Teacher only day

Friday 13 August

Our teacher's only day for Term 3 is set aside for Friday 13th August. We are taking the opportunity on this day for professional development. Teachers and therapists will be taking part in the conference for Northland and Auckland Special Schools. Our teachers aides will also be attending professional development with focus on bicultural practice, facilitated by MAC - Maori Achievement Collaborative facilitators.

As it is a teacher only day, families will need to make provision for their children to stay home. We will inform the taxi company that the school is closed and runs will be cancelled on this day.

Please feel free to contact the school if you have any further questions/queries.

Reporting a student absence

Arohanui Special School has a responsibility every day to account for all students who are enrolled.

If your child is unwell or will not be at school for another reason, there are a number of ways to let us know.

If you have a smartphone or Ipad/tablet, you can download the Skool Loop app. You can report your child's absence via the app. The app is free to download and use.

You can phone the school office on 838-6696 or text on 021 0255 6789 to advise of an absence. All you need to tell us is your child's name and reason for being away and we will inform the classroom teacher.

Please do not text your child's classroom teacher directly as the teacher might not be in the classroom that day so your child's absence (and the reason) might not get recorded.

If your child is absent but the school is not advised, you will receive a text message asking you to contact the school office. For safety reasons it is important that both parents and teachers know where children are.

2021 Term Dates

Term 1 Staff only days Wednesday 27 and Thursday 28 January

Auckland Anniversary Day Monday 1 February (school closed)

First day of school Tuesday 2 February

Waitangi Day Monday 8 February (school closed)

Easter break Friday 2 April - Tuesday 6 April (school closed)

Last day Friday 16 April

Term 2 First day Monday 3 May

Queens Birthday Monday 7 June (school closed)

Teacher only day Thursday 24 June - PLP meetings - school closed for student instruction but your child may accompany you to the interview

Last day Friday 9 July

Term 3 First day Monday 26 July

Teacher only day Friday 13 August (school closed for students)

Last day Friday 1 October

Term 4 First day Monday 18 October

Labour day Monday 25 October (school closed)

Last day Tuesday 14 December

Coronavirus Information - as at 28 January 2020

We are closely monitoring the situation in China with regards to the concerns around a potentially pandemic virus. We are aware that we have students, families and staff returning from overseas travel. We have procedures in place for the incidence of infectious diseases, and we will be revisiting them with our staff on their return to school on Thursday. We are also monitoring the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, and Safe Travel NZ sites to ensure we have access to the most up-to-date information and advisories. During the 2019 measles outbreak, schools received regular updates from these organisations.

As with all infectious diseases, and in line with our existing procedures, we have the following steps in place;

**Strong hygiene and cleaning practices in place during school time and by school cleaners

**Reminders for students and staff about good personal hygiene practice (wash your hands regularly, avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth, cover your coughs and sneezes).

**Monitoring students for symptoms of fever, runny nose, headache, cough, sore throat, faint, muscle ache, other general unwell feeling and contacting parents if these are present

As with all illness in a school/community setting, children and adults are advised not to come to school if they are unwell.

We know that some local organisations have advised their employees to remain at home for one week if returning to NZ from central China and locations close to the city of Wuhan. Whilst we are not recommending this at the current time, we may consider this as an option if advised to do so by DHB or government organisations. The Ministry of Education has also stated:

• the risk of an outbreak in New Zealand is currently low and Health’s current advice is that there is no specific action to be taken at this time

• just to reaffirm, there are no cases of the virus in New Zealand currently

• should the situation change, as we do with other infectious diseases such as measles, mumps and influenza, we will follow our pandemic plan for managing the illness

• for those of you concerned about possible infection, the Ministry of Health has provided practical information on their website which we encourage you to read - Novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) guidance – Ministry of Health website

• included in there is some advice (for travellers) to help reduce the general risk of infection:

  • avoiding very close contact with people showing symptoms

  • frequently washing hands

  • avoiding close contact with sick live farm animals or wild animals

  • practicing cough etiquette (maintain distance, cover coughs and sneezes with disposable tissues or clothing, and wash hands)

Please contact the school if you have any further questions regarding the Coronavirus.

We look forward to seeing all of our students back on Monday 3 February.

Regards

Shaki, Juanita, Ellie, Iona and Mike