In an announcement yesterday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed schools and early childhood centres could open from April 29.
They would be permitted to start cleaning and other preparations beforehand, and a teachers-only day could take place on April 28.
She reiterated children should only be sent to school if their caregivers were unable to work from home.
"We are not expecting large numbers to be in attendance."
She said about 400,000 people who have not been able to work during the Level 4 lockdown will be able to return to work in Level 3 in sectors such as construction, manufacturing and forestry.
Many of those people will have children under age 14 who cannot legally be left at home alone, so they need schools and early childhood centres to be open.
Ms Ardern said schools and early childhood centres would not be asked to decide which children can return.
"It would be too much of a burden to ask schools to make decisions about their parent communities. We are not asking them to do that," she said.
"We are asking parents, if you can keep your child at home, you should keep them at home."
Otago Secondary Principals’ Association president Linda Miller said she supported staying in Level 4 for the extra week, but there was still little detail from the Ministry of Education and principals were "having to make it up in the dark a little bit".
Schools would still be required to provide online learning for pupils, as well as teaching those who attended school in person.
"Hopefully we’ll only see very small numbers of students that have to be catered for at school."
Measures such as not allowing children to share equipment or play with balls and sporting gear could be implemented to reduce risk, she said.
Otago Primary Principals’ Association president Shelley Wilde said there were meetings planned for this week with the ministry to work out how it would work and how physical distancing could be enabled.
Balancing online learning and pupils in the classroom would be a juggling act, she said.
The University of Otago said in a statement yesterday it was working through what the announcement meant and would report back to students and staff as soon as possible.
Previously, the Tertiary Education Commission said that under Level 3 all teaching should be done remotely wherever possible.
But the shift may mean some practical courses at polytechnics, such as automotive and culinary, could move back on-site.
Otago Polytechnic people and performance deputy chief executive Megan Gibbons said they were looking at options, but any move back on to campus would not happen until at least May 4.
"One of the things we have to look at is if we have students in the programmes in Dunedin, because if they’ve gone home, then there’s no point in re-starting them."
Southern Institute of Technology chief executive Penny Simmons said the school was "looking closely'' at about five or six classes, including trades and catering courses, which could be exceptions to its current online model.
- Additional reporting New Zealand Herald
