Your child is now shifting into a remote/online learning environment.

We had been preparing our staff and students during the latter part of Term 1 for this learning environment and we had every intention of being able to offer laptops and learning packs to our students if we needed to close the school. As you are aware, for Kaiapoi High School closure happened much faster than other New Zealand schools, with an immediate closure and the continuing inability to return to our site.

We are working with the Ministry of Education to support those families who have made contact with us to either source laptops or hard copy learning packs for their children.

Two days into this online environment, the feedback received from families has been positive. This environment is new for all participants, so I thought it was timely to let you know about the expectations we have of both our students and staff and some support available for families in an online learning environment. We are doing our very best to support our students in continuing to experience quality learning programmes, and to support our families to continue to feel connected and involved in this online environment.

We are very aware, currently and into the future, that families may be facing many challenges, whether health-related, employment and financial stresses, and/or ongoing psychological impacts. At Kaiapoi High School, our staff understand that we have an important role to play in terms of learning continuity, providing students with a sense of purpose and productivity, and assisting families and parents to achieve some sense of normalcy.

Staff expectations in supporting our students in the online/remote learning environment

Tutor Teacher’s role: The Tutor Teacher is the overarching support mechanism between school and home. During a school closure situation, when students continue to learn in an online environment, the tutor teacher is expected to:

● Contact students or families approximately once a week to allow for an opportunity for students to raise concerns or questions on any issues about school or their own learning.

● Follow up with families if subject teachers inform tutor teachers that a student is struggling to connect and engage with learning.

Subject Teacher’s role:

● To use Google Classroom to inform students of the learning they are expected to undertake over a block of time, possibly in weekly instalments. This supports students to know how much work is expected of them over a set time frame and to allow families to manage devices and wifi connectivity. Most learning will largely be asynchronous (that is, teachers do not expect to be able to have all students online in a class at the same time for ‘live’ interactive lessons).

● To be available during at least one timetabled lesson for the week to answer questions or hold conferencing opportunities with students, and to communicate to students as to when this period will be.

● To communicate online with students, either through Google Classroom or email, offering next-step advice or constructive feedback on work students have submitted.

● To inform tutor teachers if a student is struggling to engage with learning.

Teachers accept that not every student may be able to access work and complete work. Teachers are aware of those students currently without devices or learning packs.

Student expectations:

● To communicate any concerns to their tutor teacher or subject teacher.

● To engage with the learning by attempting the work to the best of their ability and asking questions on aspects they may not fully understand.

● To be present when teachers give the opportunity for an online video or audio chat or conferencing.

● To take greater ownership of their learning. They will need to understand more about how they learn, what they like, how to work within their academic strengths and weaknesses and to be able to explain to their teachers exactly what support they need.

● Online learning, by its very nature, will include many written instructions. Students need to carefully read and follow complex detailed instructions.

● To accept all learning opportunities made available to them. This is a new and challenging learning environment. Not accepting the challenge now will put students under significant pressure later when we return to school.

Being able to support families as their child moves into the online environment

These are very challenging times as children are learning from home, and family members may want to support or be interested in the learning.

If your child is concerned that their device is not working properly, please:

● Check that your child’s device is fully functional. This could be a good opportunity to remove any gaming software that is slowing the device’s performance down.

● Check for and run any software updates.

● Check your child’s connectivity. This will include them being able to access your home wifi. If connecting to wifi seems to be patchy, it is best to decrease the physical distance between your device and the wifi router, line of sight is best.

● If the device cannot connect to the internet, then contact your Internet Service Provider.

● If, after all these steps, there are still issues with the device after connecting with the internet, ask your child to send an email to their dean (or you can do it on your child’s behalf), explaining what the issue is. The dean will make contact with the School’s IT technician who may work with the family to overcome the issue. There will need to be some parent involvement at this time, especially if the technician wants to ‘remote into’ the student’s device.

Deans' email addresses:

Matai Sam Creed - s.creed@kaiapoi.school.nz

Kauri Haidee Tiffen - h.tiffen@kaiapoi.school.nz

Totara Ryan Anderson - r.anderson@kaiapoi.school.nz

Rimu Ashleigh Fowler - a.fowler@kaiapoi.school.nz

If you are interested in your child’s learning, please ask them to show you their Google Classrooms for each subject, and any emails that their teachers may have sent them. Teachers will send emails to the students' school gmail accounts. The pandemic is forcing educators, parents, and students to think critically, problem-solve, be creative, communicate, collaborate and be flexible as they adapt to this challenging time. There will be inequities with online learning and household circumstances will lead to different levels of parent or family support. Please be assured that there is an underlying understanding that we are all doing our best and each situation will be supported with patience and kindness.

Kim van Vuuren, Assistant Principal - Teaching and Learning