Early learning
It was great to hear how many early learning services stayed connected with parents/whānau/caregivers to support learning at home during last year’s lockdowns. Here are some examples of the different ways services achieved this.
Tamariki Ataahua Early Learning Centre, Auckland:
“Things we are doing … include regular cooking videos from kaiako for tamariki and whānau to try at home, sharing waiata through video, and a daily bedtime story video.”
Kids 1st Childcare & Learning Centre, Waipu, Northland:
"Our centre set up Seesaw as a platform for sharing photos, videos, learning provocations and communication. Our parents have been posting what their children have been up to at home, including great photos and video clips. Using Notice – Recognise – Respond teachers are responding to the posts. We have set up a roster so one teacher is responsible for a post each day of the week to check in on families and provide provocations or ideas for families to do. Additionally teachers are responding any day they like. We are also posting photos of ourselves at home.
Many of the children are missing us, and like to see photos of us and hear our voices. Teachers are coming up with great provocations. One teacher did a puppet show with all the characters from Wombat Stew. It was amazing. It has been a great way to get to know our whānau more deeply.”
He Whānau Manaaki o Tararua Kindergartens:
“At He Whānau Manaaki kindergartens our teaching teams have been staying in contact with families through Facebook and Storypark. We have been reading stories, holding whāriki time and sharing activities… such as setting up a tent in the backyard, making a fort in the lounge, or cooking ideas. We have been reaching out to families so that people who need it can get individual practical support, including access to food parcels, information about the virus in different languages, and information about pharmacies offering the flu vaccine.
Waikanae Kindergarten has one of our most watched Facebook pages, where they provide a story a day – some families even keep the story for a bedtime routine. Our homebased service, Etu Ao, caters for many younger, mainly Pacific children and we are using Facebook to keep in touch.”
BestStart:
"Our kaiako have been sharing ideas on daily activities that whānau can do together with their tamariki, connecting via our BestStart@Home initiative through digital medium, phone, text or email. Ideas include yoga, obstacle courses in the garden, scavenger hunts, science experiments and making paint. Kaiako take virtual group times, sing waiata that are familiar to tamariki, giving whānau a great opportunity to join in too.
Our Kaiako are connecting with whānau and tamariki individually on digital platforms, talking together about their child’s learning, development and interests, and how this can be supported at home. This is an incredible opportunity to share as a community, and we have celebration days where the whole centre team and family community can get involved with such a sense of togetherness. Through the challenges of COVID19 we have gained the opportunity to share and gain new learning from our children and whānau, and from each other as kaiako, and as a result our relationships are richer for us as a whole community".
Te Kōhanga Reo National Trust:
“Te Rohe o Mataatua/Tauranga Moana are currently running a Kōhanga Reo kaupapa that aligns to Te Whāriki a Te Kōhanga Reo about COVID-19. They started with 31 whānau (bubbles) most of whom are in rural/isolated areas and no/limited internet connection/devices. Supported through their local District Office they have set up networks to keep in contact. The kaupapa covered:
Ko te ‘Mana Atua’ te mana whakaako mai i āhau ki te manaaki, kit e tiaki i āhau, i tōku whānau, i ōku hoa, me ngā mea katoa o tōku taiao, o te ao hoki. “Ka ora pea au ki a koe, ka ora koe i au” “Perhaps I survive because of you and you survive because of me” (The performance of each member is important to its success).
He aha te Mate Māuiui nei? He aha ngā rongoa tiaki ia tātou te tangata? Te Mana o te WAI, hei whakaora. Whānau were given a simple plan, teaching mokopuna about keeping safe and the values of hygiene in the home… Through the network they have been able to add and share their own ideas to the plan, including budgeting and simple recipe ideas – supporting each other with basic supplies and needs. They have even found an expert rewena maker amongst them that has now shared her recipe."
Schools
Kaiako from a range of schools and kura share their different approaches to planning their students’ learning during last year’s lockdowns.
Coralie Walters, tumuaki — Ruakituri school
Coralie Walters is tumuaki at Ruakituri school, a small rural kura 45 kilometres north of Wairoa.
(Sound of background bird song)
(Text on screen: Learning From Home — Voices From Schools)
(Gemma Stewart, CORE Education facilitator, facing camera)
Kia ora koutou.
