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Our campaigns:

  • Primary
    • Wāwāhi Tahā – Time For Tamariki
    • Te Ao Kei Tua – Our Schools, Our Communities, Our Future
  • Pay equity
    • Pay equity for Kaiārahi i te Reo
    • Pay equity for school administration staff
    • Pay equity for teacher aides
  • Support staff
    • Pay equity for school administration staff
    • The road to pay equity for teacher aides
  • Early childhood
    • Shaping our future: A ten-year plan for ECE
    • Pay equity for ECE
    • Have a Heart pledge
  • Inclusive education
    • Inclusive Communities through Education Summit
    • Education for All
  • All campaigns

Pages

  • A Better Plan/Joint Initiative
    • Joint Initiative: What we’ve learned so far
  • Admin Pay Equity Typeform
  • Better Funding, Better Learning
    • Better Funding Paid Union Meetings, 2016
    • Better Funding Roadshow 2016
    • The Better Funding Heartland tour, 2017
  • Change Membership Information
  • COVID-19 information for members
    • Health and Safety
    • Life at Red | Guidance for Primary Teachers
    • Life at Red | Guidance for ECE Teachers
    • Life at Red | Guidance for Principals
    • Testing Guidelines
    • Vaccination Guidelines
  • Election 2020
  • Every child is worth it
    • Every Child Is Worth it launch
    • Get the government to keep their promise on ECE – Sign the Petition
    • Have a Heart pledge
    • July 2019 proposed settlement to kindergarten teachers
    • Shaping our future: A ten-year plan for ECE
    • Thanks for signing our ECE petition
    • Unions and ECE
  • Get Goodies
  • Get Help
  • Get Involved
  • Global Custom Fields
  • Home
    • Learning Support Workers Strike Dates
  • Inclusive education
    • Inclusive education: Education for All activities, September 2016
    • Inclusive education: Inclusive Communities through Education Summit, May 2017
  • Initial Teacher Education (ITE) 2040
  • It’s time—Kua tae te wā
    • August 2019 settlement to primary principals
    • Budget 2018
      • Thanks!
    • Campaign plan and claims—Kua tae te wā
    • Campaign resources
      • Area School paid union meetings – March 2019
      • Area School Teachers Collective Agreement – Our Claim
      • Contact your local MP
      • Frequently asked questions
      • November rolling strikes – events and rallies
      • Paid union meetings – May 2019
      • Paid union meetings map – May 2019
      • Primary Principal and Teacher Negotiation FAQs
      • Primary school paid union meetings schedule – May 2019
      • Support Staff, Boards and Strikes
      • Understanding strikes
      • Understanding strikes
    • Check your school’s strike day
    • First offer to principals and teachers
    • It’s the end of term! Send your favourite teacher a postcard
      • Thank you for sending your postcard
    • It’s Time: Community action planning
    • June 2019 proposed settlement to primary principals
    • June 2019 settlement to primary teachers
    • March 2019 offers to principals and teachers
    • Meetings and information for MoE Support Workers
    • November offer to principals and teachers
    • Petition: Supporting primary teachers and principals
    • Postcard to Grant Robertson
    • Postcard to the Secretary of Education
    • Primary principal paid union meetings August 2019
    • Primary teachers and principals Accord
    • Principals’ survey: Intentions for 2017
    • Principals’ survey: intentions for 2018
    • Principals’ wellbeing
      • Principal wellbeing report
      • Your report is on the way
    • Second offer to principals and teachers
    • Sign on to support our principals
    • Strike Action Ideas
    • Strike Day Deductions
    • The terms of settlement for Ministry of Education Support Workers
    • Update following talks with the Minister of Education
    • Voting on the new offers – electronic ballot
    • We’ll miss them when they’re gone
    • What’s next for principals
    • Workload Caseload Review
  • Join NZEI Te Riu Roa
  • Join NZEI Te Riu Roa
  • Kindergarten paid union meetings
  • Kindergarten paid union meetings map
  • Kindergarten paid union meetings schedule
  • KTCA Stories
  • Learning Support Members – Strike Ballot FAQs
  • Member Induction
  • NEN Hui 2020
  • Next steps for teachers – Contact your local MP
  • Paid Union Meetings for primary and area school teacher worksite representatives
  • Pay equity
    • Fair’s fair – Mana Taurite: Getting involved
    • One year of negotiations for support workers: send a postcard
      • Thank you for sending your postcard
    • Pay Equity Amendment Act
    • Pay equity for Kaiārahi i te Reo
    • Pay equity for school administration staff
    • Pay equity for support workers settlement
    • Pay equity now—join the movement for fair pay for ECE
    • Pay equity pledge for early childhood and schools
    • Pay Equity Work Assessment
    • Suffrage day 2019
    • Support Staff Pay Equity Quiz
    • Teacher aide paid union meetings
    • Teacher aide pay equity – information for principals, EOs and SENCOs
    • Teacher aide pay equity – invite a teacher aide to receive updates
    • Teacher aide pay equity – register for a Zoom hui
    • Teacher aide pay equity settlement
    • The pay equity pledge – Pay equity
    • The road to pay equity for teacher aides
  • Pay Equity – Pledge Map
  • Pay equity DRAFT
  • Principals Hauora Survey
  • Principals Kit
  • Principals’ and teachers’ wellbeing survey
  • Pūaotanga Report
  • Public Sector Pay Initiative
  • School Report Card
  • Special Screening: Wāwāhi Tahā – Time for Tamariki
  • Suffrage Day
  • Support our campaign
  • Support staff
    • Letter to Iona Holsted from annualised support staff
    • Making it Possible: Support Staff Day 2018
    • Support Staff – Contact your local MP
    • Support Staff – Paid union meetings
    • Support Staff – Paid union meetings October 2019
    • Support staff – share your story
    • Support staff – sign on to make a difference
    • Support Staff Day 2019 – Making a Difference
    • Support staff need fair pay! Sign the open letter to the Education Minister
    • Support staff proposed terms of settlement 2019
    • Support Staff Resources
    • Support Staff Week 2020 – Celebrating the wins
    • Support Staff Week 2021 – Building the Future
    • Support staff: 101 reasons why
    • Teacher aide PLD
    • Thank you for sharing your story
    • Thank you for signing on to make a difference
    • Thanks for signing the open letter to Minister Hipkins
    • Walking in the shoes of support staff
  • Support Staff – Paid union meetings October 2019 schedule
  • Support Workers Pay Equity Ratification Meetings
  • Te Ake Rautangi
  • Te Ao Kei Tua – Our Schools, Our Communities, Our Future
  • Teacher Time Diaries
  • Teachers Time Diaries – Thank you!
  • Teachers Time Diaries Results
  • Test – Staffing Calc Page
  • Test page
  • Test Petition Embed Page
  • Tomorrow’s Schools Submission
  • Tomorrow’s Schools Submission – Thank you
  • Vote for Me: —our campaign for Election 2017
  • Wāwāhi Tahā – Time For Tamariki
    • Wāwāhi Tahā Community Launch Sign up form
  • It’s time to update your contact details
  • Thank you for updating your contact details
  • Mana Taurite – ECE employers
  • Pay equity for ECE – Information for employers and governance boards
  • Pay equity for ECE – Work Assessment: Information for interested participants
  • The road to pay equity for ECE

