Regional Public Health says there are "a number of confirmed cases" of Covid-19 associated with schools in the Wellington and Hutt Valley regions.
Four of the schools are Tui Glen School in Stokes Valley, Martinborough School, Petone Central School, and St Patrick's College, Silverstream.
Petone Central School has updated its website to advise of a confirmed case, who was at school on Tuesday.
"Parents/caregivers of every student have been contacted to let them know whether their child has been identified as a close contact of the positive case and have received instructions about what to do next," the website said.
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Advertise with NZME.The school is temporarily stopping in-person learning while close contacts are tested and isolated, on advice from the Ministry of Education and Regional Public Health.
The school is closed today and parents have been asked to keep their children at home.
From Monday, the school will move to online learning for at least 10 days.
St Patrick's College, Silverstream rector Steve Bryan has emailed parents advising a confirmed case was at school on Tuesday of this week.
All students and staff identified as close or casual contacts have been sent home and the college will stay open.
"We have appropriate public health measures and cleaning procedures in place," the email said.
Martinborough School in the Wairarapa sent children home at midday after a staff member who was at school on Tuesday tested positive for the virus.
The school's Board of Trustees chairwoman, Kirsty Shepherd, said there were too many close contacts for the school to remain open, following Ministry of Health advice.
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Advertise with NZME.Children will start distanced learning from next week.
"We are planning for a week at this stage but it probably will be longer," Shepherd said.
"We're a really close-knit team and everyone has banded together and we know the community will get behind us and do the same."
A case was also confirmed at Tui Glen School in Stokes Valley yesterday. The school posted on its Facebook page this afternoon that there hasn't been any further cases.
The school remains open but whānau are not able to come onto the school site for drop offs and pick ups, which will now take place outside of the school gate.
Regional Public Health medical officer of health Annette Nesdale said there were a number of confirmed cases associated with schools in the Wellington and Hutt Valley regions.
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Advertise with NZME."Regional Public Health is working closely with the staff and parents at these schools to identify and contact any close contacts of these cases and providing advice on what actions to take."
Nesdale said for privacy reasons, Regional Public Health did not confirm specific information about locations unless there were compelling public health reasons to do so, or the school had publicly stated it has a case associated with it.
"If we cannot contact all people who were at an exposure event, then it may be published as a location of interest."
The Ministry of Health reported there are a record 446 new Covid-19 cases in the community across New Zealand today.
Of these, there are seven new cases in the Hutt Valley and four new cases in the Capital and Coast district health board areas.
The Ministry of Health said in a statement the increase in overall cases was a reminder that, as expected, the Omicron variant was spreading, as had been seen in other countries.
"The number of cases will continue to fluctuate from day to day, but our expectation is that cases will continue to increase in the coming weeks."
