Students at Whanganui Girls College must maintain a one-metre distance Photo / Bevan Conley
Students at Whanganui Girls College must maintain a one-metre distance Photo / Bevan Conley
Whanganui Girls College deputy headmaster Craig Ritani says staff are helping students "get through" a return to school in what is an unprecedented situation.
Schools opened again on Monday but with strict Covid-19 alert level 2 guidelines.
"I guess it's rare to have students really keen to come back toschool after a long break, but they're here, and they're keen to learn and reconnect with their friends and their teachers," Ritani said.
He said "a whole lot of things" had to be thought about before the school welcomed students back, from contactless sports and performing arts to one metre distancing in classrooms and only using drinking fountains to fill water bottles.
"The more you look into protocols, the more areas you have to consider."
"We've started doing badminton in P.E, and dance classes are doing things that don't involve any physical contact."
"Teachers are known to come into work sick sometimes because they feel obliged to, but any staff or students who might be feeling a little under the weather shouldn't come in, just as they shouldn't under normal conditions."
Year 13 student Georgia Towers said it felt "quite normal" to be back in school.
"The one-metre distancing did feel a little bit weird to start with, but a lot of the students are used to that kind of environment when we're sitting exams.
Towers said it had been "a bit difficult" to study online, and that it felt good to back in the classroom.
"It was frustrating sometimes to have to send an email about a really small thing, but the teachers definitely did the best they could. A lot of hand sanitising has been going on."
Girls College was "pretty much back to normal", Ritani said, but rigorous cleaning and sanitising protocols were in place to make sure "we're doing everything the Government wants us to do".
"Students are hand sanitising five times a day, and we're lucky that we don't have huge class sizes," he said.
Year 13 student Bella Duncan uses hand sanitiser in the classroom. Photo / Bevan Conley
Only three students enrolled to attend school under alert level 3, Ritani said, but physical learning packs had been available to collect at the start of term two.
"I think in the end only one of those three students turned up to school, but secondary schools are lucky that most of our students are over the age of 14 and legally allowed to be at home by themselves."
Ritani said Girls College had identified 30 students without access to devices at the start of lockdown, but the Government had only been able to send through five computers to the school.
"Obviously, some of our students haven't been able to have the same online learning experience as others, and it's our job now to make sure they're all up to speed.
"It's difficult for teachers too, and it's been a bit of a rollercoaster ride."
The school had implemented "contact tracing", Ritani said, with visitors required to sign in with an iPad at the front desk
"It's important that we know exactly who has been onto school grounds throughout the day, and the big thing for us is the wellbeing of the students because once you've got that right, the learning will flow on from there.
"I know some of our seniors are a little bit anxious about their credits and things like that, but I'm confident that we can get them through all this, and that we have the necessary systems in place.
"In the big scheme of things we've only missed five or so weeks of school."
Students at Whanganui Girls College must maintain a one-metre distance Photo / Bevan Conley
Attracting more international students to New Zealand in the wake of Covid-19 was a possibility, Ritani said, with the country being a "safe-zone' when compared to other nations.
"Even if students isolate in Auckland for two weeks when they arrive, they would be free to travel in New Zealand after that, without some of the risks of other countries.
"Places like the USA will be a bit of muck-up for the next year or two, and the UK hasn't opened schools yet.
"New Zealand has been lucky so far, and perhaps one positive to come out of that is the potential of attracting students from overseas to study here."
