26 May 2020UPDATE
We know some of our families and whānau are still feeling a bit anxious about sending their children back to Montessori and school, which is understandable given everything we have been through these past 2 months.
I am sure that many of you are watching to see when our Prime Minister will further relax our Covid-19 restrictions to Level 1, and planning has begun to start moving us towards that point.
Now that we are ten days into Level 2, with case numbers continuing to be extremely low or zero, it has been announced today that from Friday, we are able to move to increased groupings of up to 100 for singular events such as weddings or church services, which I know is a very welcome piece of news for many of you.
Today Jacinda Ardern said that "It takes about two weeks for changes in levels to start showing up in cases. If we continue to see a low number or no cases, then we will be in a position to look to move from that point. New Zealand could be highly confident, more than three weeks after the shift from Level 3, that there were no new cases attributable to the more relaxed restrictions in Level 2."
As you can see in the graphs at the link below, things are looking very very promising for a drop to Level 1 in just a few short weeks' time.
We have been paying particular attention to our local Waikato data, and despite our health department testing of every person with a cough or cold-like symptom for Covid-19, we can see that there is now only one active case in the whole Waikato region.
Our national data is also telling us good things, and with the exception of new travellers to New Zealand who are currently in quarantine, we have had no new cases, whilst New Zealand has been testing more cases on a daily basis than ever before. This is AWESOME news!
(Reference: https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-current-situation/covid-19-current-cases#dhbs)
The Ministry of Education has asked us to send you this message of reassurance - with the last known reported case of Covid-19 being on the 10th of May in the Waikato, it truly is safe for children to be back at school and daycare now, not only for their education but for their health and wellbeing.
They are aware of concerns out in the public that people without symptoms may be able to spread the virus, but the Ministry of Health has advised that there is no instance in New Zealand of someone spreading the virus without ever having symptoms. The risk of contracting Covid-19 is therefore now extremely unlikely.
With the return to Level 2, and the data now showing us that it is safe to return to our regular schooling practices, it has been an absolute delight to see our children so excited to return to see us, and with such joy!
We will continue to keep up our hygiene practices and other public health measures as an extra precaution for as long as we’re at Alert Level 2, but with such low risk, we very much look forward to seeing you and your children back at Montessori very soon.
Update: May 23 2020
This week, the government announced New Zealand will move out of Alert Level 4 lockdown at 11:59 pm on Monday 27 April.
Alert Level 3 allows many businesses to get going again, and for many people to go back to work. For most, you will be able to continue to work and care for your children from home, however for families who need to leave the house to work, we will be able to care for your little ones. At this stage, we are planning to reopen on Wednesday 29 April. Our opening hours will depend on parent needs, we will come up with a staffing plan as soon as we know the numbers of children requiring care.
This week we are preparing for Alert Level 3 by beginning to clean and prepare our classrooms. We are removing any equipment that could be put into mouths, removing bug-traps such as playdough and soft furnishings that aren’t easily cleaned.
When we open our centres, we will be enforcing a number of public health control measures which include a reduced roll with small bubbles of children. We expect to be checking children’s temperatures on drop off, implementing increased equipment sanitation, being vigilant in asking children to frequently and effectively wash their hands, offering Zoono hand sanitiser for all people entering our premises, amongst other initiatives. While we do not expect to receive visitors, anyone who requires entry (other than parents) will need to sign in and out.
Over the coming weeks, it is important to stay vigilant. If you or your children have any signs of being unwell with any kind of respiratory symptom (shortness of breath, head cold, sneezing, blocked ears, cough, sore throat, fever, chills), Dr Ashley Bloomfield asks you to please stay at home, phone your doctor to get tested as soon as possible to rule out COVID-19.
Please communicate with us by email as soon as your work requirements are known and we will make sure we cover the hours you need. You can email us on [email protected] or [email protected].
For new enquiries, please complete our enquiry form and we will be in touch with you as soon as it is practical for you to come and view our centres.
Wishing you a happy last week with your families at Alert Level 4.
Rowena Harper
Managing Director
