Students and teachers are preparing for term four next week, which they will be teaching and learning from home.
This comes after yesterday's announcement that Tāmaki Makurau will remain in alert level 3 for at least another week.
“It's another week away from our face-to-face learning, with our senior students in particular,” St Dominics Catholic College principal Anna Swan says.
“There’s already a great deal of pressure on our staff and students to get kids their qualification this year.”
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins also says all teachers must be vaccinated by January and those who are not vaccinated are required to return a weekly negative Covid test. Swan says the management of teachers unwilling to be vaccinated will be on a case-by-case basis.
“We get a lot of guidance from the ministry so we follow that pretty closely.”
What has stirred the most controversy is the announcement that teachers who refuse entirely to be vaccinated will be out of a job. Swan says all she can do is follow the guidance given to her by the ministry.
“It gets tricky because people’s ability to choose will be taken away but I just follow the advice and support given to me from the ministry.”