Kindergartens Ready To Return

Kindergartens Aotearoa welcomes the decision from the government to move to level three in its response to the Covid 19 outbreak, and we are working to open our kindergartens next week for all those families that need our services.

Kindergartens Aotearoa says it is unfortunate that some in the education sector are not engaging with the advice from experts and public health authorities, and are encouraging anxiety and panic in the sector, which is not helpful for children, families, teachers and staff, or society.

Kindergartens Aotearoa is a collective of eight regional kindergarten associations around the country that operate 365 kindergartens and other early childhood education services catering for 18,500 children and employing 2,300 teaching, advisory and support staff.

Spokesperson Amanda Coulston says the kindergartens recognise that some families and some teachers are anxious about the virus, however we are taking advice from the Ministry of Health about risks, and we are taking measures to mitigate those risks.

“We know that because of the efforts we have all made over the lockdown, the number of active cases of the virus are low, are known, are contained, and are continuing to drop each day. New Zealand is a world leader in its successful response, which means we can with a high degree of confidence, reopen kindergartens safely now.”

In addition, the available evidence which has been released by the Ministry of Health shows that early childhood centres are low risk, because children do not often get the virus and do not easily pass it on.

“We will open initially with groups of ten only, and take precautions to limit the contact between families. We will take extra cleaning measures, and continue to encourage hand washing.“

Like doctors and nurses, carers and cleaners, supermarket staff and refuse collectors, many teachers want to play their part in supporting the response to this virus. We are proud to be part of that response.

Registered teachers in New Zealand adhere to a code of ethics, which includes a commitment to society, and to families and whānau. Now is a time to continue to honour that commitment.

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