Principal Update

Kia ora, greetings to all. I would like to express my gratitude to all families for your part in maintaining lockdown in your bubbles. Your actions have contributed to stopping the spread of this virus and will help us all to get back to school sooner. The most important thing you can do is look after the people in your bubble. Be kind to yourself and to each other.

Thank you for the many ways in which you have supported your children with their learning from home. We have devices ordered for those who do not have them but the priority for Government has been to distribute these to high school students first.

Hard Copy Material

Now that we are in level 3 we have been able to distribute hard copy packs this week to students who do not have digital access. If you need one of these packs and haven't received one yet please contact us on 03 4370822 or text 022 3275 057.

Online Learning

Our teachers continue to provide online learning for those at home who have access to the internet, and the Ministry of Education is continuing with their support.

Safety on the Internet

We encourage all parents to download N4Ls Switch on Safety Service to devices being used at home. The web filter blocks websites that could be harmful to students.

In only seven days (from 14 March) 6,500 parents have applied for filter settings to their children's device. In this time, the filter has blocked 244,000 attempts to access inappropriate content and blocked 74,000 threats. These numbers further stress the importance of downloading this if you haven't done so already.

Instructions for the specific device a child uses can be accessed directly at switchonsafety.co.nz

Resources to help families support their children and young people with distance learning are now available on the

https://www.learningfromhome.govt.nz/

See attachments below for languages; Samoan, Tagalog and Tongan.

Learning at School in Level 3

We are currently supervising two bubbles of students at school, where parents have gone back to work. If there has been a change in circumstances and you need to return to work next week and need your child to attend school please contact belindah@oamaruint.school.nz as soon as possible. It is important that we know in advance in order to set up space, ensure that we have enough teachers at school and provide you with information regarding our staggered start and finish times and safety procedures.