Principal's News

COVID: The number of positive cases in New Zealand, and in Northland, continues to rise exponentially and we now find ourselves at Phase 3 of the Government's three phase public health response to Omicron.  Please don’t be alarmed by this. It is only natural, as cases in our community increase, that they will eventually appear in our school. We have good systems in place to respond to this and to keep any spread of the virus – should it appear – to a minimum. You may have seen Dr Jin Russell in the media noting research from New South Wales about their recent Omicron outbreak showing that onward transmission within the school setting is very low. For every child who is infected and attends school only 3.7% of their close contacts at school subsequently tested positive. We have seen that in New Zealand too, with very little onward spread through the school because of the protective measures we have in place. This is why we remain open at Red. It’s great for a child’s wellbeing and learning to be at school with their friends and school staff.

Under Phase 3 only positive cases and household contacts of a positive case will now need to isolate for 10 days. Close contacts will no longer need to isolate, but will be required to monitor carefully for symptoms. Rapid antigen tests (RATs) are now being used to diagnose COVID-19 as well as PCR tests. This means that you will get an almost immediate test result back if a RAT is used. If anyone in your family is confirmed as having COVID-19, you will be asked to notify your close contacts yourself. Please get in touch with us as soon as you can if your child has tested positive for COVID-19. At school we continue to play our part in reducing the risk of infection through the promotion of effective hygiene practices, social distancing, good ventilation, and sensibly enforcing the wearing of masks while indoors (for those without a mask exemption).

If you have any concerns about sending your child to school, please do get in touch.  We are here to help.

Q. If I receive a positive result, what do I need to do?
You should go home and isolate straight away. During this next phase, cases are required to isolate for 10 days from the date they were tested. After 10 days, you may leave your home or your place of self-isolation. 

Q. What does this mean for household members of a Case?
If someone in your household has COVID-19, you are considered a Household Contact. You are required to isolate for the same 10 days as the case and get a test on day 3 and day 10 of the case’s isolation period. If you develop symptoms you should test sooner. If you return a positive test you must isolate as required for a positive case. 



Athletics Days: On Tuesday our year 9 to 13 students participated in the annual athletics day, and on Friday our year 7 and 8s had their own athletics day especially for them. The reason for having this over two days was to ensure that all students had the time to participate fully in the track and field events. With our large roll, there are now simply too many students for a single day event. Thank you to our parent helpers and volunteers who provided such valuable support. We couldn't manage without you. Thanks also to our Sports Leadership students and prefects for putting their leadership skills to use in helping with the year 7 and 8s on Friday. You all did a great job. The weather was fantastic and there was a lovely feel on the field over both days, with lots of support and encouragement shown for all the participants. All the inter-iwi relays for all year groups were held during the last period on Friday, and the whole school was down on the field cheering the relay teams on. It was a wonderful climax to this year's event.

Swimming Gala: This year's annual swimming gala will be held on Thursday the 18th February here at school. The aim of the gala is to celebrate
swimming as a sport and to encourage as many students as possible to take part. This year, because of the looming threat of COVID and the need to limit crowding on the day, only swimmers will be at the pool. Non swimmers will have customised timetabled classes running on the day.  Regrettably, due to gathering restrictions, we are not able to have any spectators present on the day. 

Buses: Please remind your child (unless they have a mask exemption) that they must wear a face mask whenever they are travelling to and from school on a school bus. This is a health and safety issue and we will be following up with students who are not complying with this requirement. Also, a reminder that at this stage we are unable to accommodate students who wish to take a different bus home, to visit their friends etc. Our buses are operating at near capacity and additional students on buses could result in too many students on our buses. We will be reviewing this in the coming weeks with the view of putting a limited booking system in place for any buses not at full capacity. Our students' and the bus drivers' safety on the buses is very important to us, and I thank you for your understanding on this.

B-Block: I was pleased to accept a lovely new sign for our library today, gifted to Otamatea High School by Astley Construction, who are completing the renovation work on B-block (which includes our library). There are a number of small jobs still awaiting completion before sign off, but the majority of the work has now been done. The new sign is made from rimu that was recovered from our very own library. It is engraved with the whakatauki "whaowhia te kete mātauranga", which means "fill the basket of knowledge". Hopefully this will help inspire our students to be lifelong learners. 

Ngā mihi
Dirk Smyth