Return to School – COVID-19 Alert Level 2

Kia ora Parents and Caregivers,

With the eventuality of COVID-19, Alert Level 2 nearly here, you will be pleased to know that LAC will
open its doors to all students who are well on Monday, 18th May. Thank you for taking the time to
complete the parent survey indicating whether your child/children will be returning to school or
continuing with online learning at home in level 2.

To ensure that we have a smooth start to school reopening, some guidelines are listed to assist with a
smooth transition into school. We will promote procedures that help to minimise the risk that
someone gets infected in the first place, and second, to ensure we can identify and contact anyone
who has been in close contact with a person if someone at school is infected.

Everyone on the LAC campus will be encouraged to practise good hygiene: cough into your
elbow, wash and dry hands regularly and regular cleaning of commonly touched surfaces and
maintain physical distance from each other – particularly for students, keep out of each other’s
breathing space.

A reminder that under Alert Level 2, any staff and students who are sick are to stay at home.
We will send anyone home immediately if they show any symptoms. We will conduct simple
daily health screens to check if staff and students are unwell.

Practise physical distancing: Keep out of the breathing space of other people. This means that
in classrooms, teachers will have set up desks in an arrangement that gives plenty of space
between each student. The principle also applies when using shared spaces like the library,
cafeteria, grounds and lining up for classes. Adults will keep at least 1 metre apart.

Transport: Buses will commence operation on Monday covering the usual routes at the usual
times. This includes the country buses.

  1. The bus company will have safety procedures that students will be expected to follow. This will include using hand sanitizer and sitting where the bus driver asks students to sit. Increased cleaning and sanitisation practices will be in place.
  2. Uzabus is not currently planning on putting extra buses on runs where buses fill up.
  3. Mr Cornford manages the bus register and this will be available in case of the need for contact tracing. It is important that students catch their designated bus and not help themselves to travel on other buses. Students should check their bus details and let Mr Cornford know of any changes.
  4. Students may wish to wear a mask for safety reasons.

Well-being: we will want to spend some time in class next week checking that we are all ok
and have the support we need.
General Notices

Uniform: Students are expected to wear full, correct winter uniform. This includes wearing a
tie. Ties can be purchased from the LAC office and other items can be purchased from
Academy Apparel. There is a small range of second-hand uniform items available as well from
the office.

Food/Drink: Students are encouraged to bring their own lunch, snacks and drink and not share
these items with others. Students will be encouraged to use the water fountains for filling up
their water bottle only after running the water for 10 seconds. Students are not to drink
directly from the fountain.

Use of shared spaces like the cafeteria, library and gym: these spaces will be available for use.
Students will be asked to use hand sanitiser on entry and exit from these places. Spaced
seating will be offered in the library and cafeteria.

Entry into the school: Students are asked to use the side entrances of A block to gain entry to
the office and refrain from using the front office. Students will be asked to wait to enter the
front office, one at a time.

Parents/Caregivers and Visitors: All parents, caregivers and other visitors will be required to
sign-in if they come on-site, for the purpose of contact tracing. A facility will be provided for
parents and caregivers dropping their children off or picking them up in school grounds to be
checked off so that they don’t have to leave their vehicle and sign in.

Plan for Thursday and Friday, 14th and 15th May: Normal school timetable will be followed.
There is no scheduled teacher only day.

Plan for Monday, 18th May:

  1. 8.45 am: Students will report to roll-mark. When lining up for class, ensure a reasonable gap between each student. Where possible, the teacher will be available to let students in on their arrival to the roll-mark room.
  2. 9.00 am – 3.15 pm: Day 6 timetable.

Returning Digital Devices: a reminder to students who have an LAC loan of a chromebook,
that they need to check-in with Mrs King in the library on Monday next week. Devices that
were couriered to homes need to also be brought to school and registered with Mrs King.

Sports and Training: Notices will come soon about the start-up of sports training. Each code
needs to determine how to resume safely, how to keep equipment clean and how to track
who is on-site for coaching and managing teams.

Thank you for taking the time to read our update. I hope that we can have a smooth transition into
school next week.

Ngā mihi,

Rosalind Burnett, Acting Principal