Please note: this page is not an official source of information for how schools, kura, kindergartens and early childhood centres should operate under the traffic light system. If any of the information on this page appears out of date or conflicts with official advice from the Ministry of Health or the Ministry of Education, please follow the official guidance. 

If you are and NZEI Te Riu Roa member and you need advice on a specific matter, please contact our Member Support Centre. You can find their hours and contact details here.

 

A collaborative approach to health and safety

covid-protection-framework

It's natural to have concerns about the health and safety impact of going to work during red light settings.  Working with your team to make a plan together is one of the best ways to mitigate some of these concerns.

Risk management is most effective when a collaborative approach is taken. Wherever you are on this journey, we have used some of the ideas from Worksafe to help put this page together.

Building a Safety Plan

Here's a simple process that you can follow with your staff and colleagues to make a plan that keeps everyone safe at work. 

Bring people together and work as a group

If there is already a health and safety rep and committee in place, they can be asked to lead this process. If there is not one, staff can simply be brought together, either online or in person, to work through a basic process. Be sure to work with your NZEI worksite rep.

Identify and define the risk(s)

It helps to be as clear about this as possible as that will help identify factors that need to be addressed. As part of this, it is important to also assess the likelihood of the risk occurring and the impact if the risk did happen for both staff and students.

Identify the possible options for mitigating or eliminating the risk

This includes identifying sources of information and support. The possible options will obviously need to take into account the public health requirements and information provided by the Ministry of Education. Options, such as wearing masks, should be specific to the risks defined above.

