Schools’ cautious approach to orange setting

Some schools will keep their red setting restrictions for a time under the orange setting of the Government’s Covid-19 Protection Framework, with principals criticising the timing of the move.

Auckland Point School is among some primary schools in Nelson maintaining the mask mandate and other restrictions implemented under red, for the first week of school after the Easter holidays.

Principal Sonya Hockley said getting a school through a pandemic had been complex and ‘‘incredibly difficult’’.

‘‘So the night before the end of term 1 comes and we’re faced with changing . . . It is very short notice.’’

New Zealand moved to the orange setting last Thursday, hours after the Government confirmed the change under which masks are no longer mandatory in school.

Hockley would ask families to message her over the twoweek holiday if they had Covid in their whānau. ‘‘Then we’ll know what we’re up against.’’

Most of the school’s 114 children were away because of Covid at the start of term 1, and ongoing staff absences had been hard to manage, she said.

Nelson Central School principal Pip Wells said the school was ‘‘erring on the side of caution’’ by extending its term one restrictions to cover the first week of the next term – including asking parents to drop off and pick up students outside the gate, and children learning and playing in separate zones.

‘‘Just over 15% of our students have tested positive thus far. We’re going to . . . see what the holiday period brings.’’

While the number of students affected by Covid had dropped in the last few weeks at Nayland College, staff absences probably peaked this week, principal Daniel Wilson said. ‘‘We’re not back to normal by any stretch of the imagination.’’

Masks would be recommended for students and staff in term 2, in line with the Government’s advice, he said.

Hampden Street School principal Don McLean said along with recommending masks inside for children, staff would wear masks for the first month, with settings reviewed thereafter. ‘‘If we feel that things are breaking out, then we will go back to parents and say, ‘Look, we really recommend that you get those masks on the kids.’’’

The school planned to resume assemblies and would continue with ventilation and hygiene measures.

Broadgreen Intermediate asked students to bring a mask to school as they might be asked to wear one at times, such as during an assembly.