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IMPORTANT Covid-19 Alert Level 4 – Freyberg Closed to all staff and students

17 August 2021

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Auckland is to return to Alert Level Four at 11.59pm tonight, where it is likely to remain for an initial period of 7 days.

This means that Freyberg Community School is closed and you must keep your children home from school until further notice.

Online learning will commence on Thursday via seesaw and google classrooms. Teachers will spend tomorrow ensuring that all children are connected and able to learn digitally. If you have not already done so – please connect with your child’s teacher through Seesaw – you should have received instructions on how to go about doing this. If you need assistance, please email admin@freyberg.school.nz and we will be able to forward your query through to the classroom teacher so that they can offer their assistance.

We will work together to ensure that children’s learning is managed in the best possible way as we wait for things to get back to normal. Rest assured the teachers will be in touch every single working day and will be working from home. Many of our teachers are also parents so please be understanding of their responsibilities to their own children, as well as yours.

At this stage we are unsure of when we will be allowed access onsite in order to arrange devices for those who need them, but we will be in touch as soon as we have more information.

Similarly to last year, your child will be looking to you for guidance about the decision to close schools. Parents, caregivers, whānau and teachers have a particularly important part to play in reassuring children during this time. If you haven’t already done so, you may wish to read the information put together by the Ministry of Education to support your conversations with your children – Talking to children about COVID-19.

And as always, if you need to, you can find information about looking after your own health and wellbeing during lockdown here.

As a teaching team we have continued to discuss our teaching expectations throughout this pandemic and the way that these are presented will be slightly different for each teacher. It will not be the same as if the teacher was teaching your children in the classroom – but we believe it is about providing them with learning experiences that continue to develop within your children the desire to grow their minds and continue to love learning.

As teachers, we will:
– Check in daily or every other day to monitor wellbeing and continue to foster positive relationships;
– Provide regular tasks and activities through Seesaw (Teams 1, 2 and 3) or Google Classroom (Team 4) that is connected to current learning programmes;
– Be online as much as possible to provide feedback, support and guidance during school hours;
– Send a video/recording/voice message daily.

We know that there are parents working from home and having the added stress of online learning might be a lot. Our expectation of you is to work with what best suits your family – we don’t want to add more stress to working families with the pressure of feeling that your job is now to become the teachers of your children. We are here to support you all and your children’s learning through this difficult time.

If you have any questions or comments please contact your child’s teacher directly, or the school office at admin@freyberg.school.nz.

We will be in touch again when we have more information. In the meantime, please contact us if you have any concerns or questions.

Noho ora mai – stay safe,

Maria Dopheide
Principal
Freyberg Community School