Cashmere High School Coping Well with Omicron Outbreak

With 75% of schools across New Zealand now dealing with active Omicron cases it’s not surprising that a school the size of Cashmere High is one of them.

As at the end of last week, there were 112 active cases in the school with 285 staff and students isolating. Principal Joe Eccleton says the biggest challenge has been staffing their classes and keeping the school open. To ensure this can happen all Year 13 students have been asked to remain at home this week and continue their learning online so that staff can be redeployed to cover other classes. If staff shortages remain an issue next week, the Year 12 students will be asked to remain at home for a week and this system will continue, rotating through the Year 11 to Year 13 students, until there are sufficient staff on site to cover all classes.

Update 24/03/2022: There are now only 58 positive cases in the school and 174 staff/students isolating so all students will be back on site next week attending classes as per their normal timetable.