Covid-19 Lockdown and School Closure

26 March 2020

The Newmarket Board of Trustees and staff appreciate the efforts of all in our community as part of the New Zealand-wide lockdown. There has been a lot of information to absorb and new challenges for you as parents, family and whānau, and with the need to support your child’s learning from home.

land’s response to COVID-19 and it is very different than anything most of us have ever experienced. We want to reassure you that our school staff and Board of Trustees will continue to be available to support your child’s learning and wellbeing in the next weeks.

Some good news to support you either working at home and/or studying at home - Spark, Vodafone, Vocus/Slingshot, 2Degrees and Trustpower have all advised they have removed their data caps and the possibility of any extra charges based on usage.

For our Pacific families, if you are not aware the Ministry for Pacific Peoples’ has been working to ensure useful information is available to Pacific peoples. A one-hour special will be aired on Tagata Pasifika’s segment on Saturday at 9am; and on Sunday at 7.35am, Tagata Pasifika will share messages from community leaders.

A big thank you to all of you for taking the lockdown so seriously. As the Prime Minister has noted staying at home will break the chain and save lives; breaking the rules could risk someone close to you and if the rules are not complied with, this could risk the lock down period being extended or could risk the virus being spread to thousands

If you are needing any support from the school please contact reception@newmarket.school.nz or alternatively Dr Wendy Kofoed our principal.

Key dates reminder

• 26 March Alert Level 4 commenced
• 28 March School holidays begin
• 10 – 14 April Easter including the Tuesday after Easter
• 15 April Term 2 begins (through distance learning)
• 22 April Current date for ending of lockdown period
• 27 April ANZAC Day observed

The Home Learning Plan for Term 2

· We will open up the students' devices at 9am on the 15 April.

For Te Ako Kowhai (Y0-2) using Seesaw you will need to change your child's password, then students can get straight back on. Parents can post items to Seesaw in the holidays if you have downloaded a home account, but remember teachers will not acknowledge or comment on our Newmarket Seesaw posts until after the 15^th April.

For Te Ako Titoki (Y3-5) and for Te Ako Kahikatea (Year 5-6) students’ passwords will be also be changed. Students are used to doing this and should manage to do this on their own. This includes the password that logs onto the Chromebook and includes other Google sign-ins like Flipgrid, wevideo, Hapara, Seesaw, Code and so on. Once the password has been reset, students can log in again. They will be able to log into everything they need. If it does log them out of a site like Seesaw, they just click ‘Sign in with Google’, that is the beauty of being a Google school.

第二学期

· 我们将于四月十五日早上九点重新开启设备。

一二年级的学生们无需更改Seesaw的密码，可以直接使用。如果您下载了家庭帐户，假期间您们可以在Seesaw上发帖，但是4月15日之后，老师们才会开始回复Seesaw上的帖子。

三到六年级学生们的密码会被重置，包括登陆Chromebook的密码以及其他需要用Google账号登陆的网站密码，例如Flipgrid, wevideo, Hapara, Seesaw, Code等等。

密码被重置后，学生们即可重新登陆所有他们需要登陆的网站。如果有些网站的账号被登出，他们只需点击“用谷歌账号登陆”（Sign in with Google ）即可，十分便利，这就是使用Google的好处。

Information and resources to support wellbeing and support learning at home

• The Ministry of Education has developed a resource for parents, caregivers, whānau and family - http://education.govt.nz/school/health-safety-and-wellbeing/pastoral-care-and-wellbeing/talking-to-children-about-covid-19-coronavirus/.
• The Ministry of Health’s website includes Top ways to look after your mental wellbeing during the Covid-19 lockdown.
• I AM HOPE is the youth and community focused support group run by The Key to Life Charitable Trust, started by Mike King - https://www.iamhope.org.nz/
• Nathan Wallis has some helpful videos on his Facebook page for parents and whānau - https://www.facebook.com/nathanwallisxfactoreducation/ -
• Tips on looking after mental health and wellbeing during COVID-19 from the Mental Health foundation https://www.mentalhealth.org.nz/get-help/covid-19/
• a website by the Health Promotion Agency to help New Zealanders recognise and understand depression and anxiety - https://depression.org.nz/covid-19/
• Although overseas-based this is a good list and highlights some things particularly important for children. Remember the rules of New Zealand’s level 4 lockdown still apply - 25 Mental Health Wellness Tips during Quarantine from Eileen M Feliciano, Psy.D.