Kia ora koutou
Following the Government’s announcement today to continue at alert level 4 until midnight Tuesday evening and move to alert level 3 from Wednesday onwards, we will start to make preparations for the school to operate under alert level 3. The Prime Minister said today that “students should only go to school if their parents are required to go to work and there is no other option”. This means that any students in years 9 & 10 whose parents are required to work away from home, and for whom there is no alternative supervision, will be able to return to school.
If your student is going to require supervision from Wednesday onwards, please email Deputy Principal Megan Southwell (megan.southwell@whs.school.nz) to let her know by midday Tuesday at the latest. We will then be able to connect with parents directly about arrangements for Wednesday.
Students who attend school will be in bubbles of no more than 20 students and they will need to keep a 2-metre distance from other school bubbles. We will be able to work through our preparations for alert level 3 when we have a bit more information about how many students will be attending.
Students who are at school under alert level 3 will be continuing with the remote learning plan and all students will need to bring a device and charger. In addition, students must bring their own lunch and a water bottle as there will not be a cafeteria operating under alert level 3.
At the moment we do not know if Metlink services will be operating and we will advise further when we have more information. If your student needs a bus, please include this information in your email.
Changes to NCEA assessment dates
You may already be aware of the decision to change some NCEA dates. The Ministry of Education and NZQA are aware that the current situation has caused disruption to thousands of secondary school students around New Zealand and is adding to students’ anxiety. They have therefore decided to change dates and processes around some assessments – including end of year exams and portfolio submissions.
The dates for end-of-year NCEA and NZ Scholarship exams will be delayed by two weeks and will run from Monday 22 November until Tuesday 14 December. Due dates for portfolio submissions will also be pushed back by two weeks.
In the same way, the NCEA Level 1 Mathematics Common Assessment Task (MCAT) will be moving from 14 September to 28 September. At this stage, the dates for DCATs (Digital Common Assessment Tasks) remain the same.
Derived Grade exams for years 11 to 13
These were originally supposed to happen this week, week 5 and we made a decision to push them a couple of weeks when we received the original information. However, with the decisions made by the Ministry and NZQA we have decided to move these further into the first week of term 4 – from Monday 18 October to Friday 22 October.
Our school dates
The changes to NCEA exam dates mean that we will need to rethink our end-of-year dates and we will publish more information on that soon. In the meantime, it is most likely that we will have seniors for longer in term 4 and this should provide our senior students with more face-to-face time next term. At this stage we anticipate that the last day for our senior students will now be Tuesday 16 November.
Learning Conversations scheduled for Friday 24 September
We have decided to cancel these in order to maximise face-to-face learning time.
Board Elections / Student representatives
Please note that all processes in relation to student representatives for our school board have currently paused and we will await further advice. This means that no student representative elections will take place until further notice.
Year 12-13 ball
It is most likely that we will have to cancel the ball for 2021. This will be very disappointing and the ball committee will look at possible alternatives.
Temporary change to university and Te Pūkenga enrolment and scholarship application processes
Universities and Te Pūkenga have adapted their enrolment and scholarship application processes in light of Alert Level 4. Prior to COVID-19 restrictions, students were required to provide certified copies of their results (for example, signed by their principal). As an interim process, neither Te Pūkenga nor the universities will require certified copies of results documents and will obtain confirmation of students’ results from NZQA. Students should, where possible, provide a copy of their results documentation, but this does not need to be certified.
Te Pūkenga and universities ordinarily require learners to provide certified copies of identification documents. During COVID-19 restrictions learners will not be able to get copies of documents certified so TEC has authorised the use of an alternative process. Students who are unable to provide certified copies of identity documents can enrol with uncertified documents until further notice. Students must be prepared to provide certified documents if required once alert levels change.
Vaccine FAQs (including information for 12 to 15-year-olds)
The attached document has been provided by the Government to support any questions you might have about vaccinations for 12 to 15-year-olds.
The news of a move to a lower level is encouraging of all of our efforts and we are hopeful of seeing all of our students at school in the near future, assuming the situation continues to improve. As always, if you have any concerns or questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Kia kaha
Dominic Killalea
Principal