Kia ora WDP whanau,
We live in uncertain times with respect to COVID-19, the new Omicron variant emerging, and the new traffic light system coming in on 3 December 2021.
Our OSCAR programmes have been affected by the education workforce vaccine mandate and the rules around that. To clarify:
- If you are an unvaccinated parent you are allowed on the property but you are not allowed inside the building.
- It is completely unacceptable to expect our staff members to walk your children out to you in your parked car whether it is on the street on on the driveway/staff carpark.
- It is also completely unacceptable to drive up the driveway, and yell out your car window for your child.
- Parking on the premises is not allowed either – the carpark is for staff members only and the driveway is shared with 495 so parking on the driveway is not okay. We have to give the neighbours notice before we block the driveway for any reason.
The procedure for signing your child out if you are unvaccinated is as follows:
- Come to the top of the steps and knock on the door and get the attention of staff members.
- Go to the bottom of the steps and wait for staff to release your children. They will sign your children out and release them to you.
- Maintain at least 1m distance from anyone coming and going from the premises while you wait.
- To make it even easier I have set up a QR code you can scan which will allow you to enter your and your child(ren)’s name and sign them out yourself. At this stage the hard copy sign out sheet is still needed but staff have the authority to sign them out on your behalf as you cannot come inside the building.
Please remember that we are only doing what we have to do by law. We don’t get a choice about this so please don’t give our staff members grief about the restrictions.
For vaccinated parents/caregivers, we will be expecting to see your vaccination certificates on arrival. I will ensure that staff have the Verifier app available to scan to check your certificate. The good thing is that they don’t expire for six months so I won’t expect staff to ask for them multiple times.
For 12 and 13 year olds on our programme, we need parents/caregivers to provide vaccination certificates for the holiday programme. This is because we will be doing at least one activity where everyone who goes must be vaccinated or have a valid exemption on medical grounds.
For all other programmes:
From 3 December we will be expecting you to show us your vaccination certificate on arrival in the building. If you aren’t vaccinated, our willingness to let you inside will be low. Outside with social distancing isn’t a problem but indoors we will expect people to be vaccinated unless they have a valid exemption.
Holiday programme!
Finally, some fun news. Our holiday programme looks good for the weeks beginning 17 and 24 January.
You can download the flyer from here:
Play equipment
It has taken a while to get ready for the play equipment to arrive and be installed. This is primarily because the concrete foundations that were beneath the railway carriage and the concrete footings holding the big wooden poles are so hard to get out that it will require someone with an excavator to do so. It looks like this will be happening in about a fortnight’s time. The DEPO children and staff did an amazing job of demolishing the old fort. I have a photo of a child and a youth volunteer brandishing hammers, one of which was a sledge hammer, and looking very pleased with themselves! Well done to Rachel for ensuring this work got done without anyone getting injured – the deal was that it had to be done safely, and it was. A big thank you to Bob for lending us his trailer and for Darren for towing the trailer full of wood to the dump on two consecutive days.
We should be able to get the new play equipment installed in time for the January holiday programme, which is exciting!
In other property-related news, the rotten floor in the toilet on the left (formerly known as the girls’ toilet) has been replaced by wonderful volunteers Joe and Lyle. The vinyl should be able to go down later this week or early next week in both toilets and the little hallway between. Thank you to Tidy Bins for taking away the rotten pieces of flooring plus the old vinyl!
Nga mihi nui,
Eddie Hayes
Manager
Woolston Development Project