Covid19- Update 20/03/2020

With so much information and misinformation circulating about COVID-19, I wanted to share with you what will happen if we were to have a case in our school community. We have been planning for this and are in a position to respond quickly.

• As soon as a case is confirmed in our immediate school community (eg. a student, staff member, or member of their household), the Medical Officer of Health and Ministry of Education will inform me about this, and we will work together to get quick and clear messaging out to you

• If there was a case confirmed of someone in our school, we will likely be asked to close temporarily by the Medical Officer of Health. This will allow time for close contacts to be traced, appropriate testing to be undertaken, and a careful clean of the school to be undertaken.

• If our school does need to close temporarily, we have a plan in place to support student’s learning. We will be trialling this on Friday 27th March with our East@home - learning from home day.

As part of our planning we are compiling a spreadsheet register of students who have existing health conditions that may put them in a higher risk group in relation to exposure to COVID-19.

We have started this register using information we already have on our database eg students who are diabetic or immuno-suppressed but realise that we may not have the most up-to-date information for everyone.

Please could you notify us of this information in relation to your child by sending an email to wegc@wegc.school.nz that gives us the information around any health condition we should be aware of.

We know COVID-19 feels scary and of course people are concerned for the wellbeing of our children. Please be assured that with no case confirmed in our school, your children are safe here.

Good hygiene is a priority at our school, and we are reinforcing this regularly with all students and staff. We know that practicing good hygiene is still the best thing we can all do to prevent illness.

We are getting the most up to date advice and guidance so that we can confidently make informed decisions about the safety and wellbeing of our school community.  

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Ngā mihi.

Gael Ashworth

Principal