Dear Parents/Guardians,
By now you will no doubt be aware of the announcement that New Zealand is to move to Alert Level 3 at 11.59pm on Monday, April 27. The decision to reduce the Alert Level reflects the success of measures to date to combat the spread of COVID-19 and is positive news for us all. This communication is to update our parent community with the implications for the change in alert levels for schooling.
From Wednesday, April 29, young men in Year 9 and Year 10 can attend school if absolutely essential. The advice from the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education is that parents should keep their children at home if they are able to. For young men in Years 11, 12 and 13 there is no change. School will remain closed for all young men in the senior school and their education will continue to be delivered remotely as it has been since the start of this term. As per the situation for the last few weeks, the overriding principles for Alert Level 3 are stay at home and maintain physical distancing.
If your son is in either Year 9 or Year 10 and is going to be returning to school from Wednesday, April 29 you need to register with us by email – please send your son’s name and form class to admin@pnbhs.school.nz as soon as possible, but by 3.00pm on Friday, April 24 at the latest. This information is essential so that we can ensure we have sufficient numbers of staff on site to provide safe supervision. Please note that students who are at school will be provided with supervision so that they can complete the online work provided by their teachers. However, they will not be taught in formal lessons.
At the time this communication was composed UZABUS are still waiting on confirmation from the Ministry of Education about the requirements for bus services. They will update their website with information as it is confirmed (ctrl + click or copy and paste into your web browser): https://uzabus.co.nz/ or phone 0800 892 287. They do expect there to be disruptions to usual services due to the restrictions on the availability of older workers.
Having some students return to school has been a major discussion point since it was first mooted in government discussions of the Alert Level 3 criteria. We acknowledge that there will be a range of views across our school community on this topic. Please be assured that the ministries of health and education have set strict guidelines to ensure student and staff safety and these will be strictly adhered to. Further information will be provided to parents of those junior students who are returning to school next week.
As per the Alert Level 3 criteria, all of our school staff who can work from home have been instructed do so. Consequently, both the Finance Office and Main School Office will remain closed. Staff in these offices will respond to email; finance@pnbhs.school.nz for the Finance Office and admin@pnbhs.school.nz for the Main School Office.
This continues to be a challenging period for all of us. While we, as a country, appear to be heading in a positive direction, it is also important that we acknowledge the extreme difficulty that some individuals and families are facing. We all need to ensure that we continue to be kind and connect with and support our community. Providing supervision for students whose parents must return to work is one way we can do this as a school.
A reminder that our Guidance Counsellors, Mr. Steve Dawson (dawsons@pnbhs.school.nz ) and Mr. Brett Greer (greerb@pnbhs.school.nz ) are available to support our young men. Students or parents can email them in the first instance, and they will work to decide the appropriate course of action from there.
Please do continue with the good work being done observing the alert level restrictions and maintaining physical distancing. This will be important in allowing us to move to Alert Level 2 in a timely manner.
Yours faithfully,
D M Bovey
RECTOR
