Havelock North Primary School principal Nick Reed making sure classrooms will remain well ventilated when school returns. Photo / Warren Buckland
Havelock North Primary School principal Nick Reed making sure classrooms will remain well ventilated when school returns. Photo / Warren Buckland
Hawke's Bay principals say they are prepared for new regulations as they embark on a third year of schooling under the shadow of Covid.
These regulations include a mask requirement for students from Year 4 and up when indoors, the red traffic light ban on physical events of more than100 people and Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health recommendations on ventilation suggesting classroom and office doors and window should be open as much as possible.
St Matthew's Primary School principal Andrew Eagle said his school was following ministry guidelines.
He said the school hadn't been one of 5000 granted a portable air cleaner from the Government in March and June as far as he knew, however they were going to receive a CO2 tester in the near future and they had a parent self-funded air purifier in a classroom.
"We've been using our standard air conditioning units and following Ministry of Health guidelines, keeping doors and windows open as much as possible."
He said the school had reconsidered the necessity of physical community invitation events at the start of the year, such as their "meet the teacher" evening.
"Whilst we could justify them going ahead, we were also mindful of 'do we need to go ahead with them?' "
Onekawa School principal Steve Bloor said his school was approaching the situation in a positive light and had put together an action plan.
Their approach was to make school as normal as possible, and a safe space for children.
"That's our job, making sure that kids feel safe and happy to come to school, and that learning - apart from the mask wearing - is just business as usual."
He said the masks for the Year 4 to Year 6 pupils could be a challenge for some children, but his teachers were all very positive about the year and would try their best.
"The mask mandate is for indoors, so there are going to be little breaks throughout the day where we are going to try to get the kids outside to get some fresh air."
Te Awa School principal Tim Van Zyl is working hard to get his primary school ready to start next Wednesday. Photo / Warren Buckland
Te Awa School principal Tim Van Zyl said the most important thing was to educate students on how to wear the masks and why they are worn.
"A lot of kids are going to have anxiety, and even as adults we struggle to wear masks all day, so I think there is going to be a lot of getting kids used to wearing it to start with."
He said Te Awa School was lucky to have big sliding doors to the outside for their classrooms, making them easy to ventilate.
"One of things we've got to learn as teachers is we've got to be adaptable to this, we're just going to have to take things day by day, we're going to have to be quite fluid."
Havelock North Primary School principal Nick Reed said the masks could be a challenge for Year 4 to Year 6 kids who hadn't had to wear a mask at school before, and parents had expressed concerns about their children's mask anxiety.
"We're trying to liken it to kids wearing hats and putting on sunscreen in the summer, so just trying to normalise it as much as possible, so hopefully those anxieties will be addressed effectively."
He said the school would typically host its pōwhiri on the first day back, but they couldn't have that and likely wouldn't have the school swimming sports either.
"We'll just take things as they come and always put the kids at the centre of any decision we make"
