Welcome to
David Street School
Kia Maia - Have Courage
COVID - 19
Our Latest Daily Updates for Whānau
UPDATE 12 - 17 May
Coming in and out of the school gate tomorrow.
As you know, one way we keep everyone safe as we return to school is to have as few people as possible on the school site during the school day.
We have been doing some more thinking about how we might support our children’s sense of courage, independence and belonging as they enter the school gates during the first few days.
To help some of our unsure children, we have organised a number of our staff to welcome all of our students at each gate tomorrow morning and walk with them in to their classrooms as they arrive. It will look a bit like a mini in-school walking bus.
Many others will choose to walk in on their own, and that is fine, provided they go straight to their own classrooms.
We believe that greeting and walking in together will be an easier home / school transition for some rather than at the classroom door. What we know is that uncertainty for children quickly disappears once they get into familiar territory, see their school mates, and return to school routines.
While needing to keep numbers of people on school grounds to a minimum, some, such as new parents, will need to enter and will have their names recorded at the gate for tracing purposes.
At the end of the day, children, including sibling groups, will be walked to the same gate they entered from at the times outlined in Update 11.
Please refer to Update 11 for other details including school gate times and contact tracing routines.
We are looking forward to having our wonderful children back to school in the morning.
Update 11: 13 May
All staff return to school as normal from tomorrow and are looking forward to welcoming our students back to school on Monday. Here is the updated information in addition to Update 10, you will need as we all plan for your families safe and happy return to school:
- Urgent: For planning purposes, please email us, office@davidst.school.nz As Soon As Possible if your child is not returning to school next week.
- You do not need to contact the school if your child is attending next week.
- Please Note: Any child or staff member who is unwell must not be at school.
Symptoms of special concern are any respiratory symptoms such as a head cold, blocked ears, cough, sneezing, chills and a fever.
- In the interests of safety, and the requirement to provide full Contact Tracing Records, we discourage parents from coming onto the school site. While we prefer parents drop children off at any of our gates, we understand it may be necessary to accompany your child to and from the classroom. Please do not enter classrooms and please leave promptly. Please arrange a meeting place for your child near the gate for after school.
- If you are entering the grounds at the beginning and end of the school day, your name and contact details will be recorded by staff at each of our school gates. Please exit the same gate so we know you are no longer on site.
School Drop Off Times:
Children may be dropped off at school at any of our three manned gates between 8.15am and 9.10am.
School Pick Up Times:
Staggered pickup times will operate as follows:
2.40 - All junior students and any siblings of junior students from other areas of the school
2.45 - bus students meet in bus lines outside the hall
2.50- Middle school students and siblings in the senior school
3.00- senior students
- Crossing Patrols will operate during these pick up and drop off times.
- Care for kids open. Please contact Pia, Ph. 0273 691 263 to register your child.
- The school office: Appointments will no longer be necessary under L 2. but please keep these visits to a minimum. There is limited space in the office and we will continue to implement a 1 in and 1 out policy.
- If you need to talk to teachers please arrange a time through their personal school email.
- While the school drinking fountains will be regularly cleaned and operational, we recommend that every child brings their own named bottle of water each day.
Please contact me at brianh@davidst.school.nz with any further questions you may have.
Kind regards
Brian Harrop
Update 10: 11 May
Kia ora koutou katoa
The Prime Minister announced that we will be moving to Alert Level 2 this Thursday May 14th .
Much of the Ministry of Education’s detail about what that will actually look like will be evolving over the next few days.
Here is what we already know from the Ministry of education:
- Schools, Early Learning Centres and our ‘Care For Kids’ open from next Monday 18th.
- All students who can, should come to school from next Monday. Schools are safe environments for children and staff.
- It is important for everyone to understand, that all staff will be engaged in planning and preparation this week. Unless an arrangement has already been made with the principal, no further students will be accepted into our bubbles for the remainder of this week.
- Additional public health measures are in place to prevent the spread of disease and to support contact tracing. We are required to keep track of everyone entering and leaving the school site.
- Children and staff who are unwell must stay home. Anyone becoming sick at school must be collected immediately.
- There are no minimum distance requirements in schools. Maintaining physical distancing in schools means children and staff will maintain a physical distance so that they are not breathing on, or touching each other.
- Staff will be fully engaged with teaching and managing the wellbeing of their own classroom students, and so there will be a modified version of distance learning developed for those unable to attend.
- School Transport will run.
- Level 2 is NOT business as usual.
School leaders are meeting over the next few days to receive and respond to Ministries of Health and Education’s details for schools in the coming days. You can expect these organisational details on Thursday this week.
As always, please contact the office or the principal via email if you have any questions or comments.
