MoE Vaccine Requirements for Visitors

You’ll know from the multitude of media reports regarding the vaccination mandate for education staff that we have now passed the deadline for the first dose.

We would like to assure you that the school is compliant with the order, all staff on-site are either partially or fully vaccinated as per the order which has now passed into law. This law also reaches into school visits under certain circumstances, please read the information below to further understand the requirements.

The school has received information from the Ministry of Education on November 16th regarding vaccination requirements for on-site visits.

The information states:

Type of role	Are they required to be vaccinated under the Public Health Order?
Parents or caregivers dropping off, and picking up children at a school Visitors to the main office such as deliveries	No. The Order does not apply to people who are visiting the school. Please see the section in italics, below for requirements.
Parents or caregivers attending meetings on-site (e.g. for parent-teacher interviews)	No. The Order does not apply to people who are visiting the school. Please see the section in italics, below for requirements.
Parents, caregivers or volunteers at an EOTC programme, in classes, on trips or excursions	Yes. These people are required to be vaccinated because they are carrying out work (unpaid) at or for a school and they may have contact with children or students or will be present at a time when children and students are also present.
Parents, caregivers and members of the community who are volunteers	Yes. These people are required to be vaccinated because they are carrying out work (unpaid) at or for a school and they may have contact with children or students or will be present at a time when children and students are also present. If the volunteer is working offsite and will not have any contact with children or students as part of their role, then they are not required to be vaccinated.

If you would like to continue working with us in a voluntary capacity, you can complete our Volunteer Form using this link: www.twizel.school.nz/our-school/parent-volunteers. Thank you to the many parents and whānau members who have already completed this process. This agreement allows us to place you on our vaccination register for future volunteer activities.

In further advice from the Ministry of Education around managing Health and Safety post-mandate, we have been provided with the following information regarding visits to the school site:

asking non-essential visitors not to come onsite
not holding large events and activities, including those that bring parents and caregivers onsite
ask that they wear a face covering
physical distancing of two metres
consider whether engagement with parents and caregivers can be held outside rather than inside
hold meetings which do need to go ahead digitally e.g. via Zoom, Teams or similar
if it is necessary to meet onsite, ensure the room being used is spacious and well ventilated
ensure hand sanitiser is available indoors
reiterate that anyone who is not feeling well should not come onto the school site and encourage them to seek advice about getting tested.

As the school, we would like to provide assurance at this time that we will uphold these requirements. The school cannot create policies which attempt to ‘get around’ the mandate, so the Board will be reviewing all our relevant policies to ensure we are in-line with national requirements.