Tumuaki from a range of schools and kura have shared different approaches to planning their students’ learning in term 2. Coralie Walters is tumuaki at Ruakituri school, a small rural kura 45 kilometres north of Wairoa.
(Coralie Walters, Tumuaki — Ruakituri school, facing camera, in a video conference)
Well I think my surprising thing that I've found with my whānau, tamariki and staff has been the willingness to, if things haven't gone smoothly with an email or on one of the platforms, that we're just trying, trying, and trying again or alternatively looking at contact through telephones you know just going back to the basics really. And just ensuring that we're all moving together he waka eke noa - we are moving together as one.
We're very fortunate in where our tamariki live, in that it is all farming, farming areas. So they have the beauty of acres and acres of land in their bubble. So the activity, the physical activity, is ongoing. Right from getting wood to going to move the cows or the bulls or whatever it may be. So their physical wellbeing is being taken care of as well as their learning time. So their learning time or mahi kāinga looks almost exactly like school and talking to a couple of my little people this morning you know, in that the engagement for within that time of learning is done within that time. But the learning doesn't stop there. Their learning goes beyond books, paper into their environments and they are very fortunate, very fortunate.
So the zoom hui this morning with two of my students was around wellbeing and having a kōrero about what the last few weeks has looked like for them, the daily chores that they have, the new things that them and their parents have come up with in having this lockdown. You know just seeing each other, seeing the big smiles, interacting and communicating. Seeing each other really made a difference, opposed to phone calls that I have already made with all whanau. So yeah it was pretty special.
If I can see a big smile, if they can see me smile, I can hear within voices how the tamariki are feeling - it’s a different time of learning. It’s home learning, it’s environmental learning and it has a different effect on tamariki and the way that they learn. These children that I’ve already seen, they are beaming with kaupapa that’s happened on the farm or what’s happened collecting the wood or whatever it may be but every kaupapa has a special meaning to these tamariki in this time and that shows me that their wellbeing is being catered for in all aspects of hauora.
The one piece of advice that I would give would be to be sound in the preparations that you have made and the foundations that you have set for your tamariki and your whānau and your communities and staff. The other thing would be to really have a look at the processes that we have put in place while we were in school and following those through to the processes that we have today. There is just so much out there. But I think if we remember we value our tamariki, we value our staff and our community. We also need to be in that bubble and value ourselves just as much as everybody else.
(Gemma Stewart, CORE Education facilitator, facing camera)
We thank Coralie for sharing the approaches she has taken as she plans for home learning for her tamariki and their whānau.
Kia haumaru te noho - stay safe. Text on screen: Kia haumaru te noho - stay safe. Ministry of Education.
Voices from schools
Coralie Walters
Craig McDonald, kaiako — Cornerstone Christian School
Craig McDonald is a year 9 teacher from Cornerstone Christian school which is an integrated co-educational Area School for Years 1–13 in Palmerston North. Craig talks about how planning for distance learning has led to a shift in focus from teacher led to student led learning.
(Sound of background bird song)
Text on screen: Learning From — Home Voices From Schools
(Gemma Stewart, CORE Education facilitator, facing camera)
Tēnā koutou katoa.
Kaiako from a range of schools and kura have shared their different approaches to planning their students’ learning in term 2. Craig McDonald is a year 9 teacher from Cornerstone Christian school which is an integrated co-educational Area School for Years 1–13 in Palmerston North. Craig talks about how planning for distance learning has led to a shift in focus from teacher led to student led learning.
(Craig McDonald, kaiako — Cornerstone Christian School, facing camera, on video conference call)
I'm loving it actually. Because I'm not really worrying about behaviour like you might in school and it's just here’s me giving some ideas and giving some direction and then the kids are actually on their own or with their parents helping making sure that they are engaged and they're actually 100% doing the learning for themselves.
So learning from home has been a bit of an eye opening experience. I've been experimenting with lots of different ways that we can do this and all these ways have their drawbacks and their positives but generally in a way it's been business as usual or maybe catching up on what you missed out on since the beginning of the end of last term. It's been quite good to have that opportunity to try out what you had planned previously with what we are doing now.
