Back to school and still sticking to their bubbles

Seventeen children, three bubbles and different gates, school life in level three is a ‘‘bit strange’’, but ‘‘kids are pretty adaptable’’, according to one teacher.

Springlands School opened its doors to children again on Wednesday after five weeks of lockdown, and those who turned up seemed pretty happy, said year five and six teacher Brittany Nixon.

‘‘It’s a bit strange being in a bubble, but it’s good. It’s pretty safe and it’s good to interact with the children again ... It’s just different times.’’

Nixon and a colleague had eight pupils in their bubble, with ages ranging from 5 to 10.

The children started arriving from 8am through their designated gates, Nixon said. By 9am, they had logged on to Google Meet to start classes with their teachers, and classmates, at home.

‘‘The mornings have been pretty structured with reading, writing and maths,’’ Nixon said.

‘‘And then in the afternoons we have been doing some handson fun crafty things.’’

Nixon said she was happy to be back at school, and back in a routine. With the pupils being so young, Nixon said there hadn’t been any issues with them not wanting to be in their allocated bubbles, and siblings were kept in the same school bubble too, which helped.

The children understood what ‘‘bubbles’’ meant and were ‘‘pretty receptive to the bubble’’.

‘‘They do know what is going on,’’ Nixon said.

Springlands School principal Gaylene Beattie said the pupils were getting more break times, swapping from digital learning and TV to taking walks outside together.

‘‘It’s just more like a family atmosphere than a classroom atmosphere,’’ she said.

Seventeen pupils turned up on Wednesday but they were expecting to get up to 22 pupils over level three. Each bubble would have a maximum of 10 students.

Mayfield School principal David Nott said eight out of 110 enrolled pupils went to school on Wednesday, and he had two teachers to look after them, one per bubble.

They set up two bubbles because they were expecting 11 children, he said. Mayfield School could take up to 30 students while complying with the level three social distancing rule, he said.

The school also had two gates open for pupils to use when entering and exiting the school.

Marlborough Principals’ Association president, and Bohally Intermediate principal, Shane Campbell said they were watching their students closely, with allocated break times for different bubbles.

‘‘Students stay within their bubble at all times, and they don’t interact with students from other bubbles,’’ he said.

Bohally Intermediate had 28 of 530 students in on Wednesday.

Redwoodtown School principal Aaron Vercoe said his school was expecting to set up a third bubble from Monday.