In the case of school being closed, or learners needing to isolate, our team will initiate our remote learning programme.

We understand that lockdowns can be an extremely challenging time and vary for families. We want to reassure our community that learner, whanau and staff well-being is of the utmost importance during this time. 

Our intention is to keep our remote learning programme as simple and consistent as we possibly can. We are all learning how to do this and will make adaptations to our programmes over time as required. 

A remote learning programme in the case of a short period of time is not designed to replicate the learning that takes place in the classroom. Your teachers will provide you with a range of activities, some being required and others being optional. As a family it is up to you how much of this fits in with your life while being at home. However, it is essential that we stay connected with you and your child/ren during this time. Please let your child’s teacher know if they are unable to attend any scheduled connection sessions, or unable to complete required learning activities. 

Home Resourcing

It’s really important that we have an understanding of the resources that you will have available at home, and who these will be shared between. In some cases we may be able to lend devices to ease any concerns around this. Please complete this form so that we can be prepared. 

Netsafe has a great Online Safety Toolkit which you can find here, this may help to guide discussions around increased device use during lockdowns. 

Tools

There are two key tools that we will be using to connect and share learning during remote learning. We have kept these consistent across the school. Seesaw is a tool that will be being used in all our classrooms throughout the year and will be our main tool. 

SEESAW is an online tool that allows teachers and learners to communicate, create and share learning. This will be the main location for finding out when live connections are taking place and any learning activities for your child. There is excellent support and guidance for parents on the Seesaw website.

MICROSOFT TEAMS will be used for live connections (video calls). This is an excellent communication tool with a high level of security and privacy. Links to live calls will be shared through Seesaw. You do not need an account with Microsoft to join these calls. Guidance for joining a call can be found here. 

Staying connected 

Your child’s teacher will make contact with a phone call within the first week and stay connected via email for the remainder of the remote learning period. The purpose of this is to stay connected, ensure we are aware of any changes to your situation in order to best support your whanau during this time. If you’d like to arrange for further phone or video calls please do not hesitate to email them to arrange this. 

VIDEO CALLS

It’s a great idea to have a conversation at home about video call etiquette and where your child should do these calls from. Consider where is an appropriate place for young people to feel safe when using video call? It may be a good idea to set up a space that can be quiet but perhaps not isolating for a young person. We have learnt that many young people have felt anxious about what others can see so it’s a great idea to chat through this as a family. 

During video calls our teachers will expect students to maintain respectful behaviour, upholding our school values of whanaungatanga (belonging), kotahitanga (unity) and manaakitanga (nurturing). We appreciate your support in this. 

Please do not hesitate to contact our team if you have questions or concerns outside of these calls. Email is the best way to do this unless your teachers have requested otherwise.