The return to school this month has been welcomed by teachers and pupils across Mahurangi and Kaipara.
After disruptions caused by Covid, Snells Beach School principal Kathryn Ramel summed up the sentiment saying both teachers and children needed to be back in the classroom.
“It feels good to have us all back together,” she said.
Snells Beach started with 330 students, but Ramel expects this to rise to 240 by the end of the first term. Some students have been withdrawn to be home-schooled, but “not many”. Like other schools, Ramel says finding relief teachers will be a challenge this year as some relief teachers have gone into permanent roles and some older teachers have retired.
“We have a few to call on, but we will have to juggle things the best we can.”
Mask wearing was introduced at the end of last year so hasn’t been an issue.
“We have structured mask breaks and are fortunate that the school design lends itself to allowing children to be outside whether it’s wet or fine.”
Otamatea High School ended last year with 460 students and started this year with more than 560 students.
“The vaccine mandate has affected some of our support staff, but none of our teachers,” principal Dirk Smyth says.
“Our biggest challenge has been appointing new teachers. We have found there is a real shortage of specialist secondary school teachers, particularly in maths and science, and have had to employ overseas based teachers as a result.
“They will not be able to get into the country until after mid-March at the earliest so we have employed relief teachers to cover in the interim period. This has meant a reduced pool of relief teachers available, which could be problematic if Omicron spreads and staff need to start isolating.”
He says staff and students have made the adjustment to mask wearing without fuss.
Smyth sees managing the school roll and ensuring there are enough teaching spaces to accommodate everyone will be the biggest challenge for the school this year.
At Matakana School, the daily attendance rate is between 94 and 98 per cent.
Principal Darrel Goosen says wearing masks in the heat is uncomfortable for teachers and students.
“But I’m incredibly impressed with their persistence, understanding and positive attitude,” he says. “We do have concerns around the availability of relievers, should a large number of our teachers get ill at the same time, but we have a good schooling continuity plan in place to manage that issue. The way we have grouped our classes across the school under Red, allows for the possibility of combining classes if needed.”
Goosen says the school is continuing to plan its Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6 school camps and they are keeping their fingers-crossed that they will go ahead.
Warkworth School started the year with 470 pupils, about the same as the previous two years. Principal Cynthia Holden says the school hadn’t had a home-schooling request for several years until last year, when five students were accepted for home-schooling.
Holden says students have been very cooperative about wearing masks. The teachers make sure they have regular physical activity breaks outside to give them a chance to refresh without a mask. This refreshment time is critical for teachers also.
“Our greatest challenge this year is two-fold. Firstly, it is around managing staff absences if relievers are not available. Secondly, it is around the potential scenario of having multiple teachers at home self-isolating for extended periods of time despite being well. They will need to deliver learning from home to students at school, but there may not be sufficient supervision for the students of those teachers who are at school.
“We are working term by term regarding events. Camps and the school fundraising fiesta are not going ahead. School-wide and inter-school sports events are also cancelled.”
Rodney College started the year with a similar roll as last year. Principal Irene Symes says the college lost a few staff last year as a result of the vaccine mandate.
“They either moved on to alternative work or retired,” she says. “We have enough relievers at the moment but, like everyone, are concerned how long this will last as we move into the cooler months when staff sickness becomes more prevalent.
“We are following the Covid Protection Framework requirements closely and have a plan should Omicron make its way into our school community. This will pull on our human resources.
“Both staff and students are doing really well in terms of adhering to the mask mandate, even in this stifling weather. Most students have their own masks and we are happy to provide for those who haven’t got one or forgot it.”
Mahurangi College and Mangawhai Beach schools did not respond.