Develop a plan that will address the issues.

This should include assessment of effectiveness. Assess the options identified and their likely effectiveness to address specific risks. Agree who will be taking specific actions and how they will be supported if necessary. Agree how the group will monitor the identified risk(s) and the effectiveness of the plan.

Implement the plan and monitor effectiveness

Ensure that regular and effective communication amongst the group takes place to ensure that the plan is effective. If people have specific tasks, they should report progress against these.

Mental health support

With a return to higher alert levels, each of us will be responding differently. It's important that we each take care of one another and ourselves, including our mental health.

See below for some of the options available to you for mental health support:

EAP (Employee Assistance Programmes)
Employers often sign up to employee assistance programmes as part of meeting their health and safety in employment obligations.  EAP is confidential counselling and support, delivered via counsellors nationwide – sometimes in person, but also via phone or video chat. You should check to see if your employer is signed up to a provider.  The main provider used by schools is EAP Services Limited - www.eapservices.co.nz 0800 327 669.

Community based support (phone based)

  • Anxious/depressed: text 1737 to talk to a trained counsellor 24/7
  • Depression Line: 0800 111 757
  • Alcohol and Drug Helpline: 0800 787 797
  • Family Violence info line: 0800 456 450
  • Health line: 0800 611 116
  • Lifeline Aotearoa nationwide: 0800 543 354
  • Warmline (Mental Health Peer Support): 0800 200 207
  • Victim Support: 0800 842 846
  • Outline: LGBTIQ- affirming support line and face to face counselling- 0800 688 5463
  • Suicide crisis helpline: 0508 828 865
  • Anxiety phone line: 0800 269 4389

Useful websites/ online support

  • mentalhealth.org.nz
  • depression.org.nz
  • sparx.org.nz
  • commonground.org.nz
  • health.govt.nz | coping after a traumatic event
EAP Services logo
Back to main page

