Changes to our Covid-19 Protection Framework

From 11:59 pm on Friday 25th March the following changes will be made the three levels of the framework. Please note that the whole of Aotearoa New Zealand will be staying at Red level for the next two weeks. The level will be reviewed on Monday 4th April. 

Red

• There is no change to masks in education settings from the existing Red setting: surgical masks remain a requirement for all staff working indoors with tamariki. 
• All tamariki in Pōhutukawa Hub must wear a mask indoors. Year 4 students in Harakeke Hub are very strongly encouraged to wear a mask indoors, and we also strongly encourage all other students in Harakeke Hub to wear  mask. All ākonga (students) in Koru Hub are very welcome to wear a mask. We believe that masks have been important in helping to reduce spread of Covid-19 at school, and we are very keen for mask wearing to continue. 
• For everyone, masks will not be required outdoors.
• Capacity limits will be removed for outdoor events and activities - gatherings of any size can happen outdoors.
• Indoor capacity limits for extra-curricular activities increase to 200 people, or a maximum capacity based on the maximum number of people who could occupy the space if each person was one metre apart (whichever is lower).
• We will continue to keep hubs separate for the rest of this term. We will not join together for whole school events, and tamariki will not mix between the hubs indoors. Some staff members will work across different hubs when needed. We have already needed to do this at times, when staffing levels have been low and unbalanced across the hubs. However, safety protocols such as changing masks, sanitizing hands and maintaining distance have been used. 

Orange

• There is no change to masks in education settings from the existing Orange setting. Masks are strongly encouraged to be worn when indoors and are required for ākonga aged 12 and over on school transport.
• As at Red, there will be no requirement to wear masks when outdoors.
• There will be no outdoor capacity limits.
• Indoor capacity limits are also removed. However, for non-curriculum related events and activities we are strongly encouraged to apply a maximum capacity limit based on the maximum number of people who could occupy the space if each person was one metre apart.

Green

• There will be no face mask requirements and no capacity or gathering limits in any setting, indoors or outdoors.

• At all three levels of the protection framework the scanning of QR codes is no longer a requirement

Other changes being made

From 11:59 Monday 4th April the following changes will be made:

- All staff and volunteers in early learning centres and schools will no longer be required to be vaccinated to work with ākonga.

- The Vaccine Pass is no longer required. Some businesses and events may still choose to use them, but businesses are no longer required to do so. 

Amesbury Covid-19 case numbers 

Cases of Covid-19 at school remain low and are generally single isolated cases, with the exception of one small cluster of cases in our five year old new entrant group. 

Overall: 

17 active cases of Covid-19 in our school community (students and staff). 16 cases are students, and 1 case is a teacher (who was already in home isolation when they contracted Covid). 

11 of these active cases were already in home isolation when they contracted Covid from a household member. 6 cases were attending school prior to testing positive for Covid.

Of the 6 cases attending school prior to testing positive, 3 were in our Kōwhai group (new five year old area); 1 was in Harakeke Hub; 2 were in Pōhutukawa Hub.

23 historical cases of Covid-19 - all cases have now recovered and are back at school. 19 were ākonga and 4 cases were members of staff. 

Ngā mihi, 

the Amesbury team