An Auckland primary school will no longer request children to come into school under alert level 3 for assessments, something that had previously concerned a parent.
Newshub was this week provided with an email sent from Epsom Normal Primary School to parents and caregivers asking if they would feel "comfortable to send your child to school for a few hours" while Auckland remains under COVID-19 lockdown and most students aren't attending school.
After Newshub asked the Ministry of Education about the situation, the ministry got in touch with the school, which now accepts their request for students to return "did not meet the alert level 3 criteria".
In its email to parents, the school explained it was writing students' end of year reports and it was "difficult to assess children over Zoom", so asked would they send their children into class.
"This will ensure your child's report is as accurate and as detailed as possible and will give us some valuable information for placing your child next year," the email said.
The school was asking for five children from each class to come in on a day over two weeks and work with teachers one-on-one in separate classrooms "while being distanced from the other four children so we can assess them all on that day".
If parents and caregivers felt comfortable with this, they were asked to contact the school and a timetable would be drawn up. It noted teachers were fully vaccinated and had returned negative tests.
A parent who spoke to Newshub anonymously said they were "very surprised to say the least" to receive the email as they didn't expect "the school to call students to class to write an assessment in the middle of a pandemic, especially when everything is locked down and the case numbers are rising every day".
"I was very worried to send my daughter to school," the parent said. "I even asked some other parents for their opinion, but since many other parents were willing to send their kids, I thought my daughter will miss out on her report and that would affect her next year's class.
"Primary students are still unvaccinated and they should not be going to school until case numbers are down or they get vaccinated."
The parent claimed not all staff receiving children at the front of the school were wearing masks and some children were "rubbing shoulders" and not socially distanced.
"When I went to drop my daughter there were at least 8-10 parents standing near the gate and no social distancing was being followed. However, the parents were all wearing masks."
"School should not rush to get students back to class in the middle of the pandemic, where even the government has advised not open primary schools for the kids of non-essential workers," the parent said.
"I would go one step ahead and say - even after the Government allows schools to open, they should keep on-premise attendance optional and have online option open - since children are unvaccinated (even though teachers are).
"Children play together during breaks and when parents go to pick up kids - it's a complete fish market outside the school gate. Children have died of COVID-19 overseas and it seems like we keep forgetting this."
In a statement on Friday, Sean Teddy, the Ministry of Education's operations and integration leader, said at alert level 3, all schools "are open for instruction and for those students who need to attend onsite".
"We contacted the school this morning to remind them of their responsibilities and they accept that having children come into the school to do an assessment did not meet the alert level 3 criteria and they will make sure that only children that need to be there are physically on site.
"Wearing a face covering is not required in primary schools, but we encourage staff to wear them whenever possible."
Teddy said the ministry was keeping schools and kura up to date with the latest information and public health guidance through school bulletins.
"If parents or caregivers have concerns about their child’s safety and wellbeing, they should raise them with their board in the first instance, or they can contact us for advice."
Newshub contacted the school for comment on Thursday but has not had a response.
On Tuesday this week, secondary school students in years 11, 12 and 13 were able to return to class for the first time in months. Decisions about other year groups are still being made with Education Minister Chris Hipkins on Wednesday saying the ministry was looking at a "staged return" from mid-November.
Some younger students can attend school at alert level 3, such as those of essential workers who have no other childcare options.
