Uncertain times and the belief that chicken soup will help!

I haven't been much of a blogger of any kind since the local body elections. I have been a wee bit busy - but that doesn't mean I haven't been continually reflecting on the roles I have chosen to take and the responsibility that I feel to the communities that I represent.

I feel like this is a time that writing my reflections might help me to make sense of the complex feelings I have and the pressure I am trying to manage keeping my school community safe while also supporting the wider Cromwell community and making sure that the messages I am communicating are accurate, timely and don't add to panic or anxiety.

My preparation for this was to make Pho Ga for dinner last night - Vietnamese chicken noodle soup. Quite a healing process and a delicious meal - I think it helped. Click the link to the recipe if you are looking for fragrant, delicious comfort food.

But I digress - the point of today's blog is to think about the impacts of Covid-19 Corona virus. Our current response level of 2 leaves me with a fair amount of uncertainty. I have staff and students with compromised immune systems and who need to be in isolation. I have checked in with all my staff who are in this situation in order to plan to maintain an appropriate staffing level to maintain quality learning programmes and keep our students safe.

Schools are complex places and the number and nature of interactions over a day is even more complex. We have made some immediate changes to protocols like hand washing to ensure that we have opened up extra hand washing stations - let's be honest school toilet blocks are a bit substandard. We are ensuring active supervision of all students washing their hands. We are ensuring that all high touch surfaces are cleaned regularly by teachers and that the cleaning cloths are laundered every day. Our sick bay is having all linen changed daily. Any child presenting as unwell or with cold, flu or cough symptoms or a high temperature is being sent home.

More measures will happen this week - we are lucky to have Otago Anniversary Day today to give an extra day for planning. I will be holding our beginning of the week welcome assembly as an online video link into each classroom. We will be asking parents and caregivers to 'drop at the gate' to minimise the number of extra people entering our classrooms. We will be checking whether families have access to devices and connections in preparation for distance learning and we will be exploring how we will manage children whose parents work in 'essential services' and how to balance that with keeping staff safe.

I feel an enormous amount of responsibility to keep my staff and community safe. I know that school is just the sort of normal that really helps children to feel safe. Schools help us maintain routines and activities for children that will help to reduce anxiety. Schools being open also means that parents are able to continue to work. I know there is a lot of anxiety for people about workplaces shutting down or reducing staff and what that means for how our families will manage.

I am also watching carefully to see what the response is from CODC and have appreciated the updates from Mayor Tim. The Cromwell Museum has made the difficult decision to close up. The majority of the museum volunteers are elderly and it is really important that their safety is paramount.

I know Council is trialling working from home for staff who work in the service centres and will take action to close community facilities when that becomes necessary. 

The challenge for us all is how to ensure we are practicing physical distancing while maintaining social connection. We really need to make sure we are following the rules but also looking after people in our community who need us. My family all live far away overseas and my anxiety for them and their safety is lessened by the crazy chat group that has some serious moments but is mostly full of bad jokes. I appreciate the connection from a distance although I wish I could give my mum a hug. She's tucked away in isolation in rural Victoria. I've sent her a care package that I hope is able to make it through to give her a chuckle and to let her know she is loved and missed.

Care package of essential items to Australia

So as I said right at the beginning chicken soup does, in my opinion, help. So if the recipe for Pho Ga doesn't tickle your fancy here's an alternative for you - Smoked Chicken and sweet corn chowder. This one is definitely comfort food!