Regards
Brian Harrop
brianh@davidst.school.nz
Update 9: 6 May
Kia ora koutou
We wanted to give you a quick update on how we are doing under Alert Level 3.
We have been getting a lot of great feedback from parents and children about the wonderful and creative ways learning is being achieved at home. Those that have been concerned about not getting all the tasks competed have begun to relax as they realise the bank of learning activities provide a resource to choose from and to extend or change to suit children’s interests, abilities and situation.
It is exciting to see the innovation that has been happening and some brilliant videos, photos and stories coming through showing what our students, families and whānau have been up to at home. Teachers and children have also been enjoying the opportunities to catch up with each other through the various technology tools we have.
We were also excited to be able to reopen our school for staff and students of essential workers onsite last week and look forward to welcoming more of you in person very soon.
We also just wanted to provide some reassurance that our school is a safe place for your child to be and safe for our staff too.
This means our small school bubbles are in place, our staff and students are staying 1 metre apart inside and 2 metres outside, our cleaning programme fully aligns with Health guidance, only essential visitors are coming into school.
A decision about when New Zealand will move to Alert Level 2 will be made by Cabinet next Monday 11 May. We will update you on what that will look like for a Level 2 return to school at David Street once these details are known.
Please contact your children’s teacher or me via email brianh@davidst.school.nz if you have any further questions.
Ngā mihi
Brian Harrop
Update 8: 23 April.
Tena koutou katoa.
The school team, including Board of Trustees, teachers, learning support team, office staff, librarian, caretakers and cleaners have all been working hard to ensure learning under Level 3 will be safely available for our children.
We are proud of what we have been able to achieve within a small time frame, however there are still some details to be confirmed. We thank you for your goodwill and encouragement with this.
We have 20 children from those needing to attend school confirmed to attend our school site bubbles. Details will be sent to those parents tomorrow via email. This will include who is teaching your child, drop off and pick up times and where they will be learning for the day.
We are seeking urgent confirmation from several parents who are waiting for their employers to decide if and when they will be required to work. Please update us on your situation now please.
Unfortunately, despite numerous efforts to contact 6 families through various means, we have had no response from them.
Please Note: Your children can not just turn up at school next week and expect to join a bubble. We have to know now if you need this support.
Everyone’s safety comes first.
Before School and After School Care: Please be reminded, Care for Kids will be closed throughout Level 3 as required.
Paper Learning Packs will be made available for all children who need these from late next week.
You will be contacted via HERO - Parent Portal (please check your emails) for you to update our lists for those wanting paper packs next week (even if you have previously requested these for the original round. NOTE: The details of when and how these shall be made available will be communicated on Tuesday or Wednesday next week
Linc Ed has become HERO.
Under Lockdown 3, we are required to keep a minimum number of people on the school site at all times. Unless you have an emergency, do not just arrive at the school office. You can contact the school by emailing: office@davidst.school.nz or a message to the school facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/davidstschool or phoning the school office on (07) 8897780.
If you need to arrange a visit, please contact the school office first.
To meet health and Safety requirements, NO PARENTS OR VISITORS WILL BE GIVEN ACCESS TO SCHOOL AND CLASSROOMS other than to the school office.
Reminder: No school next Monday and Tuesday: ANZAC and Teacher Only days.
Thank you everyone for your continued support and kindness.
Ngaa Mihi
Brian Harrop
Update 7: 20 April.
Moving to Alert Level 3.
We open for some children on Wednesday 29 April
Kia ora koutou katoa
You will have likely heard today’s announcement from the Prime Minister that schools will open on Wednesday 29 April for the children of working parents and caregivers and who unable to stay at home to look after them.
Most children will be kept home, and will continue distance learning at home.
We have begun planning for this partial opening and we will continue to update you as we go.
We intend emailing a questionnaire out to all parents tomorrow afternoon to determine how many children will need to attend school.
We should be proud of what we are achieving in reducing the spread of COVID 19 and for how well our families are looking after each other. We are all in this together.
Kia mai
Brian Harrop
Update 6: 17 April.
Kia ora koutou katoa
We have so enjoyed hearing about the wonderful exchanges and class meetings being held and planned across the school. Our wonderful children have been stars and so have our parents, teachers and whanau.
You will likely have heard the Prime Minister announced a possible return to Level 3 in the near future, and that includes schools opening for the children of essential workers and those required to work. It is also anticipated that most children will stay at home, continuing their distance learning.
Parents and teachers attached to schools across the country are concerned and have questions about the safety of our children, teachers and families when we break our home bubbles and combine these with others in the school setting. We heard today that it will be two more weeks at the earliest before schools would open allowing time for the Level 3 decision to be considered, and if applied, then schools would have time to prepare the school for reopening. This would allow for a school wide deep clean and the planning for an organisation ‘like no other we have known’.
