Students in tune with retesting need
It’s epic. Students at 3.15pm were able to leave if they needed to or wanted to, but a whole lot of kids stayed in the queue. Principal Vaughan Couillault
As hundreds of students waited for a test at Papatoetoe High School yesterday, their music teachers put on an impromptu concert to keep them entertained.
Teachers who had already had their test taken stayed behind, dishing out hand sanitiser and water to those in the queue.
By the time the school testing centre closed, close to 700 people had been tested.
That is almost half of the roughly 1500 students and 150 staff who have been asked to get retested after it was announced yesterday that another student had tested positive for Covid19.
The schoolgirl was identified as a casual plus contact of the initial Papatoetoe High student who tested positive as part of the Valentine’s Day cluster but had not returned to the school and had been isolating at home.
Principal Vaughan Couillault said the students who stayed after the bell rang for a swab said they wanted to “stick it out and get the job done”.
“It’s epic. Students at 3.15pm were able to leave if they needed to or wanted to, but a whole lot of kids stayed in the queue,” he said.
“The music teachers put on a music concert for the students.
“It was a really cool vibe.” Asked if he was proud of the students, he said he had the best job in the world.
“There was a real sense of community, and yes a little bit of anxiety, but quiet confidence that we will get through it, that there is light at the end of the tunnel.”
Staff and students and the people they live with have been told to stay at home and isolate until that staff member or student returns a negative test.
Couillault said this would mean parents are today staying home from work and siblings who go to other schools have also kept away from the classroom.
“I would suggest that for many families, that’s incredibly burdensome and that they are doing it tough,” he said.
There are 1500 students at the school which equates to around 800-900 families. “Most of our families have a number of people living in their household.”
He urged those families who need help to ask for it and said there are support networks in place.
“One of the things about our community is putting your hand up when you need financial support is not an easy thing to do, sometimes that can come with a bit of damage to someone’s mana.
“But we want to make sure that our community knows, if you need a hand yell out, we will help you, we will do it discreetly.
“We’re here to support.”