So I’m connecting with my students by Microsoft Teams which is part of the Microsoft Office package which we have at school. Teams allows you to stream video and you can see your class on the video and talk with them. And that's our primary way of connecting.
Yesterday I tried a whole hour’s class in science and using PowerPoint as a background and going through almost a normal science lesson. That didn't work. The kids hated that. For some reason they can't sit still. Which is quite understandable. And so I was just talking with another science teacher this morning and part of the plan is to take snippets of what we want the children to know and just turn them into two or three minute videos and then just put them up for the kids to look at in their own time.
The thing I've been thinking about is flipped learning which was a big term a few years ago. Still is, I suppose. And that's really what we are coming to I think is that we're giving the children what we want them to learn and we are saying go ahead go off and find your way of learning that. And I think that's quite a powerful tool really.
My one piece of advice for teachers sitting in their bubble at home would be to give clear simple explanations of tasks. Don't make it too onerous. Just nice and simple. And let the kids surprise us with what they do. The benefit of that is that I love doing things in different ways. And so it gives me the opportunity to be more creative and I think I'm trying to encourage that in the students to be more creative in the way they present things or do things. And I'm hoping that this opportunity if you like allows them to be more creative in their presentations and how they're learning what they’re learning.
(Gemma Stewart, CORE Education facilitator, facing camera)
We thank Craig for sharing the approach he has taken as he plans for home learning for his tamariki and their whānau.
Kia haumaru te noho - stay safe.
Text on screen: Kia haumaru te noho - stay safe. Ministry of Education.
Voices from schools
Craig McDonald
David Henderson, kaiako — Cornerstone Christian school
David Henderson is the year 5 / 6 team leader at Cornerstone Christian School which is an integrated co-educational area school for Years 1–13 in Palmerston North. David talks about the routines and expectations he has put in place and his focus on the wellbeing of his students.
(Sound of background bird song)
Text on screen: Learning From Home — Voices From Schools
(Gemma Stewart, CORE Education facilitator, facing camera)
Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa.
Kaiako from a range of schools and kura have shared their different approaches to planning their students’ learning in term 2. David Henderson is the year 5 / 6 team leader at Cornerstone Christian School which is an integrated co-educational area school for Years 1–13 in Palmerston North. David talks about the routines and expectations he has put in place and his focus on the wellbeing of his students..
(David Henderson, kaiako — Cornerstone Christian school, facing camera, recorded in a video conference)
Learning from home at my place is going pretty well, we had a little bit of a test run before the end of two one and then I tried to make sure I got a bit of a holiday and encouraged the students in my class to do the same before we have a big term two. So we’ve hit the ground running the last few days. It's been good.
For my routines for about two days before term 2 started I sent an email home to all the parents in my class just kind of laying out what my expectations were for the next two weeks. And I said I would be in touch with them each morning and I'd send out something at 9 and I would then check in with the class a little bit later on. So kind of let the parents know what was going to be happening and then every day I have sent an email out at 9 to all of the students in my class as well as their parents so it's just a general email which lays out a bunch of things that they can work on throughout the day. And hopefully, that encourages them to make a little bit of a plan from it and set up a little bit of a timetable. So then at nine forty five we have a class catch up and have a bit of a chat about a few things and allow the students to ask any questions about the things that are on the email. So that's kind of how the routine works at the moment.
In terms of connecting with them I like to try and celebrate the work I'm doing so let's say for yesterday I set a writing task. I went through the whole class’s writing that they had done and then today I shared a few of the different pieces that I'd seen to celebrate some learning and some of the students that haven't volunteered their own voice out loud during our discussions but I was able to be a voice for them and put their work on display, share some of the pictures that they might have done so hopefully creating that space.
Yes in terms of safety we have got a few high needs students in our school and we have a guidance counsellor who has provided her details if we needed anything or if we picked up anything or if we had heard anything. So it's nice knowing that that's there. I've got students that she assists with already but knowing that if I needed to I could contact her.
For me it's actually all about that at the moment. It's all about wellbeing and it's all about providing the students with a safe place knowing that I’m there and that each other are there. One of the tools I use in my classes is a website called Flipgrid and I put out a thing saying to tell a joke if you've got a joke, share a joke with a class and you know we got a couple of jokes and then one boy puts a message saying “I miss my classmates” and he’s gone here’s a sad face and that wasn't a joke it was quite a genuine thing. So you know there are kids that are missing their friends so I'm just trying to be there for them, provide that routine, provide that support and be a positive light in the morning.