Pages

  • A Better Plan/Joint Initiative
    • Joint Initiative: What we’ve learned so far
  • Admin Pay Equity Typeform
  • Better Funding, Better Learning
    • Better Funding Paid Union Meetings, 2016
    • Better Funding Roadshow 2016
    • The Better Funding Heartland tour, 2017
  • Change Membership Information
  • COVID-19 information for members
    • Health and Safety
    • Life at Red | Guidance for Primary Teachers
    • Life at Red | Guidance for ECE Teachers
    • Life at Red | Guidance for Principals
    • Testing Guidelines
    • Vaccination Guidelines
  • Election 2020
  • Every child is worth it
    • Every Child Is Worth it launch
    • Get the government to keep their promise on ECE – Sign the Petition
    • Have a Heart pledge
    • July 2019 proposed settlement to kindergarten teachers
    • Shaping our future: A ten-year plan for ECE
    • Thanks for signing our ECE petition
    • Unions and ECE
  • Get Goodies
  • Get Help
  • Get Involved
  • Global Custom Fields
  • Home
    • Learning Support Workers Strike Dates
  • Inclusive education
    • Inclusive education: Education for All activities, September 2016
    • Inclusive education: Inclusive Communities through Education Summit, May 2017
  • Initial Teacher Education (ITE) 2040
  • It’s time—Kua tae te wā
    • August 2019 settlement to primary principals
    • Budget 2018
      • Thanks!
    • Campaign plan and claims—Kua tae te wā
    • Campaign resources
      • Area School paid union meetings – March 2019
      • Area School Teachers Collective Agreement – Our Claim
      • Contact your local MP
      • Frequently asked questions
      • November rolling strikes – events and rallies
      • Paid union meetings – May 2019
      • Paid union meetings map – May 2019
      • Primary Principal and Teacher Negotiation FAQs
      • Primary school paid union meetings schedule – May 2019
      • Support Staff, Boards and Strikes
      • Understanding strikes
      • Understanding strikes
    • Check your school’s strike day
    • First offer to principals and teachers
    • It’s the end of term! Send your favourite teacher a postcard
      • Thank you for sending your postcard
    • It’s Time: Community action planning
    • June 2019 proposed settlement to primary principals
    • June 2019 settlement to primary teachers
    • March 2019 offers to principals and teachers
    • Meetings and information for MoE Support Workers
    • November offer to principals and teachers
    • Petition: Supporting primary teachers and principals
    • Postcard to Grant Robertson
    • Postcard to the Secretary of Education
    • Primary principal paid union meetings August 2019
    • Primary teachers and principals Accord
    • Principals’ survey: Intentions for 2017
    • Principals’ survey: intentions for 2018
    • Principals’ wellbeing
      • Principal wellbeing report
      • Your report is on the way
    • Second offer to principals and teachers
    • Sign on to support our principals
    • Strike Action Ideas
    • Strike Day Deductions
    • The terms of settlement for Ministry of Education Support Workers
    • Update following talks with the Minister of Education
    • Voting on the new offers – electronic ballot
    • We’ll miss them when they’re gone
    • What’s next for principals
    • Workload Caseload Review
  • Join NZEI Te Riu Roa
  • Join NZEI Te Riu Roa
  • Kindergarten paid union meetings
  • Kindergarten paid union meetings map
  • Kindergarten paid union meetings schedule
  • KTCA Stories
  • Learning Support Members – Strike Ballot FAQs
  • Member Induction
  • NEN Hui 2020
  • Next steps for teachers – Contact your local MP
  • Paid Union Meetings for primary and area school teacher worksite representatives
  • Pay equity
    • Fair’s fair – Mana Taurite: Getting involved
    • One year of negotiations for support workers: send a postcard
      • Thank you for sending your postcard
    • Pay Equity Amendment Act
    • Pay equity for Kaiārahi i te Reo
    • Pay equity for school administration staff
    • Pay equity for support workers settlement
    • Pay equity now—join the movement for fair pay for ECE
    • Pay equity pledge for early childhood and schools
    • Pay Equity Work Assessment
    • Suffrage day 2019
    • Support Staff Pay Equity Quiz
    • Teacher aide paid union meetings
    • Teacher aide pay equity – information for principals, EOs and SENCOs
    • Teacher aide pay equity – invite a teacher aide to receive updates
    • Teacher aide pay equity – register for a Zoom hui
    • Teacher aide pay equity settlement
    • The pay equity pledge – Pay equity
    • The road to pay equity for teacher aides
  • Pay Equity – Pledge Map
  • Pay equity DRAFT
  • Principals Hauora Survey
  • Principals Kit
  • Principals’ and teachers’ wellbeing survey
  • Pūaotanga Report
  • Public Sector Pay Initiative
  • School Report Card
  • Special Screening: Wāwāhi Tahā – Time for Tamariki
  • Suffrage Day
  • Support our campaign
  • Support staff
    • Letter to Iona Holsted from annualised support staff
    • Making it Possible: Support Staff Day 2018
    • Support Staff – Contact your local MP
    • Support Staff – Paid union meetings
    • Support Staff – Paid union meetings October 2019
    • Support staff – share your story
    • Support staff – sign on to make a difference
    • Support Staff Day 2019 – Making a Difference
    • Support staff need fair pay! Sign the open letter to the Education Minister
    • Support staff proposed terms of settlement 2019
    • Support Staff Resources
    • Support Staff Week 2020 – Celebrating the wins
    • Support Staff Week 2021 – Building the Future
    • Support staff: 101 reasons why
    • Teacher aide PLD
    • Thank you for sharing your story
    • Thank you for signing on to make a difference
    • Thanks for signing the open letter to Minister Hipkins
    • Walking in the shoes of support staff
  • Support Staff – Paid union meetings October 2019 schedule
  • Support Workers Pay Equity Ratification Meetings
  • Te Ake Rautangi
  • Te Ao Kei Tua – Our Schools, Our Communities, Our Future
  • Teacher Time Diaries
  • Teachers Time Diaries – Thank you!
  • Teachers Time Diaries Results
  • Test – Staffing Calc Page
  • Test page
  • Test Petition Embed Page
  • Tomorrow’s Schools Submission
  • Tomorrow’s Schools Submission – Thank you
  • Vote for Me: —our campaign for Election 2017
  • Wāwāhi Tahā – Time For Tamariki
    • Wāwāhi Tahā Community Launch Sign up form
  • It’s time to update your contact details
  • Thank you for updating your contact details
  • Mana Taurite – ECE employers
  • Pay equity for ECE – Information for employers and governance boards
  • Pay equity for ECE – Work Assessment: Information for interested participants
  • The road to pay equity for ECE
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Authorised by Stephanie Mills, National Secretary
NZEI Te Riu Roa
79 Boulcott Street
Wellington