Only two of the school’s 490 year 9 and 10 students were in attendance.
At Wednesday’s Ministry of Health briefing, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said 11,846, or one per cent of students showed up to school on Wednesday nationwide, while 7713 children went to early childhood education centres, an attendance of four per cent.
Said Avonside Girls’ High School principal Sue Hume: “We were expecting five [students], tomorrow we know we’ll have three and so we’ve got one bubble of students.
“Families appear to be making their own arrangements for their daughters to continue learning at home,” she said.
Ms Hume said the only staff on site on Wednesday were herself, a supervising teacher and an office administrator.
The students and staff at Avonside Girls’ High are abiding by the rules of physical distancing, she said.
“It’s very straight forward and I am pleased I’m dealing with secondary aged students who have an understanding of what’s required and our students are observing exactly what we would like them to do.
“It’s all going well,” said Ms Hume.
She said efforts are being made to make school days as normal as possible for students who are on-site.
“The students have different classes with different teachers, so the most successful approach is for them to continue with their online learning, of course, with guidance from the teacher who’s supervising.
“We’ve built in regular break times and I’ve been down to observe from afar and it’s all going very smoothly.
"We’re very pleased with our preparations and arrangements.”
Meanwhile, only six of the more than 900 year 9 and 10 students at Cashmere High School and 13 of St Martins School’s usual 550 pupils were on site on Wednesday.
Said Cashmere High School principal Joe Eccleton: “We were expecting 18 [students] but we had a number of drop-offs in the last couple days for different reasons but ended with six. So five year 9s and one year 10 but that could change.”
A Ministry of Education spokeswoman said: “We do know that we are not in ordinary circumstances, and we have been working with education leaders in the lead up to today’s physical opening of school sites, where children and young people need to attend.
“All of our decisions about ‘being ready’ are in line with public health advice, guidance and agreement.
“Curriculum-based learning is the same content for students learning in the classroom or by distance learning.”