If I had some advice it would be not to compare your plans and the programmes with other schools and other teachers, because the students are under your care and you are what they need and being able to connect with their classmates. You know we've established routines at the start of the year and been able to use those and been able to you know celebrate the student community that you have in your class and that you would have developed already so I guess you know rather than trying to worry about what everyone else is doing and worry that you're not I'm not good enough to be about just having those things like we do class certificates on a Friday because we always do class certificates on a Friday and we do what's on top catch up on Monday because we were doing what's on top catch up on Monday. So just you know stick with what you know and be there for your students
(Gemma Stewart, CORE Education facilitator, facing camera)
We thank David for sharing the approaches he has taken as he plans for home learning for his tamariki and their whānau.
Kia haumaru te noho - stay safe.
Text on screen: Kia haumaru te noho - stay safe. Ministry of Education.
Voices from schools
David Henderson
Kim Basse, tumuaki — Ruapehu College
Kim Basse is tumuaki at Ruapehu College, which sits at the foot of Ruapehu in Tongariro National Park. Kim talks about how the school and the community have met the technical challenges of providing learning from a distance in a rural area.
(Sound of background bird song)
(Text on screen: Learning From Home — Voices From Schools)
(Gemma Stewart, CORE Education facilitator, facing camera)
Kia ora koutou.
Kaiako from a range of schools and kura have shared their different approaches to planning their students’ learning in term 2. Kim Basse is tumuaki at Ruapehu College, which sits at the foot of Ruapehu in Tongariro National Park. Kim talks about how the school and the community have met the technical challenges of providing learning from a distance in a rural area.
(Kim Basse, Tumuaki — Ruapehu College, facing camera in video conference)
Learning from home, it's been quite a challenge for many of us and in particular in this area, in Ohakune, because we are a small rural community here. We are decile 2. We have some issues around some of our learners, in particular, they don't have access to internet or devices.
One of the surprising things was that with the Internet when I did actually start looking at how that worked, some of them were connected in terms of only having gaming consoles so there were some challenges around that as well.
As a staff, we had some discussion around this. We decided that really for NCEA assessments students needed a keyboard especially in writing some of the essays that they had to write for that. So we went back to the students again very manually and we asked them actually what devices did they have at home, and the other question we wanted to find out was their data capability because if students are expected to do a lot of research they will need to be downloading a lot of information or researching a lot of information potentially using quite a bit of data.
And I think another question would be to ask where are you staying for your lockdown? Where exactly are you going to be? Is that the place that's going to have the devices and the Internet access?
Living in an area like this, students were all over the place. They were not living at home. They were not living at home while lockdown happened. They were staying somewhere else.
We were lucky in our community that our local iwi, Ngāti Rangi, working in conjunction with other iwi, helping us out towards this. They were able to access one of the phone companies, Skinny Spark, who provided five dollars for thirty gigs for a month. They actually negotiated that with families in our area so that we knew that those families were being connected and they made that process really easy. They enrolled them, they organised it all and there was a free modem sent out.
(Gemma Stewart, CORE Education facilitator, facing camera)
Kia ora Kim. How have the teachers kept hauora at the heart of their approach as they plan programmes for distance learning?
(Kim Basse, Tumuaki — Ruapehu College, facing camera in video conference)
So one of the things I was looking at quite carefully was pedagogies that looked around you know trauma or incidences such as covid19 pandemic and then looking at pedagogies that mixed that with online learning. So I wasn't looking at pedagogy around just well wellbeing or pedagogy just around online learning and remote learning, I wanted things that brought us together and that information is coming through much, much stronger now looking at both things. We’ve got an online learning platform but we are in a pandemic. One of the biggest factors around that of course is the wellbeing of teachers is very important. Just as the wellbeing of the families and the wellbeing of the students. And that's something we've talked quite a lot about.
