Junior School students are able to use the Google Meet function, available through their Columba College Google account, to stay connected with their classmates.

Google Meets is a multi-user video-conferencing service that is free to access and easy to use. One Meet ‘room' can comfortably host up to six participants. Even if your son or daughter does not have their own device, you are able to sign them into their Columba account through your own desktop, laptop or smartphone.

A parent of one of our Year 6 boys has started by setting up a daily 3 pm slot for the group to get together and chat. If you would like to do something similar for your own child/ren, here’s how to get started:

• Make sure you have your son or daughter’s Columba College school email address and password. If you don’t know it, please email Mr Moore (smoore@columbacollege.school.nz)
• Liaise with other parents to set up a ‘nickname' for the Meet. Pick a name that can be used everyday and that best describes your group e.g. year4boys. Anyone who is signed into the Columba College domain will be able to join using this chat ’nickname’.
• Decide on a regular time for the Meet to be used. You could book a daily slot (eg 3-4) or specify days of the week (eg Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 12pm).
• On a laptop/desktop, open the Chrome browser (Google products work best with Chrome). Sign into Google with your son or daughter’s Columba College school email
• On a smartphone, simply download the Google Meet app and sign in with your son or daughter’s Columba College school email
• When it’s time for the Meet, open the Google Meet app on your phone or go to https://meet.google.com/ if using a desktop/laptop
• Join the Meet using the nickname. Make sure you have enabled audio and video.
• When finished, hang-up.