School - But Not As We Know It:

It's time to draw down the curtain on 2021, and while we should never wish time away (especially when you get to my age 😉), it will be good to put these Covid months behind us. Delta was a challenge and now we have Omicron, and it would be easy to be worried about them and whatever Greek Alphabet letter is next. I choose not to fall into that trap though, but to look to a brighter and more hopeful 2022.

All three Auckland District Health Boards have now hit 90% or more second dose vaccinated. I have had my third dose, and feel grateful all three have been free and so easy to get. There is now an alternative available to the Pfizer mRNA vaccine in Astra Zenica for those who would prefer it - which works in a completely different way from the Pfizer one. As of January 2022, children in the 5 to 11 age bracket will be able to be vaccinated also.

There will be many who want lots of information around the safety and effectiveness of vaccinating children, and that is understandable. I know there are also many parents who can't wait for it to be available.

Whatever the situation, please be absolutely assured Western Heights will not allow any child in our care to be vaccinated on our site unless we have full parental consent.

This is not a pro vaccination article, but it is an acknowledgement that as a nation we will be so much better protected by early 2022, and so the prospects of disruption to learning and to travel and to our economy seem likely to be so much less than this year - and hurray for that!

As we are on our way back to normal as a nation and hopefully as a planet, I close this section again with a favourite Star Trekism - "Live Long and Prosper."