FRIDAY 31 JANUARY 2020

Kia ora koutou,

Happy new year to you all, our Muritai School community. Our staff are back and into preparing their learning spaces and taking part in planning and professional learning - we are all very excited for the year ahead. We are looking forward to starting the 2020 school year with tamariki next week.

Our school year begins on Wednesday the 5th of February.

Our school office remains open all of this week and next, apart from Thursday when school is closed for us all to commemorate Waitangi Day. Stationery lists are also available through Office Max (www.myschool.co.nz)

Also, from extensive media coverage, many of you will be aware of the recent development of the coronavirus in the Wuhan region of China.

The Ministry of Education is working closely with the Ministry of Health and providing schools with the latest updates concerning coronavirus.

Current advice is:
If you and your family have travelled to China over the holiday break or if you have been in contact with people who have, please contact your local doctor for medical advice. In addition to this, here is some important information:

The risk of an outbreak in New Zealand is currently low and the Ministry of Health’s current advice is that there is no specific action to be taken at this time.

There are no cases of the virus in New Zealand currently.

Should the situation change, as we do with other infectious diseases such as measles, mumps and influenza, we will follow our pandemic plan for managing the illness.

For those of you concerned about possible infection, the Ministry of Health has provided practical information on their website which we encourage you to read - Novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) guidance – Ministry of Health website.

Included in there is some advice (for travellers) to help reduce the general risk of infection:

-  avoiding very close contact with people showing symptoms
-  frequently washing hands
-  avoiding close contact with sick live farm animals or wild animals
-  practicing cough etiquette (maintain distance, cover coughs and sneezes with   

        disposable tissues or clothing, and wash hands).

The Ministry of Health will continue to update that content, as further information becomes available.

Our team is well prepared with contingency plans, and is constantly monitoring advice from the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education. Good hygiene protocols will be reinforced with staff and students. All staff members will be briefed on the situation before school reopens for the year.

We will advise you if there is any further change of directives from the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education.

Thank you for your support.