COVID-19 UPDATE: 23 January 2022

Kia ora koutou,

This morning, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Director of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield held an unscheduled press conference to announce that there are cases of the Omicron COVID-19 variant circulating in the community.

As a result, the entire country is being moved to the RED traffic light setting as of midnight tonight, Sunday 23 January.

Effective immediately, the SAE Auckland campus will be closed for one week until at least Monday 31 January. Closing the campus for this period allows us all time to readjust to the new setting – both for our own personal household as well as for the SAE campus. All staff should work from home during this period. No staff, students or visitors should go on campus unless they have been given specific permission by myself or Leyland.

I will be back in touch prior to Monday 31 January to discuss the next steps for SAE, including how we might partially open within the RED setting.

The most immediate impact for SAE is that all Graduation events scheduled for the week ahead will be postponed. This includes the Diploma Presentation Ceremony, the Audio and Music Showcase, the Degree Graduation Ceremony and the Academy Film Screening. It is so unfortunate that we’ve been unable to proceed with these events – I know how much staff, our graduates and their whānau were looking forward to the celebrations. However, given the size and scale of these events, they cannot be held within the Ministry of Health restrictions of gathering sizes and physical distancing measures. As soon as we can proceed safety with these graduation events, we will do so.

This is not the ideal start to 2022 and I’m acutely aware that everyone is tired after 2 years of negotiating this global pandemic. But our SAE community is strong, and I know that with the kindness, aroha and creativity that we are renowned for, we can once again help each other through this latest outbreak.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly on s.major@sae.edu or 027 6693119.

Stay safe everyone. Arohanui,
Suzette

Dr Suzette Major

Campus Director, SAE AUCKLAND