Staying in Alert Level 4 Lockdown
Kia ora whanau. Thank you for your support to those that completed the online survey. The response was awesome. For those students who are working online, no doubt they have connected with their teachers and classes today. Yesterday we did a drop to approx. 80 houses of home learning packs, the packs have been given to students who don’t have access to the online learning platform.
Can I do a massive shout out to our teachers and support staff who have quickly adapted learning tasks to an online platform and helped get the hard packs safe to everyone yesterday. I want to stress that learning both online and hard packs is optional, the health and well-being of your children and your family are way more important than stressing over getting work completed. I would suggest that the class chats/catch-ups would be good for your child to connect if they can. This helps to keep them connected to their classmates and teachers.
We also want students to stay active during the lockdown and get out and enjoy the sunshine. I would encourage you to ensure that your students take a break from the online world during the day. On that note, can I please ask that you as adults take an interest in what your students are doing online and who they are connecting with? After last year's lockdown, it became very apparent that some of our students forgot the social etiquette around respecting others and their privacy, especially online. Have a talk with your child about how they interact with others on social media platforms such as Snapchat, TikTok, and when gaming with other students; the words they are using, and the pictures that they are sending.
Discussion points could be
Be nice. Mean behaviour is not OK. Make it clear that you expect your kids to treat others with respect, and to never post hurtful or embarrassing messages. Ask them to always tell you about any harassing or bullying messages that others post.
Think twice before hitting "enter."
Follow the "WWGS?" (What Would Grandma/Grandad Say?) rule. Teach kids not to share anything on social media that they wouldn't want their teachers, college, future bosses — and yes, grandma or grandad — to see.
Use privacy settings. Privacy settings are important. Go through them together to make sure your kids understand each one. Also, explain that passwords are there to protect them against things like identity theft. They should never share them with anyone, even a boyfriend, girlfriend, or best friend.
Don't "friend" strangers. "If you don't know them, don't ‘friend’ them."
Remember it is our responsibility as adults/parents/caregivers to keep our children safe and let's not forget that our children look to us for guidance and us setting a good example of behaviour online can go a long way toward helping your kids use social media safely.
Please remember that the school, playground and school grounds remain closed at Alert Level 4.
Your teachers will continue to be in touch with your child. We will continue to deliver our online learning programme. This will be reviewed at the end of the week.
It is important that we continue to look after each other at this time, if you or someone you know is struggling with food supplies, mental health, or any other concern then please get in touch.
He waka eke noa, We are in this together
Kind regards Rebecca Meek and the team at OIS.
Keeping our ākonga safe online
The Ministry Of Education has provided a free safety tool to give parents peace of mind while their children are using devices at home for home learning. You can access more information and instructions on how to install this filter on the device that your child is using by going to this page and accessing the content there.
Information hub for Pasifika parents and families
Kia orana, Noa’ia, Talofa lava, Mauri, Mālō e lelei, Tālofa, Ni Sa Bula Vinaka, Fakaalofa lahi atua, and Mālō ni, we’ve created an online info hub for Pasifika parents, families, and communities to support learning during Alert Level 4. You can find the information hub here.
There are helpful updates on how COVID-19 impacts education and links to learning resources including:
Quick and easy: Home Learning TV
Alert Level 4 friendly: Learning from Home online
Pacific specific: Dual-language resources
We’d encourage you to check the info hub page regularly – we’ll be updating it daily.
Information for migrant communities: Golden rules for Alert Level 4
The Ministry for Ethnic Communities | Te Tari Mātāwaka has just released some videos in different languages about the ‘Golden rules for Level 4’. Please feel free to share this link to the videos with your networks.