Nelson schools hope to welcome students back next week

High schools in Nelson hope to welcome students back to classrooms next week.

Most primary schools in the central city said they would continue to encourage learning from home until today as the state of emergency continued in the city, reporting low numbers of students turning up at school.

Many schools in

Nelson switched to online or hybrid learning on Tuesday, saying they did so on advice from Civil Defence amid severe traffic congestion as workers tried to clear and repair roads damaged by slips and flooding after days of heavy rain.

Nelson College for Girls principal Cathy Ewing said the school would remain in online learning until the end of today, as the advice from Civil Defence had not changed.

The college would review the situation after that, based on a meeting with Civil Defence and Ministry of Education officials due today.

‘‘We will take their advice what the next steps are,’’ Ewing said. ‘‘We certainly hope to back next week.’’

The state of emergency was still in place and, as well as road concerns, Civil Defence was concerned about the reliability of the water supply for Nelson – and the effect of forecast rain on slips yesterday was unknown, she said.

Clifton Terrace School, north of

Nelson city, reopened yesterday.

Principal Rob Wemyss said the school didn’t feel students’ transport to school was impacting the gridlock situation in Nelson, with many students walking, biking and taking buses that were now running again.

‘‘We feel like the site here is safe. We have been really clear with parents about making sure if they are sending their kids to school that their route is safe.’’

Attendance was around 90% yesterday, and the school was ‘‘doing what is right’’ for its community, he said.

‘‘The water [supply] situation . . . Nelson City Council have said that that’s going to be quite a big fix because they haven’t even got access to the slips that have caused the problems, so if we go on that alone, schools could be closed for weeks.’’

Nelson Tasman Civil Defence and Emergency Management said the decision to open/close or switch to hybrid learning was for schools to make.