Classrooms — either actual or virtual — will be a little fuller than planned next week.
The annual secondary schools winter tournament week has been cancelled for the second consecutive year due to Covid-19 alert levels.
Tournament week typically involves the majority of secondary school sports' national and regional tournaments all played out over the same week.
School Sport New Zealand said it will review the viability of future events next Wednesday.
It added it was aware of the impact of the decision, particularly on senior pupils who may be missing their second tournaments.
Several tournaments were to be played in the South.
The A and AA South Island basketball tournaments were to be in Dunedin and Invercargill respectively.
One of several girls football tournaments around the country was to be held at Logan Park, while Dunedin Ice Stadium was to host the South Island ice hockey tournament.
An under-15 boys rugby tournament was to be held in Oamaru, while Gore was to host a mixed hockey tournament.
Alongside the AA basketball, Invercargill had also been set to host the boys football Linwood Cup.
The South Island netball championships were to be held in Timaru.
School Sport NZ said prioritising a safe return to sport was now the goal and that would be more achievable at a local and regional level than a national one.