So our senior students we think probably quite well versed in taking themselves off putting their earphones in and working at their studies. We think they're quite good at that but we've also really, really encouraged all through my emails out to parents all through Facebook, all through text messages that you know exercise is a very important part of the day. You can't be looking at your computer for five hours and here in Ohakune this morning it's been really cold and so I think we woke up it was six degrees. I know north of Auckland you don’t have to worry about that but here we do. So if we want to go out and do a lot of exercise actually eleven o'clock in the day is a good time to go. So let's not allocate study time for that time. Let's go and do our exercise and the other thing we've pushed is around considering the family, students consider the family. Help out with the dinner, make your bed. Help out with the chores. That's got to be an important part of the day as well.
(Gemma Stewart, CORE Education facilitator, facing camera)
We thank Kim as she shares her approaches for planning for home learning for the tamariki of Ruapehu College and their whānau.
Kia haumaru te noho - stay safe.
Text on screen: Kia haumaru te noho - stay safe. Ministry of Education.
Voices from schools
Kim Basse
Natasha Teinakore, assistant principal — Rowandale School
Natasha Teinakore is the assistant principal at Rowandale School, which is a Decile 1 multicultural school in the heart of Manurewa, Auckland. Natasha talks about how relationships have been strengthened as teachers and whānau have connected to learn together.
(Sound of background bird song)
(Text on screen: Learning From Home — Voices From Schools)
(Gemma Stewart, CORE Education facilitator, facing camera)
Mauri ora ki a koutou katoa.
Kaiako from a range of schools and kura have shared their different approaches to how they’re planning their learning for term 2. Natasha Teinakore is the assistant principal at Rowandale School, which is a Decile 1 multicultural school in the heart of Manurewa, Auckland. Natasha talks about how relationships have been strengthened as teachers and whānau have connected to learn together.
(Natasha Teinakore, Assistant Principal — Rowandale School, facing camera, recorded in a video conference)
Learning at home has been a real learning curve. We have had to really upskill quickly. Trying to juggle between your own family and your school family hasn't been an easy task. I think I underestimated how much time my own family would take. They’re older but they definitely need more hands on than I thought they would. I thought they'd just be able to get on with their work but it hasn't been as straightforward so I've had to divide that time and I feel a bit stressed at times. So generally it's okay but you feel like you're being pulled in all directions.
The most surprising aspect of this whole thing has been how we've been able to strengthen relationships despite the distance. I guess when you think of remote learning and having no physical contact or face to face contact with the children we look after, you might think that relationships could go back and be damaged. What has actually happened is that it’s really forced the teachers and the families to start working in true partnership with the families that we can. And that's been really surprising, the deepening of relationships and the building of relationships, because we've had to meet more than halfway and there's no distractions.
Like sometimes on a teacher's day you get a lot of distractions with other aspects of teaching and the job. But because all of that has been stripped away now, that focus on relationship and building that relationship and making sure those basic needs have been met and the belonging and the love has been met first, it's really surprised me how we've been able to do that despite the distance.
One of my biggest concerns has been being able to reach those children that are out of communication. We can't get a hold of them by phone or email. They may not have internet, the addresses aren't up to date on our records or the phone numbers have been disconnected and so I am worried about them and what's happening in their homes, what they need.
The phone has actually been the biggest advantage we’ve had to keeping in touch with families. I don't know, I think that in the lifestyle we live at the moment we've shifted slowly from phones to texting and emailing and they've become our first you know ports of call for getting in touch with family. And it's funny how being forced to work in this way we've slowly gravitated back to the phone call and you know voice to voice so to speak rather than face to face. And it's been far more effective and also been a lot more rewarding being able to listen to a voice, to listen to the student on the phone. We've asked to speak to students and to check up on them and it's had more benefits than we thought actually as far as communication and whānau engagement has been really rewarding in that way.
If I could give one piece of advice to teachers it would be to keep it simple. Not to overcomplicate things. Teaching in its essence is simple. And to put our perfectionism to the side if we can just for a moment, lay it to the side, deal with your own anxieties and support, help and love those families that are trying to do it at home.
(Gemma Stewart, CORE Education facilitator, facing camera)
We thank Natasha for sharing how learning from home has gone so far for her tamariki, their whānau and the kaiako.
Kia haumaru te noho - stay safe.
Text on screen: Kia haumaru te noho - stay safe. Ministry of Education.
Voices from schools
Natasha Teinakore
