosis should stay home and recover until 24 hours after symptoms resolve. They are not required to take a RAT. However, if they become increasingly ill, they should call their GP or Healthline
• people with underlying health conditions or anyone who has worsening symptoms should seek advice from a health practitioner or Healthline on 0800 358 5453. A RAT or PCR test may be recommended
• we know that people can continue to test positive after their recovery but are very unlikely to be infectious after day 10. Retesting during the initial 28-day period is not necessary unless recommended by a health professional
• if you become unwell more than 90 days after a COVID-19 infection you should follow the same advice as for a first infection. That is, seek advice about getting tested.

Further information on catching COVID-19 again is available on the Ministry of Health website. Catching COVID-19 again – Ministry of Health

Long COVID in children

Long COVID describes the symptoms that continue or develop after the initial COVID-19 symptoms. This is usually longer than 12 weeks after a person is first infected. Most people with COVID-19 recover completely and return to normal health. People usually recover from COVID-19 after two to six weeks and many make a full recovery within 12 weeks.

KidsHealth has provided some useful information about COVID-19 symptoms in children which you may wish to share with your community:

• for most children with mild COVID-19, they will be back to normal within a week. A small number of children might take up to two weeks to feel back to normal
• most children with COVID-19 will have a mild illness and get better quickly
• for a child or young person to have a diagnosis of post-COVID-19 condition (long COVID) their symptoms need to be having an impact on their everyday functioning and cannot be explained by another condition
• nearly all children will fully recover and return to normal health
• scientists and health professionals are still learning about long COVID, but studies so far have found; children are much less likely to have long COVID than adults; children recover faster than adults; it mostly affects children over the age of 10 – it's very rare in younger children.

Further information is also available on the KidsHealth website, including caring for a child with COVID-19.

• Recovering from long COVID – KidsHealth
• Caring for a child with COVID-19 – KidsHealth
• Long COVID – Ministry of Health NZ

When can a sick child return to school?

Any child who has COVID-19 or is a household contact must remain at home for the legally required isolation period, regardless of whether they have returned a negative RAT.

Isolation is currently seven days with Day 0 being when a positive test was returned or from symptom onset. At the end of the seven-day isolation period if the child is still sick, they should stay home until they are well and for 24 hours after they no longer have symptoms.

There is no need to wait for an official message to leave isolation although they may receive a text message confirming their isolation period has ended.

If you have COVID-19 – Unite Against COVID-19

Ongoing symptoms

For COVID-19, colds and flus and potentially other illnesses, a child may continue to have minor but lingering symptoms such as a runny nose or minor cough.

• Anyone who is sick should stay home until they are well.
• When a child has respiratory symptoms, they should stay at home and seek advice from their GP or Healthline. Staying home is key to controlling the spread of any virus in a school setting.
• Many children will have a long-lasting runny nose or cough after viral infections. If it has been more than 10 days since the onset of symptoms and they are no longer feeling unwell, they are very unlikely to be infectious and can therefore return to school.

However, if they are continuing to feel unwell or their symptoms are worsening after 10 days, they should not return to school. A GP review or a call to Healthline is recommended.

Supporting students and staff to return to school

I cannot require evidence from cases or household contacts to support their return following their period of isolation.

Cases and household contacts may not be provided with an official release notification following the end of their period of isolation.

I also cannot require evidence of a negative RAT or PCR test for household contacts (and cases will not be tested again following their initial positive test).

Students and staff who test positive for COVID-19 are not required to self-isolate past seven days under public health regulations, but they should not return to school if they are still feeling unwell.

A reminder that principals at state and state-integrated schools have authority to preclude a student from attending if they believe, on reasonable grounds, that the student may have a communicable disease.

You can do this under section 77 of the Education and Training Act 2020. See website for details. Communicable diseases: A guide to legal powers – Ministry of Education

Parents’ Workshop for empowering and growing our learners

I mentioned recently that we will be calling on parents to be part of a workshop. This community workshop will be seeking input on aspirations for learners. If you are interested in being involved, I will soon send out dates and how you can register.

Stay safe and be the best you can be

Ngā Mihi

Kiri

Around School

Boarding Note from Jo Booth

A reminder about the procedures when girls are unwell in the Boarding Houses-

• If boarders are feeling unwell, they should see the matron on duty to discuss what needs to happen.
• If a student is clearly not well, parents/ caregivers will be rung and asked to collect their daughter or organise a way for her to get home.
• If a student is simply not feeling 100%, they may just require a panadol, then encouragement back to class, (or a return to their room for a rest in preparation for a return to school when possible. )
• If at any stage we are unsure about the well-being of a student, the matron or I will contact parents/ caregivers.

Please contact us if you have heard from your daughter saying she needs to be picked up, as that may or may not be the case.

For daygirls, a similar approach applies.

Enjoy the weekend.

Jo

Solo Performance Evening