Schools in the South are struggling to keep classes running as they battle Covid-19 and a wave of flu.
One school has reported more than 100 absences a day.
Many principals hoped the holidays in April would provide a break for cases of Covid-19 but staff and pupil absences remain high.
Hawea Flat School principal Tania Pringle said the school had averaged more than 100 absent pupils each day during the past two weeks, along with a handful of staff.
The school had a roll of about 270 pupils at all year levels.
It ran 12 classrooms and on its worst day had five teachers absent.
The absences were caused by a combination of Covid-19, the flu and an outbreak of stomach flu which had struck all at once, she said.
Some of the year levels had very low attendance and could be doubled up, which helped ease the staffing situation.
It was a hard issue to work around, but having flexible staff who planned everything ahead with Covid-19 in mind made things a lot easier.
This week, the school had about 30-50 pupils off each day.
She hoped the absences had peaked.
Kavanagh College deputy principal Steve Read said while pupil absences had calmed down, there were still two or three staff away sick each week.
The impact of Covid-19 was lessening among pupils, but flu was starting to hit.
"I thought we’d start this term with a clean slate ... that wasn’t the case," she said.
There were some pupils who had spent weeks isolating at home with infected family members, then caught Covid themselves and were now off sick with the flu.
The situation left some pupils feeling behind on work.
Despite having staff off sick, teachers were holding extra classes to help those who missed out on lessons.
Staff were having to take on more responsibility, but were willing to help out to keep the school running well, he said.
Last term the school had to send entire year levels home to handle the workload on staff, but had not been forced to take such measures this term.
Blue Mountain College principal Lindy Cavanagh-Monaghan said after weeks of struggling with absences it felt like the school had "turned a bit of a corner".
The school had all staff members at school yesterday, which had been a rarity this year.
Of the 35 staff, only three had not tested positive for Covid-19.
Some staff had caught the virus during the holidays, which meant they did not have to be covered, but working without a proper break had strained them.
It was hard to say if the peak had passed, but the school was handling the situation much better than earlier in the term.
Otago Girls’ High School principal Bridget Davidson said there was a steady trickle of staff and pupil absences since early in the year. There were times where year 12 and 13 classes were left unsupervised to cover staffing other classes.
Staggered absences made it hard to maintain continuity.
