Kia ora koutou Playschool whaanau
With the announcement by the New Zealand government, we are implementing with urgency our plan to support your child’s learning from home effective immediately. As you know we promote learning through play for our preschool children and what better opportunity than under these isolation circumstances! We appreciate that this is a sudden and significant change to your normal routine and will be heavily disruptive to many people in our community, so it is important to work together during this time.
For children of essential workers, your child/ren will be able to continue the care arrangement with your home-based educator or Au Pair until midnight on Wednesday 25th March. You may wish to check if you are considered an essential worker, some of those roles include doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers and police. Please note: We continue to ask that children who are not well, stay home and self-isolate.
Beyond this time all home-based childcare must stop until the New Zealand Government officially announces that restrictions are lifted – unless your child is cared for by someone in your self-isolation group aka Bubble i.e. your Au Pair who lives with you. In these circumstances, care may continue – assuming you follow the isolation rules implemented by the New Zealand Government. Physical care of your child must NOT take place (unless your Educator/ Au Pair lives with your child).
During this unprecedented time as a goodwill gesture, we will continue to pay your regular child subsidies. This does NOT apply to families whose Educator/ Au Pair leaves the family with no plans to return. Essentially, we are treating this as a 4-week childcare holiday for most of our care arrangements and plan for everything to return to normal after the restrictions are lifted.
Please complete your timesheet with the hours worked if care is continuing as normal. If this does not apply to you please complete your timesheet by writing GOVT ISO for all days that care did not take place during this lockdown period. While our offices are currently closed our service will remain open at this time with all Playschool staff working from home so don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Please note: We will be continuing the monthly educational visits during this time; however, they will be conducted via the phone and skype/face time where possible. We will be contacting the Educator/Au Pair where possible and if not available, the parents will be contacted to follow up. We ask you to give us a minimum of 15 minutes of your time per month. Monthly learning stories will be completed but monthly activities, child outings, and Au Pair trips will be put on hold until further notice.
In this current time, your child will be looking to you for guidance about this current change of situation. Parents will have a particularly important part to play in reassuring children at 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 conversations with your children – Talking to children about COVID-19.
As noted by the Prime Minister these restrictions are our best chance to slow the virus in New Zealand and to save lives – we all have a clear role here to slow the spread of COVID-19!
We will continue to communicate with you through our new COVID-19 information page found on www.playschooleducation.co.nz over this COVID-19 period. Thank you for your ongoing support.
Ngā mihi
Carissa and the Playschool team.
Please find below Playschool Education’s latest information regarding Coronavirus. We will be updating this page regularly, so check back for further updates.
It is important that you follow the recommendations and regulations made by the New Zealand government plus know the facts! Refer to this website for up to date information www.covid19.govt.nz or call the free government helpline on 0800 779 997 (8am – 1am, 7 days a week).
Protecting yourself and your whaanau
The Ministry of Health lists some simple steps to take to protect yourself & others from COVID-19:
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.
- Wash your hands with soap and water often, for at least 20 seconds.
- Cough or sneeze by covering your mouth and nose with tissues, if you don’t have a tissue then cough or sneeze into your elbow or upper sleeve.
- Use an alcohol-based hand sanitiser.
- Try to avoid close contact with people – a 2m distance is recommend. This includes personal contact, such as kissing, shared cups or food.
- Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces and objects.
Call Healthline on 0800 358 5453 if you have ANY symptoms, have been overseas and returned within the last 2 weeks or have been in close contact with someone who is a confirmed case.
Level 4 COVID-19 Alert which starts at 11:59pm on March 25 and will continue for 4 weeks.
What does this mean for me?
New Zealanders not working in essential services must stay at home and stop all interactions with others outside of your household – this is an essential part of eradicating the disease.
What can I do during this time?
You may go for a walk or exercise – you must always keep a 2m distance from people. Remember, you can always only spend time with the household family members while keeping a distance from all others.
Food and medicine will continue to be available.
All schools and Early Childhood Centres will be closed.
All indoor and outdoor events including social gatherings such as birthdays, funerals, or weddings cannot go ahead.
Healthcare for those that need it will be available – If you need to see a doctor or other medical professional you MUST phone first. Phone consultations will now happen over the phone (or via video). If a face to face meeting is required, then a doctor or other medical professional will organise this for you. If you are severely unwell, contact emergency services (dial 111).
Travel in New Zealand is limited and not advised unless essential. Public transport will only be available for those working in essential services, for medical reasons or to get to the supermarket.
If you have COVID-19 related concerns, please call Healthline (0800 258 5453) for advice before you travel.
Playschool is open for business as normal with staff working from home. You can stay connected with us through our email updates, phone or text plus through our social channels – Facebook and Instagram. Also don’t hesitate to contact us via phone or email if you have any questions or concerns.
Q & A – COVID-19
I am an essential worker and still need child care to take place.
Essential workers will need to use their existing networks for in-home care, for example, a neighbor, relative, friend or current carer/nanny who can come to their house or provide childcare in their own home.
There are Public Health rules that must be observed:
- The person caring for the child becomes part of the self-isolating group.
- This group must remain the same for the whole period.
- The care individual must not care for children from other households (other than their own) over the same period.
If a child or carer becomes unwell, they must stay at home.
What resources are available to use during the lockdown period?
Your visiting teacher will be on hand to support you during this time. They will be able to guide and support you with extra ideas on how to continue with learning from home for parents, whaanau and kaiako. They will also be conducting monthly visits via phone, skype or messenger.
On Monday, the Education council launched Learning from Home and Ki te Ao Mārama, two new websites to support teachers, kaiako, parents and whānau to support their children and young people to continue their learning.
These have been produced with other agencies and are a one-stop shop for teaching and learning at home, covering early learning through to senior secondary schooling. These websites will continue to be developed to include a wider range of resources.
Learning from home
Ki te Ao Marama
- Kaiako can use these sites to point parents and whānau to ideas for learning opportunities for their children at home.
- Parents and whānau will find information, advice, and ideas about supporting learning from home, without needing to become teachers themselves.