Long break ends, as pupils start returning to class
Many private schools and early childhood centres re-open today
School’s back today — for at least some of the country’s kids anyway. Many private schools and early childhood centres are reopening their doors today.
The planned early return by some private schools means a large number of students are likely to be back in class, as well as children returning to early childhood centres opening early.
The remainder of the country’s children will join them next week, including those who attend Best Start, the country’s largest private childcare organisation.
Schools and childcare centres are implementing safety measures, and some are being extra-careful.
Alex Reed, principal of North Shore’s Pinehurst School, which opens today, said anyone entering the premises would have their temperature checked daily.
“We’re really happy to be back. We think the Government has made the right call.”
He added: “We’re ready as a school and we’ve got all our precautions in place. We’re doing temperature checks, for example, and operating bubbles within the school so we’ve rearranged our timetable.” Reed said he expected 80 to 90 per cent of the school’s 1000 or so students today and the rest on Monday.
Dale Burden, principal at St Peter’s, Cambridge, said while the school could have opened today, a decision was made to wait until Monday to give staff, students and parents more time to organise themselves.
“Teachers have been off-site for seven weeks so we wanted to get them back into the school for the morning and let them know how the school is going to operate under level 2 . . . and also we wanted to give families as well as our staff time to get ready to come back to school.”
Deborah James, executive director of Independent Schools NZ, said she was unsure how many of its schools would resume today, but said it would be those that were ready.
“It just depends on their prepared
ness under the health and safety requirements.” All schools had been working on “robust protocols, processes and systems” to ensure the safety of students, staff and the wider school community, she said.
Meanwhile, the Herald earlier reported that 20 of the country’s approximately 90 private schools claimed more than $11 million in wage subsidies while still charging full fees for students, saying they were all suffering as badly as any exposed Covid-19 business.
Many expected to suffer at least a 30 per cent decline in revenue, the threshold required to receive the subsidy.