Principal's Patch

Kia ora koutou

We have started into a new phase of New Zealand’s response to COVID-19 and it is very different than anything most of us have ever experienced.  I wanted to reassure you that school staff and Board of Trustees will continue to be available to support your child’s learning and wellbeing in the next weeks.

Thank you for your understanding of our very generalised learning support over the days this week since school formally closed on Monday. We spent Tuesday and Wednesday with most of the staff at school, preparing for the lockdown. This included developing plans for continuing to upskill teachers around what digital learning might look like, and helping all teachers to develop the skills for uploading videos, using online tools such as Google hangouts for team meetings and exploring options for linking up with students next term.

You will understand the importance of routine for your family. If your routine has been shaken up, like you’re now working from home, it’s good to structure your time. Routines are reassuring, and promote health and physical wellbeing. The below timetable (targeted at children) could be something your household adapts to use over the next weeks. A school holiday version will likely look a little different, but some form of routine will still be important as we go through the lockdown period. Obviously, this is just one example, and what it might look like for each family will be different, depending on your situation.



If you need to get in contact with anyone from school over the next two weeks of holidays, please email me using principal@beckenham.school.nz
Our teachers will be communicating during school hours, once the term starts again on Wed 15th April. Please also bear in mind that teachers have their own lockdown lives to manage too. Like many of you, some have children and other whānau in their homes, and may also be trying to share a workspace with others on their kitchen tables!
We would ask that you use email as the primary way to contact teachers during the lockdown, rather than texting or phoning, in the first instance. This means that teachers can manage their time and schedule work time at home too.

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.

If you do not have a data plan at home, Skinny Jump is flexible prepaid broadband: Only $5 for 30GB of data, no contracts or credit checks. https://www.skinny.co.nz/jump/home.html Skinny Jump is a not-for-profit service supporting those most at risk of digital exclusion, including families with children, job seekers, seniors, people with disabilities, refugees and migrant communities, those in social housing. If you think this sounds like a plan can support you, or someone in our community please share with them and make contact with Skinny Jump

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. The Ministry is asking you to reach out to all your family members, community groups, friends and group chats to ensure our Pacific community groups are watching the programming on both days.

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

Ngā mini nui
Sandy and the team!

I am getting daily, lengthy email bulletins from the Ministry of Education, much of which contains reminders for our community about what the Level 4 lockdown means. These have included the following for whānau and community:

Update on the provision of home-based supervision and care for the children (aged 0-14 years) of essential workers

The Government has agreed that three large home-based providers (Barnardos, Edubase and PORSE) will provide additional support to essential service workers, where workers are not able to make their own arrangements. These providers have national coverage.

The level of demand from essential service workers is not yet clear and we are exploring all options to make sure that essential service workers can do the important work necessary. In particular we are working with the wider network of home based providers to identify additional carers in areas of high demand.

Essential workers should still continue to contact one of the following three providers if they have been unable to make their own arrangements:
Barnardos - covid19enquiries@barnardos.org.nz
Edubase - Home Grown Kids & Kids at Home 0508 44 54 37 or info@hgk.co.nz
PORSE - porse.co.nz 0800 023 456

Access to school sites

Further information to support wellbeing