Ensuring the safety and wellbeing of our children and teachers, our whanau and community must and shall be our first priority.
As yet we have only glimpses of how this might be achieved.
A range of nation-wide meetings have been called between key education groups and the government over the next few days when the details of how schools will work, and solving the potential unintended consequences will be discussed and explored.
Right now, we all have more questions than answers.
One thing is for sure… We have a strong and talented staff and board who are fully committed to working hard to get this right for our children, staff, and families.
We will keep in touch with our progress once we know what the details and government agreed expectations are.
Kia kaha. Kia maia
Brian Harrop
Update 5: 13 April.
Kia ora koutou,
We hear a great many reports from our David Street School families that our children are making the most of their holiday and ready to begin Term 2 next Wednesday 15 April.
The school will not be open of course, but our teachers and the government have been working hard to ensure ‘distance learning’ resources will be available through a variety of sources including our school website, Home learning TV from 15th April, 9am to 3pm on school days on TVNZ2+1 and Sky channel 502, the Learning from Home Ministry of Education website, and a limitless variety of on line resources from the web worldwide.
Our teachers are missing their children and will be in regular contact with their classes until we return to normal open school. See details on school website ‘HOME LEARNING UPDATE for Term. 2‘.
When will school reopen?
Many of you will have seen differing reports in the media about when and how schools will reopen once we move down from Alert Level 4. We are told it will be when it is safe for children and teachers to do so.
Here is a summary of what we know at this point in time:
- No decision has been made yet about when schools will reopen. This decision will be made based on data about the spread of Covid-19 and how we are going in stamping it out. It is unlikely that a decision will be made before 20 April.
- The very earliest schools would open would be 29 April. And this would likely only be for SOME students, not all.
- The Ministry (and us) are preparing for several possible scenarios - opening only for staff, opening for essential workers' children, opening in shifts so that children can stay 2m apart, opening for just senior students, a combination of distance and on-site learning, staggered opening, not opening for a number of weeks etc.
- There will be ample notice before schools open. They will not be closed one day and open the next. We will be given ample time to ensure that the school is made ready including a full deep-clean, that our planning for the term is completed and that we put in place strict safety routines.
Teachers and the principal are very happy for parents and whanau to communicate with us via email if there is anything you would like to discuss.
Very kind regards
Kia maia
Brian Harrop
Update # 4
HOME LEARNING UPDATE for Term 2
Friday 10th April
Tena koutou katoa,
We hope everyone is well and safe at home. We will begin our distance learning on Wednesday the 15th April which will include the following.
Learning Challenges:
Learning Challenges are fun hands on learning opportunities which are suitable for children and parents of all ages. These can be done by the children with or without parent supervision. They are also designed for you to do as much or as little as you choose. Each challenge will have a picture with instructions and will be accompanied by a video with a teacher explaining the task.
The first challenge will be posted on the David Street School Website by 10am, Wednesday 15th April. New challenges will then be posted every Monday, Wednesday & Friday until we return to school.
Please take photos or videos of your creations and learning and share via email with your teachers if you would like to. This is optional.
Extra Learning Tasks:
In addition to the Learning Challenges, each team will share one Learning Worksheet every Tuesday and Thursday by 10am. This is optional for those that would like some extra learning relating to Reading, Writing & Maths.
Class Catch Ups:
Once a week students in the Middle and Senior School will have the option of joining their teacher online in a video chat using Google Hangouts. This is a chance for students to have face to face (online) contact with their classmates and teachers. Students in the Junior School will be invited to join a class Facebook page where teachers will post live facebook and prerecorded messages.
Alternatively please use email to contact your teachers, who will be available at times between 9am & 3pm depending on their own family commitments.
Senior School students will have their Gmail (Google email) activated on Wednesday 15th April. This allows them to email anyone within the David Street School system with an email address that ends with @davidst.school.nz.
If you have any questions please contact your child’s teacher by email. Please bear with us as we navigate this new style of learning.
Stay safe,
Kind Regards,
The David Street School Team
COVID - 19
Our Daily Updates for Whānau
Due to the current evolving landscape and the multitude of parent questions, we intend to share daily updates on this page in the coming weeks.
Click on the green Update links below:
Update #1 - 20th March 2020
Update #2 - 22nd March 2020
Update #3 - 25th March 2020
David Street School is located in Morrinsville, a 20 minute drive from the city of Hamilton in the Waikato.
The school has experienced considerable roll growth in recent years and has an enrolment scheme in place to prevent overcrowding. Information on this can be found under the 'enrolment' tab
We warmly welcome children, parents and all family members to David Street School and trust your association with our school will be a happy one. We look forward to 2019 working alongside you and your children in developing a lifelong love of learning.
Enjoy looking around our school website. For all the up to date news be sure to like us on Facebook.