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Burnside High School Principles for Remote Learning - Whānau

Burnside High School —

In preparation for remote learning if we again go to Covid Alert Levels 3 or 4 we have updated the following information for whānau. The main principles and expectations of remote learning are set out below. We acknowledge that teachers, students and whānau will be experiencing different situations and need to be mindful of the impact this will have on learning and wellbeing.

Learning approaches

Our focus during this time is on connecting with our students to maintain and grow positive learning relationships and to provide consistent and coherent learning for the students. Our programmes of teaching and learning will be adapted to suit the medium of remote delivery.

Teachers will be providing learning remotely via the Schoology platform. This will focus on what is essential learning, engaging activities and learning of value.

The learning aims to be flexible, achievable and realistic for both students and teachers and may involve remote and/or offline activities, all instructions will be provided on Schoology.

The learning will generally be provided in blocks, for example, 2-3 lessons worth of learning or more at a time. This will allow students and whānau to manage device access, wi-fi management and workload.

Teachers will be making contact with students on a regular basis through Schoology or school e-mail. Form teachers will contact students in their Form Class once each week to check in with them and subject teachers will be available for least ONE interactive learning opportunity each week. This would occur when the student would normally have had their class on site.

There are a range of remote learning tools that teachers can provide to engage students in learning. Interactive learning opportunities could take different forms which could include an online meeting, a discussion board task, or a document with live questions and answers. It is not an expectation of teachers that they have to offer Google Meets or Zoom sessions, however, some teachers may choose to do this as an interactive learning opportunity.

Teachers will be providing an indication of students' engagement and completion of work with their learning through a regular reporting system. This will be available to you to view via the Reports section of the KAMAR Portal.

We expect that students are interacting with teachers and other students appropriately remotely and living up to our Burnside High School Values of Being Respectful, Having Pride and Striving for Excellence.

NCEA Assessment

Depending on how long we are in a position of remote learning the following may be considered by teachers regarding NCEA assessment:

  • Modified assessment from home and changing how we collect evidence of learning

  • Removing standards from courses to increase teaching time

  • Splitting assessments to be done piecemeal at different times of the year

  • Allowing more flexible deadlines - (although in order to manage workloads, we will have to cap this to a certain extent). Permission will be granted through the Assessment Officer as usual, but must be arranged ahead of time.

  • Withdrawing students from standards on an individual basis should it be necessary.


How you can support your children during this time?

We are providing the opportunity for students to continue their learning but we also know that they will need to work flexibly (like teachers) depending on your whānau’s particular situation.

Have a dedicated learning space where students can work when they need to.

Try and minimise distractions when students are working, equally, ensure they are having regular breaks, exercise, nutritious food and water.

Talk with your children about the learning they are doing and any deadlines that may be coming up.

Have a routine where there is time set aside for students to work on their learning.

Discuss internet safety with your child, NetSafe has some useful tips for parents around this topic.