School Sport NZ is aware of the Minister of Education’s announcement last week that My Vaccine Passes will not be required for students representing their school. We welcome the news that all students will now have access to inter-school activities, including sport. We are waiting for advice on the timeframe for implementing the change, and need to consider any implications this might have for our events and the wider school sport environment. Unfortunately, the timing of the ministers announcement ahead of any confirmed detail of how this will be implemented has placed unnecessary pressure on organisations who deliver sport, and schools themselves. We are aware that Sport NZ and the Ministry of Education met late last week to better understand the implications and timelines. We will provide further information to the school sport sector as soon as this has been released. We will continue to feedback to those organisations, including the challenges of not having club sport included in these changes.

Until the detail of these changes has been confirmed, the events on the Term 1 School Sport NZ calendar will continue as previously confirmed and will require participants to be fully vaccinated against COVID 19. We continue to work closely with our event partners to confirm the viability of events for the rest of term 1. 

Article added: Monday 28 February 2022